Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1884-08-18
HEALThFUL, BUT HAS DRAWBACKS
Why Life In che Rockies Even Now Is
Nos Conducive TO Longevity.

Not Conducive TO Longevity.
New York SUM- q
"Yes, said Col. Richards to Sun re
poster, the Rocky mountain region is
healthy beyond doubt, and yet l have
not seen centenarians around there IN
any numbers worth speaking Of A
good many causes operate against lon
gevity. The vast extent of country
lying between Cheyenne and Promontory
Point, from east to west, and between
the Northern and Southern Pa
cific. railroads, is not inhabited by
people famous for their quiet habits.
Desperadoes, forgers, cutthroats, and
rogues of every description, from Eu-
rope and the eastern states, have found
refuge in the Rocky mountain country.
No extradition law is recognized there,
and the sheriff who should attempt to
serve writ in some parts of that re-
gion ought either to have his life heav-
lily insured or to be pretty certain of his
chances in the other world Yes, army
deserters abound out there; they take
the uniform and rifle with them, and
exhibit themselves with the greatest
nonchalance. / hase seen a railroad
section worked by the boys in blue as l
passed in train with the paymaster on
the Union Pacific railroad, and they did
not seem at all disturbed by the pres
ence of officers.
I" 1t is not an uncommon thing to find
q camp composed of doctors, lawyers,
journalists, and men of good education
generally who have fed from the cities.
Some of them turn honest and steady,
too, after a while. Civilization comes
along and builds cities, and they become
mayors and that sort of thing. 1t is the
easiest thing in the world to build
city. A saloon is the nucleus. All
enterprising citizens dig hole in a
bank, in which he places a barrel of
powerful whiskey received from
Cheyenne or the nearest frontier city,
This he retails at twenty-five cents
a drink, making 1000 per cent.
profit. If not removed before the
barrel is sold, he constructs a
shanty of canvas and boards on
the old site, to which he gives the
name of FL Dorado, or maybe Golden
Slope. A gambling saloon springs up
beside him, and if he is lucky enough to
kill the proprietor he amalgamates the
two industries. If the proprietor kills
him, the result is the same-consolida-
ton. Perhaps you have heard the story
of the man who tapped the first comer's
barrel, and was discovered only when
customer grumbled at 25 cents a drink,
and said the gentleman on the other side
was selling at fifteen. No looked over
the bank and saw that, sure enough, an
interloper had inserted faucet in his
barrel and was running opposition. But
he did not shoot; he took him into part
nership, and now both of them are in
office-one judge, and the other sheriff
of the county.
tint oil hn in fha no
not desperadoes or shady characters.
Some of them are prisoners, and al
though the Jail is large, they are pris- |
oners all the same, for they cannot get |
away. They are men who went there to |
work on railroads or in mines, and can |
not procure money or summon energy |
enough to enable them to leave. They |
are feeble of character and unsteady of |
purpose Now and then one manages |
to beat his way on trains from place to |
place, but it would take him half life |
time to get to Chicago in that manner. |
There are things even the fiercest |
desperate may not do with inn
punIty. He must not be found |
stealing from comrade, for instance.
or assuming moral airs. Neither is il
necessary to walk about all the time like
a moving arsenal, though l must say it
- Olttil CoHNtiiCltb. ut
keep down the population considerably.
You read in story books how one
white man held host of redskins at bay
and escaped ultimately, but the fact is
Indians do not allow people TO escape,
once they have them in their possession,
and for one Indian whose bones whiten
the plains there are ten Caucasians On
the whole, it is safer and more comfort
able to dream away ones existence even |
in a place like New York, with all its
risks from cholera and falling houses, |
than to live in the Rockies even in 1884. |