Omaha daily bee., 1888-11-04
A WILD AND WOOLLY CITY.
Situate Amidst the Sterile Plains OF
Grant County.
THE GAY AND FESTIVE COWBOY.
A Rendezvous of the Border Tough
Experiences of Il. Il NJ. Officials
Doc Middleton and the
"Razzle DaZzle."
Whitman, Nebraska.

A little shanty town, OF possibly one
hundred souls, nesting midst the sterile
sand-hills Of Grant county, on the line
of the Aurora .Ravenna and Broken Bow
division of the B. and NJ. railroad. But
few know anything about this unpre-
tentious little hamlet, and care much
less, still it has history of its own that
is we'll worth chronicliug. and which
may severely tax the credulity OF the
unsuspecting reader. One year ago
Whitman was the terminus Of the branch
of the B. and NJ. mention, and fairly
bristled and scintillated with life in its
most robust form.
1t was town of from six to eight hun
dred inhabitants, consisting OF railroad
graders, cowboys, ranchmen, hunters,
gamblers, cut-throats and thieves, with
an overwhelming representation OF the
demi monde OF the lowest, most desper-
ate and vicious stripe, The houses
we're mere board shells, aud laid out in
two straight rows at the base OF a
lowering sand-hill and to the north OF
the track. Roundabout, at the foot OF
the hills to the south, was numerous
tents, occupied variously by graders,
Dagos, Irish, Mongolians and blacks-as
we'll as hunters, cowboys and gamblers.
1t was veritable frontier town, with
all its rough and rugged concomitants,
and as wild and woolly as ever Lead
vile, Deadwood, Abilene or Poker Flat
were in their most halcyon days. With
out the faintest semblance Of law and
order, free ,untethered and unrestrain ed ,
the lawless characters who rendez-
vOused here kept up one ceaseless satur-
MALTA from one weeks end to another.
Gambling, drunkenness and murder
held high carnival, and furnished the
principal occupation Of the desperate,
reckless, dissolute spirits who congre-
gated there.
Small as the town was, its population,
like all the typical cities of the moun-
tain and the plains, was drawn from
all quarters of the known world,
and included every grade of character
from the highest to the lowest, but the
latter, of course, large predominating.
The was the cold calculating speculator,
the Omaha real estate agent, the squalid
mendicant, the dignified judge. the jolly
steamboat man, the rough miner, the
weather-beaten trapper, the shrewd
sport, the blear-eyed ioafer, the scowl-
,
scowling Italian, the negro and the
Chinaman; all these and hundreds OF
others were to be met at Whitman one
year ago-the world in miniature, a
focus of its passions, it preiudices, its
hates and loves.
Among the vicious class were
such we'll known characters
as the notorious Doc Middle.
ton, of unsavory Omaha record, Doc
Johnson, the Ditto boys, the McCabe
brothers, George, Frank and Arlie, and
last but not least, Joe Hall, the MUIR
derer, railroad wrecker, horse thief and
all around scoundrel.
Doc Middleton ran the 'Razzle Daz-
zle," a low doggery and hurdy- gurdy
| house, while Joe Hall presided over the
Headquarters" gambling hell, GIN
| mill, bagnio, hotel, dance house and
roulette wheel and the faro chip, the
| wild whoop OF the drunken cowboy and
| the strident laughter of the harlot
mingled all night long with the collicky
notes from dingy and batter,
ing upright piano, and the dis
| cordant wheeling of old Ruff's fiddle
not unfrequently interrupted by the
crack OF the six-shooter and the fierce
oaths of barJenders and managers.
In those days it was no safe thing fol-
| respectable man to venture int
Whitman, so hilarious were the COW
boys, and so reckless with their guns
Quick to resent any fancied offense
and always with the six-shoOter, the
cowboy when full OF bug-juice is nc
pleasant person to meet. They ar,
death to the tenderfoot, and when ont
was so venturesome as to leave tn,
little, shabby board hostlerie near tn
depot and go up into the city, it wa
ten to one he had an experience befor
he got back. Their favorite diver
tisement with green one wa
to make him dance, and
one was SO luckless as to drop into Mid
dleton's den, or Halls, or McCabe
when the cowboys were out, he neve
escaped exhibiting to the admirin
throng his agility and ability as /
terpsichorean artist. Then, as the poor
frightened, shivering victim, in hi
wild ambition to please and placate tn
applauding cow-punchers, periouettod
chasseed and evoluted in excruciatin
awkwardness, the reckless audienc
would infuse him, ever and anon, wit
renewal OF enthusiasm, by shOotin
holes in the plank floor under his fes
with their revolyers. Tiripg of thi
amusement they would march the sucke
up to the calico bar, and with the mu;
zle OF big Smith. & Wessol
| or Colts staring him out OF counter