West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-01-12
BIG ZEN AND CHARLEY.
Were we afraid of Big Rena

Well, yes, 10 a certain limit There
were five of us in a bit of cabin out in
the silver country, and Big Ben was
boss of the ranch for several reasons.
First and foremost, he was too much
for any one of us single handed. and
secondly, he had many good points
about him. While nc was oyerbearin0
and brutal Mt times, he was the best
miner in the party, and no bad luck
could discourage him. With any one
else as boss we should have scattered at
once, for the winter was coming on and
we had been down on our luck all the
fall.
Break upG Hunt for lucki" sneered
Big Ben whenever anything was said
about abandoning our claim. "Well.
you arc lot of coyotes-a cussed bad
lot. You haven't got the pluck of a
sick wolf. I'd like to see some of YOU
walk off and leave me in the lurch. YES. I
would. I'll turn to and lick the hull
crowd out of your boots if hear another
growl.'
Big Ben insulted us n dozen times n
day. and on three or four occasions he
laid hands on us in voIlent way. but
somehow we stuck there. AsItold YOU.
he was a practical miner, the hardest
worker in the lot, and VIC leaned on him
in spite of the fact that we hated him.
We could have shot him down i'm some
Of the quarrels, and the verdict would
have been: Served him right ~ but we
knew that he had good heart down in
his bosom, and the hand which clutched
knife or pistol was ALWAYS restrained.
One afternoon, while / was minding
the cabin and the other men were at
work in the tunnel or shaft, a stranger
entered. He had come up from the
Forks, three miles away. lie was bov
OF sixteen or thercabOuts, with a girls
voice and shyness, and he was hungry
and in rags. IL was bitter cold, and vet
his clothing was Of tho thinncst kind.
and he had hungered so long that he was
hardly more than shadow. | welcomed
aud fed and warmed him, and then he
told me that his name was Charley
Bland, and that he had wandered out
there to look for his brother James. from
whom he had received no word for two
or three years. They were orphans, and
both had been bound to farmers in Hi
nois. Both had been i'll used, and
Charley had finally followed James's ex-
ample IN running away. This boy had
been knocking around the silver camus
Tor six months, sometimes meeting
friends and sometimes treated like dog.
and he had found no trace OF his
brother Some one down at the pulch-
II was cruel thing TO dO-bad told him
that James was at our cGmp, and he had
periled his life to come up there and see.
On that day, os I shall never forget.
there was foot Of snow on the ground.
a blizzard raging, and the thermometer
marked ten degrees below zero.
The boy was asleep when the men re-
turned from the shaft Big Ben was
out Of sorts ut the way things had been
going, and no sooner did he see and hear
the lad than lac called out
He cant stay here another hour. We
don't run a poor-house, and we let no
baby faced swindler cot our hard earned
provisions"
'Ill work I'll work az hard as ever
can protested the boy with q sob in
his throat.
There's no work foryou. You've got
20 move on TO the camp above.
The four Of us protested in chorus
and we took such q firm stand that
deadly weapons were drawn, and would
have been used but for the action Of the
boy. lie was terribly frightened over
the row he had been the innocent cause
OF, and rs tho four Of us had our pistols
levcled AZ Big Ben, and meant TO shoot IN
he moved foot, the boy opened the
cabin door and Qlided out into the DARK
and bitter night with the silence and
swiftness Of q shadow.
''You arc his murderer, we said TO
Big Ben, az we lowered cur weapons.
and he growlcd
III We took In every straqglcr VIC
should be crowded out Of house and
homo before New Years what is it TO
us whether he lives or dies
think he felt conscience stricken
within tho hour, however az he went to
the door and acted as II he hoped to see
the lad standing outside The boy had
been gone half a. hour before we fully
realized what bis going meant. and then
teo Of rs went out with tho lantern and
searched and called for him. The snow
was being whirlcd about in flrious
manner and the wind was rising 10 n
gale, and tho bitter cold drove us back
after quarter of ain hour. 10 was true
chat we had tile enough 10 cat. and
that VIC we're crampcd in our cabin, but
the idea Of driving that ralo faced
orDhan boy out 70 freeze was something