The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-01-26
THE CROCK ISLAND CROWD"
Form er Residents of this City In Chi.
cag0..H0w they are Thought of
in the City by the Lake.

az tAS w ~ Inv A"hNs
The following is taken from the "Med>
dler" in the Chicago Sunday Herald
Rock Island ILL.,. IKE Galena, has turn
ed a good many of its earlier settlers into
Chicago Most of them have struck the
tide when it was just right. was pres
ent the other day when six Of these old
Rock Islanders met by chance. 1t will
not do to mention any names, as the Sc
quel will show. But they are all good
men in the every day aoceptation. After
they had meltioneh nearly everybody
who used to live in Rock Island in tine
good old days, one said:
You remember Buferd?'
Napoleon Bonaparte Buford2"
The same
Il should say did. He was yard
wide and all wool
lie was more than that. He was fifty
feet tall. without knot or limb.
That's what he was What are you
going to have"
Yes sir / remember Buford well.
Fun the bank there and invested his
UiOHtN - lBS diBtlhi sttth VI lAC tO MY! IL
in Kentucky Is"
He did. You're right, and went to
the wall,
Went TO the wall. bat paid every
dollar in the world he owed.
That was Buford to a dot
Men came to him and offered TO back
him with gold, but he said, No I've
g. Lantnclr a. unI tf
Kentucky Is go to the wall, I'll go to the
wall
And they went to the wall
"They did Butord was from kentucky,
! and one of the old Buford stock from
Kentucky was like a chip hewn from tine
walls of the New Jerusalem. ButorG en-
listed when the war came up got to be R
general, did some Of the-est best fight
/ ing that was done. lost verything he
had and died poor.
well, -, what are YOU going to
iake?"
There was moment Of silence, broken
only by the climbing Of glasses.
You knew, who kept the drug
store on the corner
! mi5ulf HEtls
Kept mighty fine brandy"
Finer than silk You never get any
such brandy now as he kept"
No, sir. You know we used to meet
there GA certain night in the week. Doc
knew when We were coming. He would
take the brandy bottle and ill it half full
of brandy and half full of water"
/ -
''On top? You're light. And We could
sip il along and say nothing until we got
to the halfway mark and then we would
begin to lay in his goods, and about the
time we got warmed up Doc would fl
the bottle agsin-but no water the SECOND
time"
''No Doc didn't mean to do anything
wrong in putting the water in. He only
did that so as to keep US there that mucf
longer II he hadn't put in the waite
we would have gone away earlier"
"Well, he don't have TO put water il
his brandy now. He's rich"
CAT this stage of the conversation thu
man behind the bar was detected in filling
the whisky bottle, to which the Rock Is
landers objected, They thought he wa
putting in water. but an investigation
resulted in a verdict for the defendant.
'sYou know Doc (Another doc
tor-not the druggist)
Il did. He was the best doctor in thu
United States
That's what he was. was teaching
school in Rock Island and had on
Il knew her we'll A pretty girl
X es, aud smart, She was taken sicl
brain fever. heard Of it and adjourn
ed school went and got Doc. AM
we drove out to her house, was in
sensible She had been for two days
: Doc examined her. aud then he said
You had better staid here tonight. To
morrow morning at II O'Clock she will b
conscious. She will open her eyes. ]
they are bright and clear the chances ar
in her favor, If they they arc bloodsho
there is no hope. But you better be her
to help her out Well stay. and watch
ed and watched AT II o'clock TO tn
second she opened her eyes, and the
were as clear as an unclouded sky
Think Of that Wonderful what Do
knew. He knew TO minute whe
she would wake
Yes. sir" And then he Rock Island
er who had once taught school turne
around to the bar aud gave the barkeepe
| the tip. The bottle came up, and whe
the glasses were filled the old school
teacher said. 'In half-hour after thu
Is eyes became bloodshot, and sb
died in my arms"
The glasses were drained in sileuc,
and the Rock Island crowd passed ou
The old schooi-teacher, now profession
al man in Chicago, said. in sort of husk
voice, Il didt mean to break up th
party so soon, but | got to thinking whe
about that old pupil Of mine and how sh
) died, 1t got the better of me"