Daily Republican., 1888-05-01
a ouRroCs AsrAln.

similar mushrooms. The town con
sisted OF one side of the :street AND
some scattering adobe suburbs. and
when 1t was learned that the road
would not advance for some time, q
great horde of outlaws and adyentur.
ers who lived off the railroad men.
and followed the line as coyotes fol.
low o provision train. came fiocking
there. They were nearly all Ameri-
can fugitives, and found themselves
Tor the first time In their lives where
there was absolutely no law, no mill.
tary. no police, nothing except the
dictates OF each mans pa rticular devil.
TRY.
Sodom and Gomorrah was a Chau,
tauqna circle by comparison. The
gamblers soon robbed all the working
men OF everything they had, and
then, for want OF o other victims, they
fell to rendlng each other. 1t was In
this pa rticular epoch in Tracks Ends
brief history that [ arrived In the
place.
remembered the old proverb about
Roman etiquette when you are In
Rome, and sauntered into the hotel
with all the nonchalance / could com
mand. 1t was miserable den, hall
wood and halt adobe, and the landlord
was as promising looking villain as
ever laid my eyes on. / Registered
by wiping my hands on the office tow.
el, and took mental note to sleer
with one eye open. After going
through the motions of eating supper
took look at my six shooter and
strolled out to see the town, but in a
few moments found myself helplessly
wedged in a crowd and temporarily
anchored in large saloon and gam
bling house that / judged to be the
principa. resort of the place. Direct.
ly in front of me was faro table, and
presently l forgot my annoyance In
watching little scene which was In
progress there. The players were
mostly gamblers, judged. from their
pallor and the indescribable earmarks
OF the profession, but among them,
playing his money rather recklessly,
was another stamp of a man. He was
brawny, thick set fellow, with the
hands of a coal HEAVIER and curious
ly innocent looking face, in spite of
the bushy beard that covered most of
it.
The player was in bad luck and pal
pably nervous. He moved his bets In
hesitating, half hearted sort of way,
and muttered under his breath and
swallowed In his throat when he lost,
AZ he repeatedly did. In few mo-
ments his last chip was gone, and,
pushing back his chair, he leaned over
the table and said something I could
not catch, pointing to the silver box
from which the cards were dealt.
you're crazy" exclaimed the deal.
er loudly, half rising.
What followed happened all In a
flash. The thick set man reached
over, seized the box and held 1t to the
light. Whether he discovered some
unfair mechanism do not know, but
he wheeled with an oath and dashed
it into the dealers face. A roar of
excitement rose from the crowd. [
was swayed this way and that, and for
a moment lost sight OF the table, and
when / saw 1t again the dealer was
wiping the blood from his face,
and the man who had struck him was
gone.
That was enough for mo. | went
back to the holel, but ! had barely
seated myself and lit a cigar when |
heard a sound OF some one running
outside, then more people running,
then hoarse jangle OF voices, followed
instantly by two loud reports. and just
two words:
"Oh, don'tr'
| think l never heard so pitiful a
cry. It struck right into my heart
and turned me sick, for instincllvely |
associated 1t with big, brawny man
with the childish face; aud right
enough | was. The gambler. man
named Newton, had followed him out
and killed him. In little while the
boiel was full of people talking about
the tragedy, and one OF them vouchsafed
some details to me.
..hls name was Ben White" he
said, 'and he was a square man. He
was a section boss on the railroad and
had saved some money, but the gam.
blsrs got hold OF him and it all went
They say he found out Tonight they
were robbing him, and that's how it
started. The queer thing about 1t is
that when Newton cornered him he
got out his pistol first and snapped all
six chambers, but It wouldn't go off.
Nobody understands that "
This was strange 10 say the least
and the next day 1t was the talk of the
town. The failure of the weapon had
cost this man his life, and yet nothing
seemed to be the matter with 1t. On
the contrary, it was in perfect order;
only the cartridges, for some inexpll-
cable reason, wouldn explode In it.
Everybody tried it and everybody
gave it up. The same shells, placed
in other pistols exactly like it, were
fired without trouble, and half the
gamblers in Tracks End firmly
believed that the weapon was be.
witched or "hoodooed," as they called
it,
Six months afterward, when Track s
End was "reminiscences only and its
prominent citizens had been divided
between the cemeteries and the peni.
tentiaries of the State, the sequel of
that tragedy came drifting to me
through strange channel | was
talking to a Mexican lawyer in Chihua-
hua, when he said:
"By the way, have a curiosity to
show you. Do you see anything the
matter with that pistol?"
AS he spoke he opened door and
handed me Il six shooter-the identical
weapon which Ben White carried
when he was killed. l took 1t with
considerable repugnance, and then he