The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-11-09
POOLING the Covboy,.

Pooling the Cowboys.
Ben Carter had "heaps of fun" as he
expresses it. at Rock Creek. west of
Laramie. the other day. Ben is typi-
| cal Western cowboys whole-souled,
daredevil puncher of steers, a fellow
who will divide his last dollar with a
friend. or ride anything that has not
more than four legs and wears a sad
die. Ben has one weak point, however,
fondness for the sulphuric and ami
hilator which Wyoming barkeepers re-
tail as whisky, and when he is '.full''
he is windy and ready for any harmless
mischief.
On. the day referred to Ben was at
Rock Greek loading stock. A dozen or
more of his brother cowboys were in
town, and after the arduous duties in
cident to crowding twenty more steers
into a car than the builders intended
were over, the boys began to .'boose
up" and by the time it got dark enough
to light the lamps the saloon-keeper
found that he hadn't any that were fit
to do duty as illuminators-the boys
had shot them to pieces. Every time a
lamp would fall the marksman who
assisted at the post-mortem of said
lamp would cheerfully waltz to the bar
and pay for it. and then try again. The
lamp market was active for few min
utes, but the supply was limited. Ben
hadn't taken a hand in the shooting
match as yet, but had made it point
to drink with the successful marksmen,
so that strictly speaking he wasn't sober.
Finally he awoke to action.
Selling revolver from a companion
and drawing his own, he sprang to the
center of the room and delivered him.
self of speech. He told the boys that
they ought to be ashamed of themselves.
He was a perfect lady himself, and il
shocked him to witness such disgrace
full proceedings. He had been APP
pointed as deputy sheriff on his last
visit to Laramie, and had decided to ar.
rest every mothers son of them. The
boys protested aga nst such strange
procedure, but Ben fourished his guns.
told them he had the whole United
States at his back, and imperiously Or
dered them into an empty warehouse
near, the door of which stood open.
The novelty of the thing somewhat
muddled the boys, and without word
they filed into the temporary prison,
and Ben closed the door. He then
rustled around and found several log
chains, with which he securely fastened
them, and, with the dignity of high
private in State militia corps, mounted
guard on the outside. The boys ven.
tilated their prison cell as well as they
could with what ammunition they had,
and then dropped off to sleep. In the
morning Ben released them, after ex-
acting a solemn promise to behave
themselves like gentlemen and ladies
thereafter.
The boys walked over to the hotel as
meek as lambs. When eating their
breakfast they noticed that an unusual
amount of hilarity seemed to prevail in
the dining-room. The head and only
waiter laughed boisterously while serv-
ing the soup, the cook poked his head
through the doorway leading to the
kitchen and drew it back again quickly,
and series of Comanche war-whoops
that were positively painful to their lis
tening ears gradually subsidized into a
low, mellow laugh, which made the
plates on the tables fairly jingle.
Sounds of mirth also fioated in from the
office, until finally one of the boys went
out to inquire the cause. He came
back presently, and the most ignorant
Judge of the emotions as shown by the
human features could have told that he
was madderanawethen. He consulted
a moment with his companions, and
then called the waiter and ordered q
box of "forty-fours.h These were
served cold, and the command loaded
their weapons and marched down to the
saloon, where they found Ben Carter,
The spokesman, Broncho Bill, then and
there told Ben that he was no gentle
man. He had taken advantage of his
friends and made them the laughing
stock of the community. He had pre-.
tended that he was an authorized Depu'
ty Sheriff, when the fact was that he
had not a shadow of claim to the title
of Deputy Sheriff, Believing that he
represented the majesty of the law,
they had given him the respect he de-
served. He had insulted them by put.
ting them in the jug" over night, and
they could only wipe out that insult by
creating vacancy in the atmosphere
Whereabouts of about the size of his
body. He must 90, and go quick.
Ben is brave enough. but after he had
looked over the crowd and saw that
each man had his hand on his per.
suader, he concluded that perhaps
Broncho Bill was right. He got, and
when he had put several hundred wards
of sagebrush and sand between himself
and the station, the boys, having no
further use of ..forty-fours," emptied
their revolvers. From the agile man.
ner in which Ben was dancing around
as he passed swiftly over the brow OF
the hill toward Laramie, and the amount
of dust rising in little clouds all around
him, it is believed the boys carelessly
pointed their weapons his way while
taking the loads out.-Laram,e Boom.
srang.
L.,