The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-12-11

was given the choice ofdeath by hang
ing or shooting. He chose the rope,
although exhorted by his rough
, friends to select the bullet as the most
expedient and respectable agent ofex-
tinction. When reasoned with by
Riley, he stated that he preferred to
be hanged, 't'for," said he, GIVE seer
many a good man shot, and want to
see one hanged"
A few days before the day of execu-
ton Riley managed to secure an op-
portunity for Virgins to break jail,
which that worthy improved with alac-
rity. The fugitive was concealed for
eight days in the cellar under the
Walker House. Riley had sold his
secure the escape of Virgins. He had
Bill Bean to take the fugative to
Evanston, Wy. r.. on horseback, as
from that point he could get East in
safety. On the night when Bean was
to have taken Virgins away the lat
ter asked Riley to give him his pistol, las
hehad only two of his own, and he want
ed to fight for him if necessary. Riley
iSiekoSN 1O llloO, cOo IllC ploOOl w cbo cIl ofI
friend, but finally yielded to Wiggin's
opportunities and handed him the
weapon. The moment Wiggins got the
pistol he became almost insane with
passion, and, seizing Riley, thrust the
muzzle of the cooked revolver down
the latter's throat till it nearly choked
him. Before Wiggins could carry out
his threat to blow the head off his
partner Bean and others interfered,
and Riley made his escape. He at
once went to his lodgings, and, getting
another pistol, rushed back to the
cellar, but Virgins had set out on his
journey and tragedy was averted. It
subsequently transpired that Virgins
was jealous of Riley, whom he suspect
ed dofpaying attentiont to his inamorata
while he was hiding from the officers of
the law in the cellar. After escaping
from Utah Wiggins could not rest. He
soon made his whereabouts known by
several daring eseapades, and was fin
ally arrested and taken back to Salt
Lake. He again escaped, and some
years after he was shot in arrow in New
Mexico.
Riley moved to Nevada from Salt
Lake City, and figured in that section
as d monte gambler and a hard case
generally. He finally descended on
San Francisco, and, in conjunction
with Charles Merton, better known as
Boston Charley, g. swell mobsman,
now serving a term in an Eastern
penitentiary. opened the first bunco
shop in San Francisco. The establish
ment was located at the corner of
Sansome and Pine streets, and did a.
thriving business, the capital being
furnished by some business men ofthe
city. While in this avocation Riley,
alias Foster, fell desperately in love
with sixteen-year-old girl of Hebrew
descent, and finally married her, des-
pite the opposition of her parents,
when she was scarcely 16 years of age.
After this exploit he settled down to
the comparatively quiet life of faro
dealer, in which profession he became
paralized under remarkably strange
circumstances. One night when
dealin "a flyer" a gambler won
eleven straight bets. Foster, for
by that name he was then
known, burst into the widest
profanity, and wound up his exhibit
ton of anger with the wish that he
might be paralyzed if the man won the
next bet. The man won, and as the
faro box dropped from the nerveless
hand of the dealer the players looked
at him in horror, for he was stricken
helpless with paralysis of the left side.
Some time after the broken-down des-
perado, no longer stalwart speci-
men of humanity, but poor cripple
tottering on crutches, was committed
to the almshouse, by his wife. It
seemed impossible that ne could ever
again return to the world, but the tre-
mendous vitality of the man brought
him back from the jaws of death, and
he is again struggling for a living, a
cripple, sustained only by the hope
that he may somehow regain the af-
fection of his wife, now separated from
him by divorce and married again
San Francisco Call.