The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1891-12-17
THE MAN WHO DRAGGED.

His name was Phineas Ellsworth, but
we boys at the Ink" ranch called him
Billy Br;sg, for reasons which ten min.
utes' conversation with him would make
obvious, even to q total stranger. To
say that he was opinionated is drawing
1t very mild, and to state that the chief.
est of his opinions was the particularly
excellent one he held of himself is SUPER
f1uous.
Those were humdrum, monotonous
days at the "HX," and there was scant
opportunity for Billy to exhibit the
courage, prowess, skill, ability, and SO
forth, which-we had his own oft re-
peated statements for 1.-THE possessed
to remarkable degree.
Once in awhile something would hap
pen to relieve the mOnotony, but Billy,
somehow or other, was never on deck to
show what he was worth. He always
turned up afterwsrd with: Huh! you
galoots jes make me ache all overl wy
any hloomin tenderfoot cd toll We bet
tern THAR or, THAT wuz fool trick.
Now, eft I'd been thar I'd q did so an
So" or, "Huhl dye call that anythin ter
menshun? Wy, back thar, on tn Keya
Pahs, we used t. let tn kids an wimmen
do that kind o. work"
And 30 it went for nearly q year. and
though we invented many plan to give
Billy an opportunity to show his worth,
he managed, on one pretext or another,
to keep out of our snares.
One day Gale Smelling, who was out
looking up some stays, fell in with a
Maverick steer feeding in a coulee. and
thinking at first that it was an Ink"
critter rode toward it. But the beast
was what is known as a bad un," and
horns down and believing with rage he
turned and charged on the startled
cowboy. Gale tried to turn his pony and
run, but the animal was green and only
reared and snorted. Gale thought he
was about to take place herding clouds,
but he yanked his gun and let go, catch
ing the steer right between the eyes,
and dropping it not more than ten feet
away.
Gale was a bit new in the business, and
he was rather pale when he rode IN to
the ranch and related his experience, but
there was triumphant tone in his voice
as he told of his successful shot from the
back Of bucking pony.
Billy listened with a superior air.
"Huhr' he remarked disdainfully.
"whad, je wanter kill i'm fer? Ye cd les
= well creased an roped i'm. Some folks |
never hev no r'gard fer prop'ty. Waste
not, want nothin"
We all grnaned and proceeded to con-
graduate Gale on his luck, but Bill did
not seem to care. He was getting used
70 our irreverence. 1t may be noted,
however, that when we tried next morn
ing to get Billy to take gallopings shot
at the stripe in blanket nailed onto n
shed door, to see how near he could
have come TO ''creasing" a mad steer
from the back of fool pony, our propo-
sition met with scorn. There ye 90
agin," said Billy. whats tn blame
use o wastin er whole lot o. cartridges
jes' { convince er mess o. gabblin egiots
that er thing kin be did? Aw, 20 of an
Try poundin san in her rat hole fer yer
wits Bet ye carn't even do that" And
he rode of, much offended.
When Joe Fleming, brother of the
boss, and Hank Barr had brush with
hslf q dozen Indians, and Just escaped
with their lives, leaving a bunch of fat
cattle 10 be run of by Uncle Sans dear,
sweet proteges, Billy's opinion was at
once forthcoming. HUH Ye mout
les well saved mos o. tn critters an
got them thievin red cusses too. Wv
didn't ye, wen ye seed EN- ridin down
IN ye, jes' kill three or four critters.
pie EN- up fer a barricade, an give tn
ned devils regular HI? That'd ben bet {
:ern losin tn hull bunch"
When Bob Hall, cowboy from the
u Bar" the next ranch-one of the
neanest, ugliest, most quarrelsome bull
les who ever iourished a gun-eot :
1illed at the hotel in town by an unof. :
ending tenderfoot, whom he had tried
% compel to take q drink, Billy, as {
lsual, had something to say. ''Huhl {
mats them tenderfeet all over. They
nink Ell er man tries { hev fun with
an hyar tibet they've got T. shoot, an
boot quick. TIL galoot oughter've les
COX Bob Hall b tn scruff o. tn pauts
a kicked r throwed i'm out, an Bob :
dive pollygized too quick. Bob Hall !
ever had no sand"
All the same, there was an old story q
the effect that once, when Billy had
cen unaccountably absent from the
anch for three or four days, he had been l
town, devoting considerable attention e
keeping out of the belEgerent Mr.. 2
[all's way. o
But Billy's opportunity came one day. :
e had been laid up q week and was q
All lame as the result of being on the n
de next the ground when his pony
umbled and fell one day, and was sit D,
ng at the door one morning about II 80 I,
hen the stage came along. Several Of d
were In the ranch house and were
'mewhat surprised 10 hear the wheels
ltnde, for the stage road was two q
lies from the ranch. As we crowded q
the door we saw something was M" Q
~AHuA.