The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-11-03
THE EYES OF D0UGAN.

be Coating in au unfath9mable infnity Of
gray, Above, below and on every side.
You thought sometimes as the sharp PROV
cleft tie mist that it would soon cut
through the wall of fog and would burst
out in q sunshine stretch Of sea. But al
ways you are disappointed, and the bank
of clouds still lies upon the sea, dark,
dreay and impenetrable.
A little group Of us had ta'.en some
camp stools and cros~,s the steerage
bridge to thc. forward turtle deck. At
hrs. we chatted gayly together, hut it re-
6uires robust temperament to resist the
depressing influences of fog OIL the
banks of Newfoundland, and converse
fion dropped.
One Of the group was n tall, blonde,
blue eyed German OF about 90 years OF
age. He spoke English with just the
faintest trace of Teutonic accent, and ap-
beared TO belong to the class of solid, IN
telligent and successful German-Ameri-
cans so frequently seen on ocean steam
ers. Some chance remark made by
him suggested the possibility of getting a
story from him. Yielding to the general
demand, lie said;
Chin-chin Camp up in the mountains
across the range from Fort Laramie. AT
least it was late in the fifties, for at that
time myself represented about l per
cent. of the entire population. l went
to Denver first, and hearing good reports
from Chin-chin struck off up into Wyo-
ming.
Joe Dougan had already been mem
Der of the camp some time when l
reached there. He was strange fellow,
but his most striking popularity did not
attract notice till q few nights after my
arrival.
Most of the aristocracy of the place
were in the back room Of "The Inferno
Il never found out how the proprietor
came across this appropriate name,
where rude keno apparatus was III full
operation. A number Of the boys were
seated at the little checker board tables.
The marker had Just let white marble
drop into his hand from cigar box, which
took the place Of the ball, and shouted
the number marked on it. Just as he
turned 10 the board behind him, two men
at one table simultaneously yelled,
"Kenor
Then followed cries of That was my
buttonv' you liei" and a vollev Of
oaths; there was q scuf1le: the table was
overthrown; the larger Of the two men
seized The other, and, almost with the
strength of Hercules. threw him over
his shoulder. One OF the fellows heels
struck the chandelier of oil lamps, and
the next instant the room was in dark
ness. The scufilc continued. Then above
the confusion, voice cried: My God,
look there!' We did not have to be told
the direction, for there across the room
glowed and spakled in the darkness two
cleaning eyes like balls Of liquid lire.
There was something demon like in their
luminous glare. The click Of q revolver
lock was heard in the stiffness which fol-
lowed; but voice from the direction OF
those fiery eyes said sternly, and with In
cisive distinctness: drop that gun, I've
got the draw on YOU.
At that very moment the door into the
saloon in front opened and widening
shaft of light fall across the Egyptian
darkness of the room. The marker ran
in with lamp; the cleaning eyes faded,
and we saw leaning calmly against the
wall the burly form of Joe DouSan. A
smile flickered about his mouth as he
saw our scared faces the point OF the re-
volver, which was loosely held i'll his
right hand, dropped down across his
breast, as he leaned carelessly against
the wall. Soon Dougan put up his re-
volver, made his way TO the door with
out word, and disappeared. FOR a week
we talked Of little else in Chln-chin
camp but Joe Dougan's eyes. He was a
good natured fellow, and submitted with
good grace to all sorts of public dem9n-
STATIONS and investigations. Nearly
every night after dark the boys would
get him TO stand across the street and
call out the names of cards as they were
drawn from deck. Then they were
passed in turn to the crowd before the IL
Illuminated saloon, and the keenness Of
Dougan's peculiar eyesight was yoclter-
ously applauded. Occasionally some
skeptic asked the privilege Of drawing
out the cards, and would turn the back
toward Dougan, who sat on a doorstep
across the unlighted street. But Joe
would invariably say, Turn 1t round,
We fool. / can't see through the card"
And again Dougan would shoot at a
mark in the darkness, and often cut the
bulls eve, to the edification Of specta-
tors, who tested the result with q dark
lantern. Dougan's skill with the revol-
yer was so great that Jack Hinton, who
was on closer terms with him than any
other man in camp, TO show at once ms
friends remarkable eyesight and uner-
ring aim, on one occasion stood up IN
the dark with lighted cigar III his
mouth, which was TO be Joe's target.
He cut the lighted end clean of, leaving
the stump inf Jacks mouth.
Dougan was, as | said, very good ma
tured, but nevertheless he bad almost no
intimate friends, beside Jack Hinton,
who was one Of these broad hearted fell
lows that everybody seemed naturally to
trust and take into confidence. Dougan
kept by himself when the novelty Of his
strange faculty had worn off and lie
could avoid publicity. He was great,