The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-08-04

my friends, that shall be here next Sunday
| afternoon. Perhaps before the cold weather
| comes we can get hall or church built"
1--WE don't want no hall, nor no church,
| nor no parson," said Burke. "If you try to
| shoot of In this part Of tho country again,
you'll be sorry, that's all have to sayp
"If l do, what then" inquired Arthur.
"Only this; I shall knock few OF your
teeth down your throat to sorter choke you
OIL"
All this time none Of the couple Of hun
| dred men assembled uttered word, though
| once or twice the women cried "Shame on
ye, Jerryp or "Give the parson ashowW
Arthur sized up the situation In mo-
| ment. He saw at once that his would be
prosecutor was bully, SO often found In
communities Of ignorant men, and under
| stood that Burke must be summarily dis
posed of II he hoped to stay and do any good
In 1ronvale Now II there was one thing
Arthur May had been proficient In at col
lege It was boxing and wrestling. Still, he
was not a powerful man, and weighed less
by fifty pounds than Jerry Burke. SO the
resolution at which he arrived was risky
one.
Boys" said Arthur, "this man says he
will lick me IL 1 stay in Ironvale. Now, l
am going to stay and he may as we'll lick me
now as later on. l don't much believe In
fghting-never saw any fun in IT. especially
1t looks bad on Sunday and in preacher.
Sometimes, however, it is necessary. 1t Is
necessary now think, and guess you
boys will stand of and SEQ that a stranger
gets fair playl"
on came Arthur's coat, and stepping down
from his impromptu platform Of rough
stone he walked briskly over to Burke, who
was at that moment the most completely
surprised man in Ironvale.
'Ill take that licking now, Mr.. Bully"
Burke had no coat to throw off, as he was
already standing in his shirtsleeves, but he
replied by giving Arthur back handed slap
in the face.
Well, some Of tho Ironvale men tell, to
this day, how it was the ''prettiest" thing
they ever saw-"the way that the parson
knocked out Jerry Burke" who, in ten
minutes from the time he first interrupted
Arthur, had as much as he could do to sneak
off like whipped cur.
From that time on, with the exception Of
half a dozen malcontents like Burke, every
man, woman and child in Ironvale was
Arthur Mays warm admirer. AS for Jerry
Burke, he found it vastly more pleasant to
reside in neighboring town.
Yet, although Mr.. Burke removed IRON
Ironvale he by no means relinluished his
various schemes for bringing about strike
at Spriggs and Company'a. But, in view Of
the fact that thousands of men in adjoining
districts were idle, Burke and his coadju-
tors did not find many of the men very en-
thusiastic about striking; and when Spriggs
and Company, getting wind of the efforts of
the Burke gang voluntarily raised the
wages ten percen theprofessionalg GROWERS
felt that they might as well withdraw from
Ironvale Burke was the angriest and most
disappointed men in Western Pennsylvania;
all his chronic ill will and bad blood was
focused in determination to wreak ven
gence, first on Spriggs and Company, and
then on the 'poor fools' who could be paci-
fed with ''paltry ten per cent. sop"
Somehow or other Arthur May got to
know that Jerry Burke occasionally found
his way TO Ironvale, and certain sly and
underhanded actions of the fellows made
Arthur suspect that Burke's motive in visit
ing his old haunts were other than ordi-
nary, so he resolved to watch him closely.
One night, about two months after Arthur
May first appearance in Ironvale, the par
son (as every one called Arthur, and as he
rather liked to be called) was making his
way to his humble lodgings. AS he passed
Spriggs and Company's engine house-the
only building belonging to the firm which
could lay any claim to substantially or
architectural beauty-he noticed man steal
up to one of the windows, which he opened
and entered. He noticed that the man car
ried small package A minute later the man
emerged from the same window, minus the
package, and Arthur then saw that it was
Jerry Burke.
Now Arthur for prudential reasons, car
ried a small revolver, and this Mr.. Burke
suddenly found within about two yards Of
his eyes.
"Burke, you are up to no goodl"
"What's that to youl"
"Now, my lad, you know you can't bluff
me. You ought to know am not afraid of
you at even odds. With this weapon ab-
solutely command you to explain your
presence here"
~ don't have to. Pity man can't move
about without telling his business to
id preacher!'