Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-12-18

Lying among old and dirty quilts, upon a
rickety bunk was the figure Of a man.
Death appeared so have already claimed
him. His sunken and emaciated
jaw hung down, his eyes stared and by the
Pickering candle his breathing could hard
ly be detected. His matted beard moved
and in a painfully hoarse whisper he said:
"Find him?" "Here he is" and the wo-
man made way for me at the bedside.
His eyes moved and met mine. A feeble
finger pointed. The woman understood,
and brought the candle nearer. 'Do you
know me?:' he asked. | shook my head.
Remember Tom Beckett My memory
had failed to retain his name. 'Droye
team for Chase, eh?' Then it all came
back to me. He saw it in my counter
ance. "Sit down. he said. The woman
brought Il stool and chair, the latter for
me. I'm dying" he went on h~oarsely
and with effort, "And before | go, you'd
better hear what I've to say Nodding
my willingness to hear, he proceeded.
Three times I've had you covered with a
Gun. remember the fust timer" l3ecely-
ing no reply he said, The old CEDAR |
tried to initiate surprise, but he laughed a
~croaking malicious laugh and said, "You
remember, ell? Sam Lufkins died that day
and it was all mine" He smiled a ghast-
" smile and continued, 'Jim Macleod
and Johnny Broadwear; all moonshine:
Sam handed me the box on the hill mile
out of J; | put it in my wagon and
hurried on while he waited awhile, went
up by the old creek road and had it hid
before 10 o'clock that night. Nobody in
the world knew where it was, nor even
suspected, till months after you came
nosing around and | got there in the nick
o time" he cackled in tiendish glee which
brought on a coughing fit which racked
him terribly. It was some minutes before
he could speak. Broken, quivering on
the verge of eternity, doomed by that
scourge of neutrality-suspicious.. to a
horrid, painful death Tom Beckett rallied
as it were by sheer force Of will power,
and went on. "You didn't waken any
body, did you? 1t wouldn't have done
you any good. by the time you got to the
lumber yard | had it and was striking out
for tall timber on the best old roam mus
tang that ever single footed under a sad
die. Twenty-eight miles that night along
the north range and fifty-two the next, took
us into Sacramento before day, with $50
900 il gold coin. 1t was a big load, but [
was fixed for it, and the roam never finch
ed" He wanted to cough again but only
smiled wickedly, and then lay back ex-
hausted. "Tell him." he said, and the wo-
man picked up the narrative.
II didn'tknow where he had been and
didn't ask no questions. We had a milk
ranch he bought with the money he got
from stumps. Twas'nt payin' much and
he said he was going down to the bay to
look up somethin' else. That was the last
| seen of him, till three years agoi in Chey-
enne. He'd been in Mexico and all
around" "How did it happen that John
nv Broadwear went to Mexico if he. had
nothing to do with the stage robbery?" |
interrupted. Beckett turned a little, with
a groan, and answered. "We jobbed him.
His reputation was bad. He and | robbed
the Chilli sluice boxes, and when the gold
was gone, told him he was suspected, bet
ter leave the country, scraped up a hun
dred dollars and started him for Mexico"
"Then why was MacLeod's name men,
tened" | next asked. "a mistake. Sans
fault. Neither Of us liked Macleod. One
night at a dance he paid more attention to
Mol than suited me, We had words and
after that never spoke. Sam picked a fight
with him once and didn't last a minute, so
Sam to get even mentioned his name.''
He coughed again, almost choked, and
them completely worn out, lay silent. The
woman without any cue except a look
from him continued the story. "Tom told
me here in this same cabin that if the folks
around that country had been smart, they'd
a keep their eye on more'n n man with
a long beard"
She stopped. Beckett again resumed,
but with so much difficulty that it was
cruel to allow the dying wretch to proceed
and in answer to a remonstrance he re
piled, "When I tell you all, then. not till
then will / be quiet" The strangest part
of this mans behavior was his desire to
tell me his story and yet no sign of con