St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-01
Smith AWAITED HIN.
The Old Frontier Town OF Sc
bastopol and It's Early
Demise.
Dick Tpeadles and the Game
He Worked While
There.
He Played the Innocent Pho
neers for All They We're
Worth,
And Then Met His Fate in
the Form OF
Smith.

In those days of Minnesota Wnen Ed
ward Eggleston was looking over the
corner lots of Red Wing, then lying
under the waters of the Mississippi
river, and perhaps nearer the time when
Old Crow had shaken his war locks in
defiance of the whites, and perhaps still
nearer the time when the boys in blue
of the North were about to mingle their
blood with the pale lilies of the South :;
there lay some three or four miles above
Red Wing a small frontier town by the
name of SebastopOl. | have never seen
the place marked on any map of the
state, and do not think that there are
many of the old settlers who remember
its short and incOnspicuous career: but
it once existed and had all identity of
its own. and men worked and women
wept there, as they have in every settle
ment of man since the world began.
In later years have climbed the old
plateau, and have tried to figure out OF
old legends and stories how the town
Law. what its purpose was, and what the
ambition that brought it between tower
ing bluffs, and hardly accessible on any
front but that of the water, or L have
gone to the opposite bank of the river,
and into the depths of Dead Mans
slough to find the great basin of lotus
lilies forming golden sun, to reflect
back the rays of the greater sun above;
or | have stood at FiSherman'S point
and looked up at the silent, deserted
plateau, and wondered if in all the
earth the trace could be found OF soul
who had lived and hoped there.
hi
the story which | am about to relate,
which concerns one Dick Treadles, who
in the pioneer days was character on
the river between Prairie du Chen and
st. Paul.
Having reached the age of forty years
without being shot, hung or married,
Mr.. TreadleS in his own free ana easy
way had shaken off considerable of his
moral responsibilities to his fellow men,
and cut out for himself career pecul-
iarly distinctive from that of anyone
else. His oStensible occupation was
that of specializing in town lots and In
dian supplies. What in reality he did
was known only to himself and in the
suppositions of those who distrusted
him. In the course of his meanderingS
up and down the river, Mr.. Treadles
was in the habit of stopping at Sebas-
IL
the acquaintance of the members of
that small settlement. either over a
friendly game of cards or little brown
Jug, which he affectiOnately referred to
as his pet. He was well liked there,
coming, as he always did, with fresh
stock of yarns and goodly supply of
common currency, and joking word
for the women folks and the young
lasses, whom he invariably kissed with
unblushing impotence.
One man In the settlement alone dis
liked and distrusted him. 1t would be
hardly policy to mention his real name
here, because he is said to be still liv-
ing, and occupying an honorable posi-
ton in neighbOrtng state. 10 give
him as little identity las possible, l will
call him Smith. Smith was a trapper
and hunter, ,peddler of skins and a
stalker of game; he was silent man
and not very sOciable. His reputation
for probity gave him good weight in the
community, and made him something
of an authority. but against the bland
ishmentS of Treadles his influence
counted for nothing. Mr.. Treadles had
his own way, and Smith was sent into
the background. Treadles tried to
make friends with chin once or twice,
but to no avail. and so with grimace
and a shrug of his shoulders ceased his
efforts.
Whenever he left town after one of
his hilarious visits, Smith would visit
the corner grocery and demonstrate
with his fellow pioneers. HE is
scOundrel," he would say, bringing his
gun down ON the floor with heavy
thump. He will cheat you; if ever l
saw a scamp, that man is One." Then
h. nd har
ing Treadles' pet jug and bouts of
cards, and Smith would go away angry
and disguised.
Thus matters progressed for some
three months, Treadles growing more
affable on the occasion of each visit, and
Smith more sullen and moroSe. Sep
TENDER came, with all the forests afiame
with the glorieS of autumn; the waters
of the great river milky, and the sky
yelled, and the sun obScured with
smoky haze. Dick Treadles had
been in Sebastopol two days;
Oh the afternoon of the second
after a somewhat prolonged game of
cards, in the back room of the one gro
Gerry in the place, he had slipped away
from the other players and taken the
narrow trail that ran round the bluffs
to where Wacuta lies. He was scarcely
a quick, nervous tread, and every now
and then looking back. when he came
upon little child, daughter of one of
the pioneers. She clapped her hands
when she saw him, and cried out:
sob! Mr.. TreadleS, play for me-"
TreadleS was in hurry, very great
hurry; but, with reckless, daredevil
look creeping over his face, he sat down
on the trunk of a huge, fallen elm and,
drawing flute from his pocket, began
to play. The child had heard his music
before, but she thought that it had never
seemed so sweet as it did then. First,
and to please her, there was yankee
Doodle" and then, evidently for no
reason at all. Nearer, My God, to
Thee; and then, as if the man was
thinking of something foreign to his
situation and hidden in the past, there
came "Juanita." Up through the
trembling leaves of the trees, past the
chattering squirrels and out to the
river, where the boatmen lay and lis
tened, fiOated the melancholy air. The
child's eyes grew big and round, and
those of Treadles had in them a softer
light and a more tender expression than
any one in those parts had ever seen.
Even the blue jay ceased his harsh cry
| and poised on an Overreaching limb to
learn the harmony. Back in Sc
bastOpol a crowd of angry men,
looking this way and that, as if
for a clue, stopped and listened,
then roared madly and ran. The tune
was ended, the player ceased, the child
went on her way happy, and Treadles
disappeared on the green in front of
him. He diverged from the trail. so as
to go further from the river and more
into the unsettled country. Perhaps he
had gone miIe-maybe two-picking
his way with the skill of woodsman.
when he stopped with an oath on his
lips; just ahead of him, and under the
leafy canopy of an oak, stood Smith, his
gun up and covering the breast of
Treadles. 1t was of no use for the latter
to slightly move his hand towards the
pistol that hung in his own belt, for the
click of the hammer of Smiths gun
warned him OF what the result would
be. Treadles hesitated as to his course
of action but moment; then he called
oh Of ,-6Iy - Io4 Il