Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-12-13
inlaw.
in-law
BObbits. "

The boys in Dutchman's Gulch usu-
adY alluded TO him as "The Kid of the
Camp" but he said his real name was
Bobbits. have spoken Of the miners
of Dutchman's Gulch as 'bOys." Some
Of them wore boards as thick as a hedge
fence, and hair which hOated on the
breeze like wharf. LeadVilIe was the
nearest supply to Dutchman's Gulch,
and at Leadville could BObbitts usually
be found.
The Kid of the Camp was about nine
years old, with a thin, Weazen face. q
shrewd twinkle in his rat-like eyes, and
a perverted teste for Monte and dog-leg
tobacco. BObbits invariably played in"
what few nIckles, dimes, and Quarters he
could earn or beg, but the older gam
pliers liked to have him lean over their
shoulders when engaged in bucking the
tlger, regarding 1t as good luck, and Bob
bits as a Mascotte.
My ma named me BObbits," he would
explain, whenever Intercepted regard
ing his early history; "and reckon she
knOWed me-"
Bobbits has made his appearance in
the Tar West at Cheyenne, where he had
quietly dropped of from a Union Pacific
freight train, with bOOt-blacking appa-
ratUs slung over his shoulder, and a paid
up capital of eighteen cents in his peck
ct.
From Cheyenne, Bobbitts drifted over
to Leadville.
where was you born ?" INQUIRED Joe
WatrOus alias the Count" one evening.
after be had turned in a couple of hun
dred dollars worth of dust to the Monte
bank. With the Count this was not an
unusual experience; in fact, so mOnot-
onous had 1t become Of late, that it was
Tar from possessing any very great de-
gree of tacinatiOn.
"Dummed eff i know" answered Bob
bits, rubbing away industriously at the
gamblers boots. The fust thing I
knowed I was in Clinton, Iowa, liy-
ing with my ma. Me and her lived to-
gether."
"Who was your father?" continued |
the Count, lazily removing q polished |
.beOt from the box and substituting |
smother one heavily coated with yellow /
clay.
''Dummed eff kin tell yer. Guess he |
was no great shakes of man of ma 1
would have told me suthin about him 4
But she didn't. Reckon he was a fly-by- 4
night, and no good"
"Then you never saw him to know /
him?" said the Count.
This conversation between BObbitts /
and the Count attracted quite a crowd Of /
penniless or Indifferent gamblers who 4
had been lOUnging about the saloon, /
and they commenced to manifest some
thing OF a hstless interest in the broken, /
sketchy, biographical narrative of Bob /
bits.
"WelI, dunno, exactly" replied Bob
bits, pausing in his work and sitting /.
back on his heels. "I'll tell yer. There \
was two men came to mas house one
night about nine o'clock, an they both \
talked with ma, and ma, she talked back /
at 'em as wild as a jack rabbit, an I /
heard one of 'em say as how ma was a 4
bad woman, and then the other man hit +
him with a cheer and draWd a knife to /
stick MIN; but ma, she got between 'em
am kep the man OF his pardner, an
then they both quieted down an went /
away together, an ma cried, an said one I
OF 'em was nay fader, but never knOwd /
which, an never did get the right 4
on it. was pretty young then, yOu
know.
Again Bobbitts applied himself vigor-
ousIy TO the mud-c0ated pedal Of the +
Count, and the crowd laughed at the /
curious idea Of youth advanced by the /
.precoGiOus Bobbitts.