River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-01-25
WILLIAMSOLD MOTHER.


w lllIl1 III NV
William was wicled.
When pick out me man from mimi
Camp made of 500 rinaways, debt-iumpels,
cut-throats. gamblers, horse-thieves and
murderers. AMI calIhim wicked, | mean for
the reader to INFER tha he was right up and
down bad.
which was exactly the ease with William
Trip.
William settled himself down In our midst.
For all know he vas the founder Of White
Dog Diggings, andperhaps it was the rest of
us who settled down in his midst. Be tina
as it may. he was here AMI there he re-
manned, Notwithstanding several broad hints
To the effect that III would look handsome
at the end of a roIe.
Wicked Well, he was that.
Such a swearer a William was Hewould
begin as soon as lis eyes were opened in the
morning and kee, up steady fire until 10
o'clock at night He spent more time in in.
venting new oatls than some of the men did
in digging for gid. He swore by every
saint ever heardbf He swore by the hea-
yens and earth-the angels--w hales-sharks
-piytes-preachers, and even
pork and beans. / think his greatest anx-
iety was to fndiomething new to swear by,
but he found enough to make any mans flesh
creep.
And he was a caeat and liar.
There wasn't q nan in camp who would
believe him under .ath and no 1ifan ever
plaged cards with him and escaped his
knayish devices. Hewas quarrelsome, over
bearing, hasty and ihained to shed blood,
and though shot at ,iS5en different times,
he always escaped without scratch.
You wonder that we d2n't turn out or
hang him.
Well. somehow we alyays intended to,
but always put it off to more convenient
date. The success of botncing a man de-
pends good deal on wh) the man is On
dnr first gentle hint TO William Tripp that
unless he was packed upand out of camp
inside of thirty minutes lis anatomy would
lie riddled with bullets be produced a couple
Of revovers, backed up gainst the Red Eye
saloon, and calmly 6bsaNed that he was
aching for a little excitement | think his
actions at that particular time had some
thing to do with our giving him, rope and
seeking to get along with his eccentric traits
of character. III
II move" said Elder Beacon one night
when we were talking about Williams bad
ways, "that the COMMITTEE get the drop on
him, and then run him into the hills"
Just so, but who wee the committee?
That was another point We could never salts
iactorily determine, and that was another
reason why William continued to abide
with us.
Shoot Well, you nev,r saw such an eye
and such nerve Just IS far as he could
see the bowl of pipe i'll mans mouth he
could smash 1t with bullet. Almost every
hat in camp had an air-htle made by once OF
his bullets, and though was predjudiced
against William had to admit that he re-
spected mems heads ii Shooting at their hats.
No he would have felt real bad Aad his
bullet carried too low.
One dav when sort parson came over
from Turkey Greek to westle with William
and ertreat him to turn fom the wrath to
come, what happened Why, William
backed oil fifteen PAGES AID cut every button
off the parsons coat Will bullets, and as a
grand wind up he made long shot after the
flying victim and left higinark on the mans
ear in order to know hin again
But there came halt n William Trips
mad career, and it happeled in a curious
way. A fire in his tent bne night burned
up lot of his traps, andhe had to make Il
ride ofthirty miles on Colonel Cooper's old
mare to replace itwith nev. The morning he
rode out OF camp was thu last time we saw
him, but we heard from dozen different
ones Just what happenedhim.
About twelve miles froDl our camp was
Overland Trail, and just where our own trail
struck in was a pretty Little valley with
plenty of water and wo0C 1t was favor
tie camping spot with immigrants, and the
day William Tripp reachld it he found half
a dozen wagons and as many families halted
for a breathing spell.
The deviltry in Williams nature bubbled
over when he struck that valley and behed
such scene of peace. Children were play
ing around, women were washing and
1uendng, and brawny men were repairing
over their wagons ana harness ard whistIing
over their work. William drew rein and
gazed upon the scene for a few minutes.
Then he out with his revolver. S ated be-
fore one of the fires wa an old woman with
her knitting in her hand and a pipe in her
mouth. 1t was a long shot, but the Evil
One urged William to ty it, and try 1t he
did.
What happenei2
Something even worsethan murder. The
bullet went straight To- the old woman's
head and crashed into her brain. Then
something awful FOLLOWED. She rose to her
feet, whirled around TO face the shooter,
and, true as you live, Sic seemed TO look
at him for thirty seconds before she tottered
forward and shriekei out;
sWiliami OH my s,n WilliamW
Then she pitched forward on the grass
and was dead in a second al the red blood
oozed out and made o terrible stain on the
green grass.
And Willam-what dH he do? He was
like one turned to stoIe. The woman's
words plainly reached hisears, and he must
have recognized her face, La the one awful
moment in which he sat gazing at the
corpse on the grass it must have flashed
across him that his posr old mother had
made that long Journey with neighbor5 for
no other purpose than tohunt him up--he,
the boy who had left be- years be ore and
had been the subject of Ter nightly prayers
ever since. Wicked as he was he must
have felt her devotion and sacrifices.
And then?
He sat there in his saddle, his eyes fasten
ed ON his mothers corpse, and the revolver
still in his hand. While be sat thus one OF
the immigrants, who believed that the
camp was to be attacked by force, leveled
his rifle over the wheel Of wagon and sent
a bullet blowing Though Williams
heart.
Ali WE'LL it's years and years ago, and
the twin graves in the falley have long
since been trampled out fsight, and White
Dog Digsings can be found no more, but
the day the news of that full tragedy came
back to us we dropped splde and pick and
could work no more for the day. And at
ter long period of silence among the men,
who had instinctively gathered around
Judge Desire to hear his opinion, the judge
arose and said:
"Feller citizens the wicked don't live out
half his days, and don't you forgit itl''
--=rze--.-<a~----
NARCOLEPSY.