The Irish standard., 1890-04-26
HOW LITTLE KIT DIED.
A Tragic Scene in a Town In Far"
Off Idaho.
Small and Trembling Hands That Held
Mark for Shooter-TraGic Result OF
q Drunken Mans Boast Two
Graves at Soda Springs.

IL was COlu duGuul1I oSOAAAe, S"o
the red sun going down behind the
spectral mountains on the desert OF
Idaho seemed to brighten up every
thing-just as a blazing log paints the
white ceiling of the sitting-room and
colors the faces Of those who watch the
incandescent embers glow. The vii
lage was quiet, as it always was at this
time of day. 1t wasn't much OF vii
lage-a house here and a store there,
and all blackened by storms and age
People were scarce, too. Those who
were on the one broad street were the
kind THAT grow among sage brush and
grease wood-tall, heavily-jawed men,
with an awkward swing to their gait
and their faded clothing and high
heeled boots despatched with mud. A
lean, skulking dog prowled along the
road, and three heavily saddled and
branded ponies were tethered near the
Ark saloon. There were two hundred
and fifty people in the village but every
body who lived there knew the popula-
ton exceeded five hundred.
On this cold afternoon five of the in
habitants sat in front of the Ark saloon
Four of them were men who wore SOFT
hats and collarless shirts. Their coarse
hands and rugged faces showed that
they toiled out of doors-herding cattle
on the plains no doubt The fifth per-
son was little girl with hair as black
as the lava blocks and eyes so big and
so round that they looked like wells OF
Ink. She wasn't even seasonably
dressed, for whenever the wind brushed
her she shivered, hardy as she was A
coral necklace clung so tightly to her
neck that it looked like a scar. Her
thin, blue dress, clumsily cut from a
large garment, hung in scandalous pro-
portions about her well-rounded body.
The men had been drinking heavily.
The little girl had come to lead her
father away. But the big, rough man
was angry. A man from the Snake
river country had questioned his ability
as marksman with a six-shooter. The
dispute had been going on for an hour
or more, with delirious tales of gun
feats and terrific expressions of profan-
ity; when the mite Of child stole tim
idly up to the big man. For moment
the child was not noticed. The wind
picked up the ragged hem Of her dress
and whipped it about her legs, and the
big sun, glowing with the richness OF a
solferino disk, made the tears in the
child's great eyes shine as one has seen
ripping water glitter in stream OF
sunshine. The glass in the shop win
dows was red, too, and the snow on the
three mountain peaks in the distance
looked like carpet of crimson geran-
lums stretched over cathedral spires.
ssHere's Kit, bovs,' the father finally
exclaimed, as he looked admiringly at
the tot who had some way managed to
nestle beside his leg.
s'Tll leave it to Kit, fellows, as to who
is the handiest man with the gun. Who's
the best man as what you ever seen,
Kit?'
''Ma wants you to come home and eat
supper" came the stammering, almost
pla:ntive reply.
$50 she does, Kit; but who's the best
shooter as you know OFF"
''Pap."
''Who shoots hers right and left and
never spiles the meat?''
'sPap."
ssWhose Kit be you?"
'sPap's; but mann wants you home fol
supper"
The four rough men looked at the
child with a stupid gaze.
'sWhy, Ill tell you, fellers,, as speak.
ing about shooting, me and Kit will
show you something, won't we, Kit?'
and the big man drew two enormous re-
volvers from his holsters and placed
them upon box. The child shrank in
+ stinctively at the sight of the weapons
s.Won't we, Kit?" repeated the big
man, noticing that the child was silent
The black head nodded reluctant
u Affirmative. Il
5;=s q Course we will. Kit knows pap, and
sseeing as somebody does not knows US
j Va will make US known" Then the
4 nan drew leathern bag from his
pocket and took from it two five-do1la1
n Rold pieces. 81
Dbl ,oW q Z he said, with as much