Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-11-24
THE EYES OF D0UGAN.

gray, above, below and on every side.
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,
drearv 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 To- resist the
depressing influences of a fog OF the
banks of Newfoundland, AMI converse.
ton dropped.
One OF the group was a tall, blonde,
blue eyed German of about 30 years Of
age. He spoke English with just the
faintest trace Of Teuronic accent, and ap-
peared to belong TO the c.ass Of solid. In
telligent and successful Gcriuan-Ameri-
ans so frequently seen on ocean steam
ers. Some chance ismark made by
him suggested the poss Jility Of getting a
story from him. Yiel ing TO the general
demand, he said:
Chin-chin Camp is sup in the mountains
across the range from Fort Laramie. At
least il was late in the %iifties, for at that
time | myself represented about | per
cent Of the entire population. | went
70 Denver first, and hearing good reports
from Chin-chin struck off up into Wyo-
ming.
Joe Dougan had already been a men,
Der Of the camp some time when /
reached there. He was a strange fellow,
but his most striking popularity did not
attract notice till a few nights after my
arrival.
Most Of the a~ristocracy 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 bows were
seated at the little checker board tables.
The marker had just let a white marble
drop into his hand from a cigar 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,
..Keno.'
Then followed cries of THAT was my
button!' .'You liep' and a volley of
oaths; there was a %scuffle; the table was
overthrown; 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 scuile continued. Then above
the confusion. a voice cried: my God.
look there!'' We did not have 4 be told
the direction, for there across the room
glowed and sparkled in the darkness two
cleaning eyes like balls of liquid fire.
There was something demon like in their
luminous glare. The click Of n revolver
lock was heard in the stiffness which fol-
lowed; but a voice from the direction Of
those fiery eyes said s%ternly, and with in
cisive distinctness: drop that gun, I've
got the draw on YOU"
AT that very moment the door into the
saloon in front opened and a widening
shaft Of light fall across tine Egyptian
darkness Of the ~ The marker ran
in with a lamp; the cleaning eyes faded,
and we saw leaning calmly against the
wall the burly form Of Joe Dougan. A
smile hickered about his mouth as he
saw our scared faces; the point of the re-
%volver, which was loosely held in his
right hand, dropped down across his
breast. as he leaned carelessly against
the wall. Soon Dougan put up his re-
volver. made his way TO the door with
out a word, and disappeared. For a week
we talked of little else in Chln-chin
camp but Joe Dougan's eyes. He was a
good natured fellow, and submitted with
good grace 10 all sorts Of public demon
strations and Investigations. Nearly
every night after dark the BOYS would
get him 10 stand across the street and
call out the names Of cards as they were
drawn from a deck. Then they wero
passed in turn 10 the crowd before the IL
luminat d saloon, and the keenness Of
Dougan's peculiar eyesight was ~vocifer-
ously applauded. Occasionally some
skeptic asked the privilege Of drawing
out the cards, and would turn the back
toward Dougan, who sat on q doorstep
across the unlighted street. But Joe
would invariably say, ''Turn it round,
ye fool! ] can't see through the card"
And again Dougan would shoot at a
mark in the darkness, and often cut tho
bulls eve, TO the edilcation Of 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-
ring aim, on one occasion stood up in
the dark with a lighted cigar In his
mouth, which was TO be Joe's target.
He cut the lighted end clean OF, leaving
the stump In Jacks mouth.
Dougan was, as ! said, very good ma
tured. but nevertheless he had almost no
intimate friends, beside Jack Hinton,
who wa 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 oil and he
norld avoid publicity. Ua waa a 0reat