Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-12-07
THE EYES OF D0UGAN.'

gray, ABOVE, DelOW anu On every sue.
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 a sunshine stretch of sea. But al
ways you are disappointed, and the bank
of clouds still lies upon the sea, dark,
dreary and impenetrable.
A little group Of US had taken some
camp stools and crossed the steerage
bridge to the forward turtle deck. At
first we chatted gayly together, but it re-
quires a robust temperament 10 resist the
depressing influences of a fog of the
banks Of Newfoundland, and
ton dropped.
One Of the group was a tall, blonde,
blue eyed German of about so years Of
age. He spoke English with just the
faintest trace of Teutonic accent, and APP
peared 10 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 poss bility Of getting a
story fromhim. Yielding to the general
demand, he said:
Chin-chin Camp isup in the mountains
across the range from Fort Laramie. At
least il was late in the ffties, for at that
time 1 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 a mem.
Der Of the camp some time when ]
reached there. He wasa strange fellow,
but his most striking popularity did not
attract notice till a few nights after my
arrival.
Most of the aristocracy Of the place
were in the back room Of ''The Inferno
q never found out how the proprietor
came across this appropriate name),
where a rude keno apparatus was in full
operation. A number of the boys were
seated at the little checker board tables.
The marker had Just let a white marble
drop into his hand from acigar box, which
took the place Of the ball, and shouted
the number marked on it. Just as he
turned to the board behind him, two men
at one table simultaneously yelled,
s'Keno!r
Then followed cries Of THAT was my
button!'' "You liei" and a volley Of
oaths; there was a scufle; the table was
overthrow; the larger Of the two men
seized the other, and. almost with the
strength of a 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 scuflc continued. Then above
the confusion. a voice cried: MY God.
look there!" We did not lave to he told
the direction, for there across the room
glowed aud sparkled in the darkness two
cleaning eyes like balls Of liquid fire.
There was something demon like in their
luminous glare. The click Of a revolver
lock was heard in the stiffness Which fol-
lowed; but a voice from the direction Of
those fiery eyes said sternly, and with in
cisivc distinctncss: drop that gun, I've
got the draw on YOU"
At that very moment the door into the
saloon in front opened and q widening
shaft Of light fall across the Egyptian
darkness If tho room. Tho marker ran
in with a lamp; the cleaning eyes faded,
) and we saw leauiHg calmly against the
wall the bUgly fogm Of Joe Dougan, \
smile ficEcrld about his mouth as he
saw our scared faces; tie point Of the re-
volver, which was loosely held in lis
right hand, dropped down across his
breast. "a he leaned Carrlnssly against
the wall. soon Dougan put up lis re-
volyer. made his way To the door with
out u word, aud disappeared, Tor q week
We talleI Of little else in ,lin-chln
camp but Joe DDur1Hs eyes. u" wa a
good naturel fellow, and submitted with
good grace 10 all sorts Of public demon
STATIONS and Investigations. Nearly
every night after dark the boYa would
get him to stand ncross the street and
call out the names Of cards rs they were
drawn from q deck. Thea lboy were
passed in turn TO the crowd before the H.
luminat j saloon. and the EucnuCss o.
Dougan's peculiar eyesight was y~ocifer-
Ously applauded. Occasionally some
skeptic asked the privilege q drawing
out the cards, and would turn the back
toward Dougan, who sat on Il doorstep
across the unlighted street, But Joe
would invariably say, "Turn IL round,
ye fool! | can't see through tho card
And again Duugan would shoot ut q
mark in the darkness. and often cut tho
bulls eye, "a the edilcatiOn u specta-
tors, who tested the result with a dark
lantern. DOugan's skill with the reyol-
yer was SO great that Jack Hinton, who
was on closer terms with him than any
other man in camp, to show at once his
friends remarkable eyesight and uner-
mig aim, on one occasion stood UP in
the dark with a lighted cigar in his
mouth, which was to be Joe'5 target.
He cut the lighted end clean oil, leaving
the stump in Jacks mouth.
Dougan was, as ! said, very good II
tured, but nevertheless lac had 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 of and he
could avoid publicity, Ho was a great.