The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-10-12

skNA)AN - O.AA-A.1AA.ko.A4sSsA 49, ~
says Cherokee Bob. "and I'll keep my ey!
on that other fellow. He lie deserter--
know him. II lind anything that pu
you onto I'll let you know."
So time paesed along several weeks: ane
in walked Cherokee Bob and passed TN
time Of day-Rloves on and hair all nice
and hia finA overooat, far turned mp aDo9'
asked me to drink. and fsaid didn't drinl
in the morning, but ! took him to the bacl
Of the store where the liquor was and told
him to help himself. When he had 6nishec
drinking, says he. I've got some good new'
Weli, I asked him what, and says he, ''1i
money back. That fellow that roDbed You
in Jack divers saloon" Chat was an
other of these resorts, you know Jack WAS
pretty nice sort of a fellow. Hes been
sitting up all nigh" says Bob, gambling
saw in your life" He asked me il had the
sand.
said we'd try it, anyhow.
So We started out. Cherokee Bob said ia
be ready for trouble. '.If you get after him,
he won't give you any show in the world.
i will be i, shoot at sight. Have You got any
said, mo, haven't got any,"
SWELL. never mind, says he. ''rll see you
through"
We went into divers. Jack was right
behind the counter. Hello" he says,
what the devil are you here for p
We told him we were going to take this
man.
Good Godr' SAYS he. do you know
what you're undertakina9 He's behind that
door gambling and drinking, with big
navy revolver on the table ready to his
hand, and knife in his boot, and he'a
sworn that nobody shall take him alive.
Hes been going on all night, and he's az
We said We guessed we'd try it, anyway.
well" says he, "if you're going. to try,
that let's me out! just wait Q minute, !" says
he. It'll get out of this;'' and he shovea
out his money drawer and empties it out
into his handkerchief. and jumps over the
to yourselves" says he, and started for the
door,
.'Now." said Cherokee Bob, ''let's plan
this before We run any risks. know just
where he is. He is sitting facing that door
With large navy revolver on the table. The
him, two or three feet away, is window.
We step to the door together, you open it,
and draw bead on him over your shout
der before he can grab his pistol He won't
wait for any talk-he'll grab for it when he
hears the door open. But I'll look out for
revolver right out OF the window, and don't
let him get his hands down to his knife.''
IAN right" says !. Iopened the door and
he looked up; but Cherokee Bob had
his bead drawn over my shoulder,
and sings out to him in his quiet
voice, Don't you move. or you're q
I jumped at the table, you know, and
caught his revolver and slashed it right
through the window, and grabbed his arms
az he reached down for his knife, and twist
ed them right mp behind him. Bob walked
straight forward, with his little gun right
ON him, and pulled big silk handkerchief
tied. The other man dropped right down
on the floor out of range Of fire. you know,
az soon as he heard Cherokee Bob's voice.
Oh, my. the man did cuss rs for all there
was in it. But we handed him over to the
We killed two birds with one stone, YOU
know, for the military authorities took him
down to Vancouver, and he was tried as q
deserter and convicted. He'd sworn right
up and down that he'd kill anybody that
undertook to take him. My wife didn't
know anything about that for a long time.l
Cherokee Bob one OF the strongest friends /
could find. W
Afterward this Cherokee Bob-you see
there was a man in town that was car.
penter. He made considerable money and
spent it on his wife and children. He was
family; and he had right to be, for the
children were pretty, and his wife was one
of the prettiest, incest women you ever saw
in your life. She was tall, and blonde,
with big coil of blonde hair, and those
pretty, refined features, You know-a regu-
me- hn~ A.
could see she had been brought up lady
from her delicate ways. How she and
Cherokee Bob ever could have acquainted
was the mystery; there was no way anyone
could imagine she would ever meet him,
You know; but here one day they had dis
knew. Oh, my! there was the biggest kind
of excitement then; nobody had ever
thought of such thing, or that she was
the sort of woman to run away with
gambler, you know.
The first strike they made that we know
of was Walla Walla. They stopped there a
few days and had q good time. One night
9 row with some soldiers and shot one or
two of them. SO she secreted him and got
him out of town-had horses, you know,
outside of town, and got people to help
them. So they got clear there.
Next year they turned up at Salmon River
OAkklu&6s A0at was new C0mp-C0lle0
Florence since. They opened saloon
there and she tended bar and helped him
and he played. cards and roped in the
miners.
That was regular old style miners bust
ness. They'd have piles Of gold on the
table-you never saw anything like it
never! I'll tell you why. The miners got
gold there by the shovelful, it was go plen-
tiful; but it was very poor quality-never
passed for more than $12 an ounce. So it
was piled ON the table in great big bags,
and every bag drawn on to the amount Of
the bet.
Well, they had the run of the town there
for a long time. made business trip up
there-a collecting trip; there were some
large collections and Thought / had better
20 myself than send ANYBODY, and attend to
my express business at the same time, you
know. took the boat to Lewiston, and
there bought horse to go the rest Of the
way. The first day we went over the noun
tains and reached the Camas prairie.
Camas prairie is wide plain, just over the
Idaho line, with a creek lined with cotton
woods running through the middle. You'd
think, as you looked at it from the foot of
the mountains. that you could cross it in
two or three hours. But if you made an
early start in the morning. you would
reach the Cottonwood house on the creek at
O'Clock, and by pushing hard you could
u Il IL