St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-06
The Startling Experiences Of an IN
nOcent Young Tendertoot Hotel
Clerk at Eagle Pass City.
Antics Of the Boys Who Came in to
5 Attend the Ball. Careless Use
Of Firearms.
Entertainment for Man and Beast at
the Same Table and in the
Same Room.


in the Chicago Tribune.
Il was hotel clerk i'll Peoria, Ill" he
said in the course of some conversation,
land thought it would be funny to
come West and see the country"
Haven't You found it as humorous
as you expected%' l asked.
Il can't say that l have-I am now
making, as near as possible, a Decline
for Peoria. You see, knew fellow
down here at Eagle Pass City, Wyo.,
and he wrote me to come there and he'd
get me job as night clerk in the lead
ing hotel, the Maverick house. So L
went and got the place."
''Did you have any trouble with the
proprietor"
''NO, not at first, anyhow-it was the
guests that worried me. I'll tell you
little about it. The first night passed
Off smoothly. Somebody shot through
the window and knocked the pen out
from behind my ear, and at the time it
worried me considerably, but l look
back at it now and it hardly seems
worth mentioning. The second night
there was grand ball in town, and all
the men on the ranches for thirty miles
around came in. They called it shin
dig and said they were going to have
good time. l saw them for couple of
the corners polishing up their six
shooters with their handkerchiefs, and
swearing because the government
didn't pass law compelling the manu-
tacturers of ammunition to make cart
ridges foot long. They said they had
come after fun, and were going to have
it if it took leg. [ overheard one tall,
bony man who had but one eye and car
ried a shotgun say that he was no rabbit
and would as soon shoot a hotel clerk
as Chinaman. He said if the trouble
got bad anywhere he wanted to be right
in the middle of it with his boots on.
He carried his shotgun cooked all the
time and always walked in the middle
of the street instead of on the sidewalk.
81 told the proprietor that l was afraid
there was going to be trouble, but he
said L wanted to stand right UP to 'em
and not be bluffed and it would be all
right. He said he would stay and help
me, but he had to play the bull-fiddle at
the dance.
''Just after dark the boys began to
drop i'll and register. would ask them
if they wanted supper or room, and
they would talk pure profanity for a
minute or two and then say that they
didn't want nOthing-waS just arriving.
Pretty soon had six pages of arrivals,
and began to notice that some of them
were registering two or three times. One
fellow said he hadn't arrived at a hotel
for twelve years, and he liked it so well
that he stood and wrote his name
four times, Some of them insisted
on dipping the ends of their revolvers
in the ink and writing with them, and
pretty soon they began to make period
after their names by shooting straight
down through the register and counter
and pretty nearly into my feet. After
a while the One-eyed man came in and
said he heard | said he couldn't register.
/ denied it, and after talking long
time got him quieted down, and he
poured the ink out of the bottle down
the barrels of his shotgun and then
flOurished the muZzle around over the
page and let the ink run out, and made
some marks that looked as if the cat had
dipped her tail in quart cup of ink and
then switched it around over the regis
ter. He said he usually wrote his name
in blood, and it didn't come natural for
him to use ink.
'sAbout this time fellow rode in on
a horse and said he had taken the place
for barn, though he noticed now it
WANT hardly good enough for bosses.
Then he made his pony jump over a
chair and rode out. Somebody shot at
me couple of times through the win
dow, and [ caught a fellow on the other
side of the office with his gun over his
shoulder trying to get my range in a
little pocket looking-glass.
''They kept going back and forth be-
tween the hotel and ball room, stopping
at all the saloons on the way, and pretty
soon it kept me busy lodging bullets.
The fellow with the lOOking-glaSS was
nraotioinO oil thn fima onI ,roftino-
madden and madden because he couldn't
come close enough to draw blood on my
ear. l never wanted to get back to
Peoria so badly in my life.
pretty soon man rode in and reg
iStered himself and horse and said he
wanted supper. He insisted on riding
into the dining-rOOm and right up to the
table. The waiter went after his order
and started back to the office, when
the man yelled at me and told me to get
his pony some hay. He seemed to
mean it, and so went out to the barn
and got an armfuI of hay and brought
it in and stuffed it under the table. The
horse put his head down and went to
eating and the man sat up in the saddle
carving up pie with bowie knife.
Il thought about Peoria and lodged
bullets for the next few hours. One
fellow rode in and tried to rope me with
a lariat like he would a steer, but got
down behind the safe and he gave it up.
My One-eyed friend dropped in with a
rope with hangman'S moose Oh one end
of it and said he leckoned that was
about what | would come to fore morn
ing. He said was the first man that
ever tried to keep him from registering
Then he threw the rope over the chan
delier so that the moose hung a couple
of yards from my face and went away
Il was wondering why l ever left
Peoria, when couple of men came in
and walked up to the counter They
were pretty drunk, and thought they
were in saloon. Said one of them:
'POdner, nominate yer pizenp Whisky
said the other, and he took hold of an
inkstand filled with red ink, which had
set up after the other was empty. Pm
a-spillin' gin this time.' said the first
one, and he took the mucilage bottle,
and then they both tipped back their
heads and drank. When they finished,
they thrhw the bottles at my head and
abused the liquor for minute or so and
went out.
up to this time I had been shot at
fOrty-twO times, and thought of Peoria
on all average of five times to each shot.
The lOokIng-glaSS man had tired out
and gone away, and another fellow was
riding up and down the street on the
run and firing into the Office promiScu-
OuSly every time he went past.
"After while a man rode in and said
he wanted to 60 to bed. took a lamp
and went up stairs and he rode up be-
hind me and into his room. There he
got off and tied his hose to the wash
stand and turned and jumped into bed
with his boots and spurs on and pulled
his hat over his eyes and sta ted to 20 to
sleep. knew it was against the rules
of the house to wear spurs in bed, so l
said: Beg your pardon, sir, but you
have forgotten to take off your
spurs He began to roar like a