Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-07
A. 500 as Srr.sa entered the room

show up well in tho west crOss-cut from
the man north drift on the 900 level,
at the point where they are making
the up-raise. That stock 1 let you have
at bed rock will go up now. You'll
come out all right on it yet. Yhe stock
has touched bottom. She's touched
bottom sure! Now she'll go up-the
least thing will send her up!''
Il don't pretend to know" said the
lawyer, ''but II friend Jones, who is
as sharp on stocks as any man of my
acquaintance, says Golden Shower has
only just begun to tumble; til t it VIII
90 so far below bed rock that dyna-
mite will not send it up-swears he
would not give n bit an acre for such
ground"
Smiths eyes flashed and his hair
bristled.
"Han he snorted. Clones says that,
know about the Golden Shower, Or any
other mine? If you listen to Jones, he
will land your boat for you devilish
quick. He hasn't a particle of mining
sense, common sense, nor sense of any
kind, when you come to pan him outn.'
Lawyer Coke detected about this
time an uneasy shutting of feet in the
closet. His scheme vas working.
Chuckling inwardly, he said: why,
Smith, l have always understood Jones
to be a sharp dealer in stocks, and that
he has made some pretty good hauls."
"Good hauls!" Smith repeated. 81
don't believe he has ever made a split
ter AS he has nothing to put into
stocks, how in thunder can he get any
thing out Of them?"
..But I have always understood Jones
to be rather a heavy DEALER" the law
yer said.
".Heavy dealer be hangedn' Jones re-
piled. "He stands before the bulletin
boards in front of the offices of the
brokers, and blows by the hour about
the good turns he has just made. Never
a stock goes up but he has just bought
500 or 1000 shares, and never a stock
goes down but he has just sold in the
nick Of time. III this time he does
not W a share of anything, except,
perhaps, some wildcat that is off the
Board. He's the boss liar of the Com
stock!"
A sound from. the closet as of the
grating of teeth reached the ear Of the
lawyer. He smothered a chuckle and
proceeded with the witness: ooh, but
you must be wrong, Mr.. Smith. You
must be wronging Mr.. Jones in what
you say. Mr.. Jones dresses well, and
lives well generally; therefore he must
be making something in stocks"
"Not a splitter!!" said Smith. Not
a splitter, i tell you! He owes every
body that will trust him. He owes his
tailor, owes at his restaurant, owes for
his lodgings, and would have been at
the end of his string long ago, but that
his landlady and some other fools be-
lieve him when he blows about his big
stock transactions. He'll go to where
the woodbine twineth very soon. You
a put Jones down for irregular dead
beat. l shouldn't wonder if he had al
ready skipped the town. 1 have not
seen him for a Gay or two. Besides, [
hear that he has managed to get hold
OF tn. little savings of his landlady,
some $780,
''Liar!!" was heard in q muffled roar,
as Jones rushed from the closet with,
uplifted chair, bristling and foaming
with rage.
Smith bounded from his seat at tho
lawyers center table, with yes Cog
Cling at the sudden apparition of
Jones from a quarter SO unexpected,
and in looks aux attitude so venomous
and threatening. He saw that the dogs
OF war had been slipped, and that it
was to be war to the knife. Impelled
by the instinct OF self-preservation,
Smith grasped an ink bottle from the
table and opened the battle by hurting
it with all his force at Jones' head.
Jones neatly stopped tho missile with
the bottom of his chair: The bottle
exploded with a crash, and a shower of
ink flooded the carpet and spattered
the walls. AS Smith reached for a
paper weight, Jones let driye at him
with his chair. Smith ducked his head
below the table just in time, and the
chair crashed into a large mirror.
Lawyer Coke loudly called upon the
combatants to cease the fray, but their
blood was up ard the voices of both
were still for war. They fired away at
each other from opposite sides of the
table. around which they were dancing.
with books inkstands and all else that
comes to hand. Jones had Just fired
at Smith plaster bust Of some great
legal light, which missed and crashed
to atoms in the remains of the shat
tered mirror, when tho latter seized
upon a bronze gladiator and whirled it
about his head, yelling: "Now I'll
fetch you!"
At sight of a missile so formidable
Jones made a sudden plunge under the
table, probably with the intention of
grasping Smith by the legs and land
ing him upon his back. Smith, how
ever, saw the dodge just as he was in
the act of firing away with the gladia-
tor, and, reserving his ammunition,
stopped beneath the table to whack
Jones's head with 1t. Finding that
there was not room in which to swing
his weapon, Smith contented himself
by trying to punch it into Jones's face
and eyes. Smith soon caused a free
flow of claret from Jones' nose and
from a cut he made over his right eye,
when the latter managed to get hold of
the base of the %statuette, and by a sud-
den push sent the head of the gladiator
into Smiths mouth, smashing IN one or
two front teeth. This unexpected re-
turn fire, and the pain it inflicted,