St. Landry democrat., 1885-02-07
@JIM's ONERY BROTHER. .
The Mysterious Robberies at Flat
Broke Camp.

Flat Broke was in state of angry
sub-surface excitement The hanging
of Chinaman a fortnight before had
not stopped the robberies Of dust, which
now came to be Of nightly occurrence.
Every man in the camp looked on his
neighbor with distrustful eye and the
universal distrust created an irritating
condition Of public sentiment, the pc
culiarity of which was that each miner
felt himself under the surveillance of his
comrades and uniustly beneath the
blighting shadow of suspicion.
When the camp turned out one bright
morning and added page to its rather
turbulent history in the aforementioned
episode, leaving the horrid shape dang
ling to a cottonwood as a monument of
blind savagery, it showed the utmost
cheerfulness and good humor. The
picturesque and rugged landscape, the
singing of the birds, the sweet, aromat-
ic woody odors which hung over the
early breeze, the dazzling sunlight, the
placid calm of the young day were all
in accordance with the feelings of the
boys, who enjoyed on their return to work
the peace of approving consciences and
the satisfaction born of a good deed fifty
performed; and yet the poor, molten
.sive, half-blind life which had been so
mercilessly snuffed out was sent into
the mysterious beyond for the crimes OF
another, and the Flat Brokers became
,diTnly conscious of the fact as after a
few DAYS the robberies were resumed.
EFF Chinee was human, I'll be
.derned eff l Wouldn' feel sneakin' about
sendin' him over the divide, said Gold
Dollar; but Gold Dollar was looked
upon as unnecessarily sentimental.
Jim Fixes had suffered much. One
of the first hauls the thieves had made
had been through slit cut in his tent.
Later he built shack, and one night,
while he was absent over the range, it
was broken open and the small hoard
inos of himself and his brother were
again taken. By virtue of his losses he
was made chief prosecutor before Judge
Lynch, but he seemed unnecessarily
severe in his accusations against the
poor, chattering wretch who only par
tally understood the nature Of the diff
Guilty,
.SToo blamed hard on the yaller
devil, seeing as he's got to hang any
way!' said Caravan Jones at the
trial; which remark caused Caravan"
to be facetiously installed chief mourner
in the subsequent ceremonies.
Perhaps Fixes losses had made him
hard. None knew or cared.
He was tall and angular, with slop-
ING shoulders, and he came from Mis-
souri,. His hair and Whiskers were dark,
but hi. eyes were those of blonde
not reassuring combination. Then
there was Jim's brother. / had almost
forgotten him. No one ever heard his
given name, and he was too insignificant
10 be accorded nickname. Jim invar-
iably addressed him as t'Say, you, " and
he was referred to as sthim, or s'Jim's
onery brother The mans appearance
was far from inviting, and there was
general lack of color in his entire make
up. He had straw tinted-hair, faded
and sunburned, large, Watery, protrud-
ing eyes of DO particular hue, and COM
plexion and clothes alike of a dull, dead
clay color. Never making a positive
assertion; holding opinions that We're
faint and half-hearted echoes of those
of his brother, and having an expression
which was standing apology for his
presence on earth, his whole being
seemed to be negative quality. AS 9
consequence his life was continued
career of sacrifice and seh-abnegation
q Y L & 3 G