Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-01-17
JOE AND CAPTAIN JIM.
There's More Than One Way OF
Collecting a ELL

| In many places: nave OeGBeo IoF pay
rnent, bribed for payment, stormed for pay
ment; have wheedled, implored, fattered
and abused; l have walked the heavens
above, the earth beneath and the waters
under the earth, but / never collected q
| claim as Joe Smith once did-and l don't
believe I'd ever care to-"
So said Georgia merchant as he
stretched himself out in big easy chair in
Broadway hotel, filed as TO body by the
comfort of an excellent dinner, and as tc
mind by the consciousness of q good day s
work well DONE His trip to New York for
| goods promised well, his stay in the city
! was nearly ended and he had one or two
encouraging letters from the South. Nat
urally he was cheerful, and just as natural
| ly his talk drifted back to old days, when he
was deal younger than he is now, and
| when things in Georgia were very different
from what they are now.
"Joe came to US from Connecticut five
| years before the war broke ous,' said the
old gentleman, getting fresh light for his
| cigar and a fresh grip on his story at the
same time. 'sVe were eX-Nutherns our
selves, and we were glad to get him. He
was big, sinewy fellow, not pretty, by any
means, but about as tough physically as any
!
landscape of rocks. He wasn't boy even
in those days; he must have been well on
I toward thirty, and his face was so scanned
that he looked older. He looked strong,
and if a stranger ever doubted his
powers Joe's voice settled it. 1t was
| one of those big, deep voices that
made you think of bass drum
and calculate that the owner must be a
| iubt hnfty- we'll llyp6 loo
but it was very hard to get work to suit
him. He could sell goods sometimes, but
he was apt 10 frighten the women with
that voice of his. Then, too, he was too
quiet to get along with some of tie young
bloods among our customers, who always
liked to talk cock-fghts or shooting Or
horses when they came in to buy bill of
goods Joe was willing to please 'em, but
he couldn't. He'd roll out something in
that thunder voice of his, but what he sand
never seemed appropriate. Then we sent
him North On trip, but even there he
didn't shine as a buyer. So finally we put
him on making collections in the hope that
he would prove a good hand at that but
white he was worker through and through
he never got the knack of wheedling people
out of their dollars.
q
when Joe came in from one of his collect
ing trips about as empty handed as usual.
While it was, of course, d good while be-
fore the beginning of the hostilities, we had
found that among some of our customers
there was growing up feeling against
US, not so much because we were creditors
as because we were known to be from the
North We were, of course, getting little
apyiO1c oyar 10 look of thin orc fa1y
days before had got piece of news which
increased our forebodingS. 1t was that a
certain Captain Jim, who owed US CON
siderable amount, was preaching among
his neighbors the doctrine that there was
no need of settling up the accounts we held
and that he didn't mean TO do So
Now, as he was the cock of the walk in
his district, big, burly fellow, with lots of
assurance, and had the reputation of a
fighting man, his stand did US great deal
of harm. Many of his friends owed US
money, and they delayed settling up, pre-
ferring TO see how we would deal with Cap
tain Jim. just how we were going to handle
him was the question we were discussing
the day Joe came IN. We had written the
Captain, and that morning had received an
answer from him that if we wanted the
money wed have to send somebody to take
it out of his hide
We'll, said Joe, coolly enough, L guess
I'd better call on the Captain.
"Now, as he had never seen the Captain,
and didn't realize what tough customer he
was, we tried to persuade Joe not to go.
But go he would, for he seemed to feel that
he ought to prove his usefulness in some
way. He equipped himself with the big
gest knife he could find, brace of huge
horse pistols, long double barreled gun
and an axe. | noticed that in choosing his
tools all he appeared to care for was size
Neither of the pistols were loaded, and
| doubt if he knew how to charge the gun.
Long before starting he took care to send
by one OF the Captains neIghbors who
CHANGED to come to town news that he was
going TO go up TO the Creek where the Cap
tain lived, and that aoont Friday morning
there'd be about the prettiest fight Georgia
had ever seen if the Captain wasn't ready
to settle. The Greek was q good two days
ride distant and couldn't understand why
Joe should take such precious care to let his
enemy know he was coming.
"'Well,' Joe explained, look here. If he
hears I'm coming he'll never wait for me.
He's too fond Of fight for that He'll SIM
ply start out to meet me and I'll get HIM
off his own ground. where I'd have no
chance in the world. He will have just
about time TO get 10 the tavern at the
Forks Thursday night and | guess well
kinder compose our little difficulty there
where he won't have so much show 10 use
his guns
1t happened that had business not Tar
from the Forks on Thursday, and, OF hard
riding, managed TO reach the tavern late
that night. The people about the house
were nun OF excitement, ana soon learned
that Joe and the Captain were both on the
ground. They had ridden up from oppo-
site directions about the same time an
/ hour earlier. and their ornaments, for the
Captain equipment duplicated Joe's, bar
ring the axe, had created a sensation
Every body knew the Captain, Of course,
but 1t so happened that nobody had ever
seen Joe before. Neither man would talk
I of his errand, and ali the loungers could
( agree upon was that there were two
/ mighty bad men in the house and that the
next day was likely 10 see some fun some
where thereabout I.oozing into the main
room Of the inn l saw the champions, each
i sitting NEAR a-Glazs and SErranuded BIZ bus