The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1883-03-28
and got pa nervous, SO when he came up
stairs and was hit on the head with the


stairs and was hit on the head with the
bladder, the first thing he said was bur-
glars by mighty and he started to go
back, and then I hit him on the breast
pocket, where the hottie was and then
we rushed by him, down the stairs, and
then | said in Il stage whisper, / guess
he's IL dead nfan, and we went down
cellar and up the back stairs to my rooni
and undresSed. Pa nollered to ma thai
he was murdered, and ma called Inc,
and came doWnln my night shirt. and
the hired girl She came down, and pa
was on the lounge, and he said his life
blood was fast ebbing away. He held
his hand on the wound, and said he
could feel the warm blood trickling clear
down to his boots. [ told pa to stnff
some tar into tie wound such as he told
me to put on my lip to make my nous
tache grow, and pa said My boy this
is no time for trifling- Your pa is on
his last legs. When / come UP stairs
met six burglars, and I attacked them
and forced four OF them down, and was
going 10 hold them and send for the
police, when two more that [ did not
know about, jumped on me and [ was
getting the best of them, when one Of
them struck me over tho head with a
crow bar, and the other stabbed me to
the heart with a butcher knife. [ have
received my death wound, my boy, and
nay hot southern blood, that | offered up
SO freely for my country, in her time OF
| need, is passing from my body, and soon
your pa will be only piece of poor clay.
Get some ice and put on my stomach,
and all the way down for | am burning
up. [ went to the wat + pitcher and
got big chunk Of ice and put inside
pas shirt, and while ma was tearing up
an old shirt to stop the flood of blood, [
asked pa if he felt better and if he could
! describe the villains who had murdered
| him. Pa gasped and moved his legs to
| get them cool from the clotted blood, he
| said, and he went on, One OF them was
about six foot high, and had sandy
moustache. / got him down and hit
him in the nose, and if the police finds
| him his nose will be broke. The second
one was thick set, and weighed about
my boot was on his neck, and [ was
| knocking two more down, when [ was
| hit. The thick set one will have the
mark of boot heels on his throat. Tell
| the police when [ am gone, about the
| boot heel marks By this time ma had
/ got the shirt tore up, and she stuffed it
/ under pa's shirt, right where he said he
was hit, and pa was telling US what to
/ do to settle his estate, when ma began
to smell the liniment, and she found the
broken bottle in his pocket, and searched
pa for the place were he was stabbed,
/ and then she begun to laugh, and pa got
i mad and said aa didn't see fss q death
! bed scene was such an almighty funny
affair, and then she told him he was not
| hurt. but that he had fallen on the stairs
and broke lis bottle, and that there was
no blood on him. and he said, DO you
mean to tell me my body and legs are
not bathed ia human gore and then pa
Got up and found it was only the Uni
ment. He got mad and asked ma why
she didn't fly around and get something
to take that horrible liniment off hi
legs, as it was eating them right through
to the bone, and then he saw my chun
put his head i'll the door, with one gallus
hanging down, and pa looked at me anc
then he said 'Lookahere, if find out il
was YOU bows that put up this job on me
I'll make it so hot for you that you will
think liniment is ice cream in compari
], SON. [ told pa it didn't look reasonable
, that me and my chum could be six burg
, lars, six feet high, with our nose broke
and boot heel marks on our neck, ant
pa he said for us to go to bed aiflret
: quick, and give him q chance to rins
off that liniment, and we retired. Say
: how does my father strike you as q gooe
single-handed liar?n and the boy wen
: up to the counter Whiic the grocery man
went after scuttle of coal
In the meantime, one OF the grocer.
: mans best customers, q deacon i'll tn
church, had come in and sat down o.
} the counter, over the darning needle
t and as the grocery man came in witt
the coal the boy pulled the string, an
1 went out doors and tipped owe. baske
2 of rutabagas, while the deacon got doWl
!, off the counter with his hand clasped
and anger in every feature, and told tn
' grocery man he eonld whip him in tw
| minutes. The grocery man asked VIVA
was the matter, and the deacon hunte
/ up the source from whence the darnin
: needle came through the counter, and a
the boy went across the street the deaco
4 and the grocery man were rolling on th
e floor, the grocery man trying to hold tn
I deacon's fists while he explained abou
E the darning needle, and that il was II
( tended for the boy. How it came OF
! the boy did not wait to see.
j