The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-07-17
THEY STRUCK PAY DlRr.
. nog.Fight That Ended In a Hole In the
4 y" Ground with Gold In It.

Fight That Ended In a Hole In the
,;round with Gold In It.
l., the bar-room of the Miners Arms,
- Front street hotel ~patronized
.nn;;oav nv miners bound to and from
cpa lining regions of the west, were
.no ~ three groups of men drinking
WV talking over old times recently,
am a slender young man came in
rry,no an old-fashloned carpet bag
osanad like a slice of cheese. Alleged
s"lf ~ for a moment, and three or four
.mned up and said in concert: Its
IT, and he's struck it sure. How did
you do lts HE hand 70
"a the bar. where Il man in a white
Van set out a row of small glasses
" a fat cut glass bottle. The men
ali drank, and then, as the newcomer
drew the back of his hand across his
mouth, he said; -.
boyP"
Mrs NIGH on to six months since the
narsop moved into a shanty just a mile
Ont of Elko. 1t was the dead of win.
for Int he was cheerful, and lowed
he shouldn't suffer much while his
nietv lasted. 1t was mighty lonesome
Tor the boy, though, to hear him tell
If. until the break up, when Deacon
Holbrook, from Connecticut, drove a
stake Joining the parsons. The dea-
CON had a boy called Dick, and he and
Bob. the parsons boy, were a wnole
.eam. Both of them had dogs, and
each thought his dog could lick the
other one; but I'm giving it to you
straight, the parson and deacon watch
ed them that close that they couldn't
get up a fight to a V them. One DAY
Rob he came to me and told me al
about it, and l told him we'd put up .
lob on the plety business. Accord
ingly the Saturday paper
special service for Sunday morning III
Bill Stevens dance hall. When the
hour came, and the parson and the
deacon we're turning over their hymn
books, Bill and me and two others
that I'd let into the secret was up tC
the parsons ranch arranging the pre-
liminaries. We made a beautiful In
closure with two boards and a Wagon
box AGAINST one side Of the shanty,
and then we washed the dogs. Bill he
cO1cn6u lut ucdCOH . oO5 oho
after the parsons. They were both IL
prime condition, and when wee
turned them loose it was a glorious
> spectacle to see them claw across the
gravel for the center of the pit. The
deacon's pup got the first hole and
gave the other a good shake, but he
lost again, and then the two of them
rolled over and over and riz up on
their hind legs and clawed, and got
dow on their knees and dug their
paws into the ground. There was
dust afying Immediately, and it was
all we could do to see which was on
TOP. In fact, it was such a mighty in
teresting fight that we never noticed
how time was passing, and before we
knew it the parson and the deacon
rode up on their b%ronchos.
"sBrethren, brethren, says the par
Son, what does this mean?' Dick,
take your dog home, sir
'..Maybe you'd better take yoan
dog off from him so he a go home
himself, said the deacon, sarcastic
like, and he was just about right, too,
for the parsons dog was on top chaw-
Ing the others neck scandalous. That
, made the parson mad, and he lowed
the deacon had an ornery pup, any
how. That was enough for the dea-
con. He was beginning to reach for
the parson when Bill Stevens began to
yell like an Apache. The dogs had
wallowed their way right down into
the ground, and Bill had in a mechan-
veal way picked up a handful of dirt
and rubbed it between his fingers, and
he'd hefted a nugget. There was a
rustling Whereabouts stalking of claims
over the parsons ranch tor a few min
utes, and when we'd got it all done
regular we all had enough to take us
back to the states"
(Which lickedP" said the bartender,
wIping his hands on his partially white
apron.
The newcomer looked at him re-
proachfully for a moment, and then
said:
If you'd been there you'd have
known we didn't waste no time watch
ing dogs fight after they'd struck pay
dirt. "-NeW York Sun.