The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-18
AN ODD PAIR OF PARTNERS.


L.
! The far West is q great place for young doc
| tors, as well as for old ones who have never had
much success in the East Almost every West
EN- town has an overplus of physicians and law
i yers- The former find the most to do. and the
latter get the most money. The sickness and
| wounds which have to be attended to are numer-
Gus, but the capacity of the patients to pay is not
usually very, great, and frequently amounts to
! ways make their bills high, and when they col
lect one they have received pay for several which
they never hope to get direct Ten or
nfteen dollars visit is modest
/ charge for many of these inexperienced
physicians. and in every serious case some one
/ must be called in consultation, and he will put
| in a bill for $25 or $50 for half an hours time.
1 The lawyers are not called so often, but they
| have to deal with men who have money or who
/ can get it, and they make money when they can
1 find anything to do. An old lawyer and young
! doctor, the former with very fiery nose and
| the latter with only suspicion of mustache,
/ were here last week prospecting for location.
They had been hunting together for about two
years. and had been unable to find a place
where the chances of success seemed good The
/ lawyer called the young man Doc, and Doc
4 called the old man Judge In the hotel the
| other evening they got to telling some of their
! experiences, and before they had gone
| far they were surrounded by a large and appre-
ciatiye crowd. They had taken in in their travels
about half of the prominent mining camps, and
when they left here they announced that they
intended to try their luck the coming summer up
| in Idaho and Montana.
'The first town we struck the Judge said,
| was Lead City, up in the Black Hills and as
| there were only three or four lawyers and doc
tors there we thought we had hit it right the
/ first time. We got couple of rooms and fitted
up one for Sleeping and the other for an Office,
| while we took our meals in a saloon beneath us.
A week after we had located and got our signs
| out we sat one evening talking matters over and
| wondering if we hadn't made mistake after all,
| when our conversation was interrupted by two
| pistol shots that sounded almost as if they were
4 fired in our rooms. There was great hubbub,
4 and as we rushed down stairs there was great
cry of
"a doctor doctor! Call doctorr
Here's one,' | said, elbowing my way
| through the crowd and making room for the Doc;
| here's one right here
4'The Doc and saw at glance what the trou-
! BILE was. One man had shot another in the sa-
1 loon. The wounded man lay on the ground and
| two or three men were holding his assailant /
perceived at once that here was case for both
of US. So whispered to the Doc to pitch in and
save the man if he could, and would see to the
| legal defence of the guilty party. Oh, you see,
| I'm older'n he is, and / think all these various
aspects of a case come to an elderly person
| quicker than they do to younger fellow. He
pitched in and so did ], and before midnight we
were both solid, with all the other doctors and
lawyers in town hanging around with nothing to
| do.
"Along about o'clock in the morning we
both got to our room and reported progress He
| had dressed the mans wounds and was to call
again In the morning, and had seen the pris-
oner, had long interview with him and his
| friends, planned out very brilliant line of de-
Tense, and spent three bits treating the deputy
sheriffs. The Doc reported that the wounded
man seemed to have money, and | reported that
| the prisoner and his crowd had agreed that if
l got him clear was to have $3.50. We went
down stairs and took couple of drinks in honor
of our good luck, and then went to bed confident
| that we had made good beginning The next
morning the Doe was up some time before me,
because he was little anxious about his patient,
| and, as he was leaving the room, he saide
I'll be back after little. Wait half an hour
or so, and | viii go to breakfast with you
II got up after while, and as he had not re-
| turned, l sat down and began mapping out on
| paper the case of my client. had just got we'll
! into the business, when looked up, and there
| stood the Doc.
1.-The mans gomez he gasped looking yacantly
around
| ".Gone whereg says T.
"'Don't know, he said. Some of the boys
| say he is dead and buried, and others say he's
gone to Deadwood. couldn't find any trace of
him or. or the gang saw your client though
| ".Where 'boutsP says I.
| "'Down here, hanging to an awning
Jerusalemv says |, and grabbed my hat
and walked down the street. Sure enough, there
was my man hanging dead to an awning. felt
| of his pulse and of his pockets, but didn't get
| anything. Everybody had disappeared from the
| town for the time being, and went back to our
rooms. We talked the matter over long and
earnestly, and after we had looked at the thing
in all its bearings we came to the conclusion that
young men had no chance in that town, and
| left"
! The Doctor, who had listened attentively to
everything the Judge had been saying, here took
! big bite of plug tobacco and said: you can't
very often tell about town by appearances.
| We have found that out. Places that seem to
| hold out the fewest inducements are sometimes
| the ones that offer the best chances When we
had been in Tin Cup three weeks without get
| ting sight OF dollar we came pretty near de-
Gliding to leave, and guess we would, but we
were mighty short, and we have always made
I 1t point either to leave place before got
strapped or to stay until we made something.
In this case we were strapped, and there was no
ase OF thinking Of making a change In the con-
dition were in then.
lone day not long after this young woman
| came into our office and asked to see the Judge.
| He rose and greeted her in his most majestic
way, giving her the spare chair Then, when
| they had passed the time of day, she looked at
me rather sharply, the Judge frowned, and 1
| got up and walked out Itseemed as though she
| would never go, but finally saw her trip away
and crept shiveringly back to the office. The
Judge was radiant with smiles. He had got a
| divorce case. and he believed that he would be
able to work me in as an expert l listened to
the recital of the facts with the greatest interest
and when he had finished | told him that we
were fixed beyond doubt.
1.-THE young woman had been married to
| well-to-do old miner whose success had led him
into various excuses, and when drunk he had re-
peatedly pounded her numerically. She never
| cared much for him. but she did have banker
| ing after his dust and so did we. She had given
| the Judge all the points and instructed him to
| bring suit right away AS retainer she had
| left $25 with him. and of this the Judge gave me
| $40 All at once we seemed to be rolling in
riches In the afternoon messenger came to
the office for me, saying that the lady was sick
and that my services were needed at once I
got myself into as good shape as possible and
called She was reclining on a lounge, and after
many tears she told me- apparently with great
reluctance, that she had fallen down
cellar and bruised herself severely and
she feared broken some bones. 1
made an examination, and found small black
and blue spot on arm, and slight abrasion
of the skin on her left knee. After prescribing