Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-05-24

NaNrnCu the heavens ABOVE ana the
,arth beneath and the waters under tie
earth. hut | never collected a claim as
-ur Smith once did-and / don't believe
/ ever care TO, y
So said a Georgia merchant as he
stretched himself out in a big easy char
n Broadway hotel. filled as to body
" the comfort of an excellent dinner,
and as to mind by the consciousness of a
good days work well done. His trip to
New York for goods promised we'll, his
-tay III the crtv was nearly ended, and
ne had one OF TWO encouraging letters
from the South. Naturally he was
,ncerfu and Just as naturally his talk
rift"d back to old days. when he
"as deal Younger than he is now, and
when things ii Georgia were very dlf
ttTcnt from what they are now.
Joe came to us from Connecticut five
years before the war broke ON, said
he old gentleman, getting "A fresh light
for his cigar and fresh grip on his
tory at the same time. We were eX-
Authcrns ourselves, aud we were 81 lad TO
get him. He was a bug, slnewv fellow,
not pretty by any means, but about as
'ough physically as anything ever
turned out by a diet OF pie and land
-Cape of rocks. He wasn't q hoy even
N those days lie must have been well
III towards 80 With e., face So scanned
hat he looked older He looked strong,
and if a stranger ever doubted his pow
FRS Joc'5 voice settled 1t. 1t was one of
those big deep voices That make you
ihlnk OF u big bass drum and calculate
that the owner must be q mighty heftv
chap. Well, we liked Joe, but it was
very hard to get work to suit him. He
could sell goods sometimes, but he was
apt to irightrn the women with that
voice of hl'. Then, too, he was to-
quiet to get along with y me Of tine
young bloods among our customers, WHO
always liked to talk cockhghs or shoot
;ng or horses hen they came in TO buy
a bin Of goods. Joe was willing to
please rm but NE curldn't. He'd roll
out somcthIn, il that thunder voice Of
his. but Whal he SAID never seemed APP
)ropriate. Then we sent him north on
It rip, but even there he didn't shine rs
:, h yer. SO fiji ally we put him Oh max
ing collections in the hope thai he would
prove a good hand at it, but while lie
was a worker through and through he
never got the kmack of wedding people
out of their dollars.
at was about "A year before the war
when Joe came in from ore of his col
tecting trips about as empty handed q,
Usual While it was, of course. q GOOD
while before beginning of IIo,lliL,cs, we
nad found THAI among some of our Gus
tonucrs there wa growing up u feeling
against us, not SO much because we
were creditors. Il, bee Use we were
known TO be from the North We were,
ii Cuur t, getting IL little anxious over
the look of things, and Il few DAYS be.
foic had got a piece of news that in
creased our forrbodugs. 1t was that
certain Captain JInl, who owed Us Il con
siderable amount, WAS preaching among
the he ghbUrs 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, a big, burIy fellow, with
tots of assurance, aud had the reputa
ton Of a fighting man, his stand did US
great deal of harm. Many of his
friends owed us money, and they de-
lAycd III scltnng up, W"tcrrIng to see
now We were going TO de;tl with Captain
Jan. just how we we're gong To- handle
ilIm wa, the question "" were Oh cuSSing
the day Joe came in. We had written
20 the captain, and that morning had
rcCciN, an answer from hIm that if we
o. Il In t,,
somebody To take it out of his hide
"'WeII, sad Joe coolly enough, j
guess Ed better call Oh 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 80. But 30 he would for he
seemed to feel that he ought to prove
his usefulness in some way. He equipped
himself with the biggest knife he could
find, brace of huge horse pistols.
long double barreled gun, and an axe
l noticed that in choosin his tools all he
appeared to care for was size. Neither
Of the pistols was 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
cnanced to come to town news, that he
was going to go up to the Creek where
the captain lived, and that about Friday
morning there'd be the prettiest fight
Georgia had ever seen if the captain
wasn't ready to settle. The Greek was
a good two-days' ride distant and ]
couldn't understand why Joe should take
such precious care to let his enemy know
he was coming.
swell, 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 simply start out to meet me and
Ill get hun off his own ground, where
Id have no chance in the world. He
will have Just about time to get to the
tavern at the Forks Thursday night and
guess We'll kinder compose our little
difficulty there where he won't have SO
much show to use his guns
1T happened that | had business not
far from the Forks on Thursday, and,
by hard riding managed to reach the
tavern late that night. The people about
the house were full of excitement, and !
soon learned that Joe and the captain
were both on the ground. They had rid
den up from opposite directions about
the same time an hour earlier and their
ornaments, for the captains equipment
duplicaticated Joe's, barring the axe,
had created a sensation Everybody
knew the captain, of course, but it so
happened that nobody had ever seen Joe
before. Neither man would talk of his
errand and all the lOnnrer cOuld a0raa