The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-11
[ DEFlED The LIGHTNING.
casey, tho Cowboy, Bluffs the Ele-
ments, but Quails Before
q Gun.
Mysterious Ways OF Providence
In the Dispensation of
Rewards.
Medley the Reverent Taken, Casey the
IL Profans Let Go-Incident Of
Range Life.


Range Life.
n was Jest a-musin' on the phenomenons
of nature,' observed the cattleman, wetting
= finger and feeling furtively of the spark
he had been seduced in buying by local
bunco man, says the Kansas City Globe.
After he had carelessly and momentarily
returned his finger to his lips and become
satisfied as to the nature of his acquisition,
he continued:
"Cowper, or some one of them old fellers,
had his head with him wen he writ: He
moves in mysterious way an he never tips
his hand or somethin' to that effect.
Il was minded of this an set to consider
in of the truth of the poets remark, down
to the stock yards this afternoon by the
comm in of q couple of car loads of the
y. c. brand. This yere Casey, which the
same y. c. is his mark du-
II ente red of record, came down
to the Pecos country 10 or IL years
ago; anywaysit was before the big drought.
He was we'll educated. intelligent
Young Teller, who had been shipped from
the effect east by his sutferin' relatives.
Casey took notion rather strong that he
had been endowed with ability, an furder-
more had the direct commission to pay Oft
end he was applyin' of himself to the pleas
ant duty Of drinkin' all the whisky in sight,
an You bet he had largely diminished the
visible supply an the dealers was DRAWN
on the bonded warehouses hard. This en-
terprise of hisn didn't get no angcore from
his family. On the contrary, they fit it.
At last, yield1n' to parental infooence,
Casey came west, his relatives fgurin' that
he'd either drink hisself to death or reform.
They was most inclined to set in their stack
prism enough, he did't do neither. but
kept his same old gait. He'd load hissef
to the guard on every eligible occasion, but
he didn't die off nor brace up. When he
was sober he chased steers over the bound
less panpas as reg lar thing.
what with the bracin' air, the long time
between drinks, an a natural gayety OF con-
stitootion, young Casey grew exceedingly
frivolous. He was that airy an fgurative
in his discourse that the cowboys thought
his intellect WAS on the toboggan an let it
90 at that.
Zone night thar came up the most DOW
erful thunder storm. Rain is as skeerce as
respectable women in a mimi camp in that
region, and lightnin' is yet more of mere-
ole. All the cowboys in the COW camp was
a sinRin' to the cattle to entertain 'em, an
by keepin' their minds engaged prevent 'em
from stampedin' with fear.
"The lightnin' came down in solid sheets
of fire, an the thunder discounted artillery
BY several. Casey wasn't sayin' much at
Cd the world he yells, in general
way, and then says: Hit me, why don't
yer3 Iain't got no insulators'; 1.-THE lightnin'
meanwhile diggin' cellars in the face of ma
ture every time a bolt dropped. Then this
young maverick begin a cussin' the uni
verse generally an revlled the Creator, from
Genesis to Revelations, most hlasphemous.
Men that heard him talk finds their hair
standin' on end yet when they think about
it, an at once goes to rememberin' of a
killin' or railroad wreck, to take the taste
out of their mouths.
IA man named Jim Hedlev was ridin'
next to Casey. reckon that barrin' the
ayter actresses, which am told is more un-
certain in their beliefs than they is of get
tin their pay when the weeks up, a cowboy
They don't seem to waste no time in rea-
sonin', but hears sermons in the winds,
mean the native cowpuncher, not the i'm
ported article.
had been raised on the range. When Casey
fust opened out he simply paralyzed his
pardner. Hedley looked for nothin' less
than the feller's complete determination
an would a bought pools on the mex
streak o lightnin' emptyin' the saddle.
rl.t1 Z
an personally addressin' Casey. he says:
"sYou - - candidate for deliriun
tremens, quit yer cussin; the devil III git hi
road brand onto you all quick enough
Quit yer cussin', or ! let's windows int
yer
At the same time he pulls his six-shooter
an Casey, who could see him in the flashes
knowed he was game to make good what h
said.
$50 Casey says, put up your gun; II
i, l. Is<,l,A
MIN d stiff bluff but he didn't care to tax
chances on Hedley's putin him i'll the dark
Either that or he'd talked his own self to
standstill. Hedley wouldn't ride nigh hin
again while the storm lasted, still believil
that Casey would surely get it in the nee
an dom the Ajax act an in SIGH case nc
carin' to be in the immediate vicinity al
takin' chances on bein' caught by the ovel
flow for bein' in bad company. For wee
about bein' too friendly with Casey.
Nov what do you suppose happened?
.sThrep months later another thunde
storm came up on that same range. Set
ond or third throw outen the box Jim Hec
ley. which had made the roar about Casey
cussin'. an Hedley's horse was laid OF
cold. The same stroke of lightnin' kille
both an it was SO hard it knocked til
shoes off the mustang. Casey never wa
teched. He prances around that region
half crazy an entirely irresponsible fe
another year or SO. He takes six month,
wages up to Trinidad, COL, and goes ngi
monte, which game he cleans out. an like
wise causes a faro bank to turn up its def
box the same night. Then he think
things over an gives it out everywhere tina
his time fer quittin' drinkin' an foolishnes
has done come round. He goes into til
cattle business with his winnin's, an ther
he is, gittin' richer every year. His stoc
grades up high an them steers I see dow
to the yards can't be beat. Which settle
me in the notion that the great writer wa
onto himself when he made that obserya
ton l quoted
No Land ON which the Sun Shines
Possesses greater natural advantages thai
our own, but there are portions of the grea
grain-bearing west and fertile south wher
atmospherical influences prejudicial T.
health initiate against them, in some de
gree, as places of residence. Heavy rain
falls and the overflow of great rivers, whic