The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1886-12-30

CRAZY JAM.
Well, yes, stranges, thar's paving
dirt in that claim, but thar amt miner
in Lucky Gulch would low it teched till
the gals old enough to have it done, or
It'll she needs the dust, which won't be
soon, reckon"
That wer' Crazy Jim's claim, which.
with his dyin' breath, he willed to that
gal O. hiss'n, an thar amt miner around
these dlggin's goin' agin' the dying wishes
O. Crazy Jim.
who wer' Crazy Jim?" Well, that's
a hard question, stranger, but no matter
who he wer' his heart wer' in the right
place.
"Thanks! don't mind if l do. thar's
nothin' helps feller's feeln's at times
like taste O good pizen
It's nigh onto four years, stranger.
since Jim struck this camp and staked off
that claim over thar an went to diggin'
in llstless way, as though it didn't mat
ter to him how the dirt panned out. The
boys in camp didn't take to him at first.
tor he 'peared kind O ofish like, an had
way O. keepin to hisself. Many's the
time I've seen him sit for hours in the
shadder of rock an when he thought
no one wer' lookin' he'd draw a picture
from his bosom an cry over it like a
baby"
"When the boys axed him his name he
told 'em to call him Jim, an that wer' all
of his history they ever got from him."
1t wer his queer looks an dong's
caused 'em to call him Crazy Jim, an the
name stuck to him like thieven' to a
Greaser"
=" Bime by the boys found out that Jim
had struck it rich an were panin' out
several ounces O. dust every day that he
worked, but them wer' flush times, and no
one envied him his good luck"
Every ~.oA when tlss mail e...,I. l~r.
camp Jim would pack hiss dust an send
it back to the States, an once and
while letter would come for him, an
after readin' 'em, he would look kinder
pleased like (he never smiled), and 60 to
work harder than ever"
"The summer wer' nearly gone, an the
boys wer' diggin' pretty steady, KNOWN
they couldn't do much after the winter
set in, when, one day, the whole camp
wer' thrown into a state of wild excite
ment by the news that miner by the
name of Kansas Bill an his two mess
mates wer' down with small-po 1t wer'
two hundred miles TO doctor or medi-
Gin an four days afore the stage wer'
due"
"Pll tend em said Crazy Jim, when
told the trouble, an tellin' the boys to
leave provisions near the cabin, he went
right of.
"The boys looked at each other kind O.
sheepish like, but they didn't say much.
Well, it wer' nine weeks afore Kansas
Bill an his mates left the cabin, an all
that time Crazy Bill staid by 'em and
nursed 'em tender as a woman.
"a few days after Bill an his mates
got up, Jim wer' passin' Tim Daly's
saloon, when long Tom Allen ran out an
dragged him inside an set him on the
counter.
GO Bill said Tom, Crazy Jim's q
trump. He may be little light in the
upper story, but his hearts right, an this
camp owes him a vote of thanks
"Well, the boys gave a shout that
nearly lifted the roof of Tins saloon, an ,
they shook Jim's hand It'll tears came in
the poor fellows eyes, and from that day
on thar wasn't a man in the camp but
would died with his boots on for Crazy
Jim.
cit wer' late in the following spring
that a fancy lookln' chap came out from
the States, bringin' woman that he
claimed wer' his wife, an opened a saloon
and gamblin' room over thar on the main
street O. the Gulch.
"The camp had begun to take on con-
siderable town airs then, though saloons
and gamblin' were the principle business,
an the comm O. the strangers excited
little interest.
"Tbe feller called himself Dick Nash,
an he wer' soon known among the boys
40 Gambler Dick
"His place wer' way ahead O anything
in the camp in pint O. style, an - the wo-
man, who wer' real handsome, tended
bar, he soon had big run O. custom"
"Gambler Dick dealt faro in . room
lust back o. the bar, an many . one O.
the boys would drop, in few hours, the
dust that it had taken months O. hard
labor to scrape together" )"
alt wer' soon whispered round the
camp that Dick want playin' square
game, but the boys had no positive proof
an az he had proved himself lightnin'
shot with rife an pistol no one ever dared
accuse him o. cheating"
81 said the woman wer handsome, but
to me there 'peared to be an evil look in
her black eyes, an noticed at first that
che looked kind o suspicious like every
time new customer came in the bar"
"At first the boys INDUCED in little
speculation ~ to who an Whist the couple
wer. but it wer three months afore we
learned their history, an then it oil came
about in way We want expectin'.
"One evenin' the boys had oil gathered
ct Gambler Dicks piece, an wer driskin'
an gsmblin', while waisiu' for the stage,
which wsr' dusat nina 6olnso' the boys
sn' runnin' outshey picked him up an
] insisted on his dsinkin'' with 'em. The
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