Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-12-12
THE ARIZONA KICKER.
An Editor Possessed With q Very wor'
thy Motto.


thy Motto.
RETROSPECTIVE The first night we
entered this town we slept under wagon
on Apache avenue. We felt tough, W,
looked tough, and we had just 10 cent,
cash capital. We'd walked % miles that
day to get somewhere, and after getting
there the prospects didn't seem to ih
prove. We were sustained, however, by
a determination to come out on top Of
the crowd if we lost both legs in the
hustle That determination carried us
through.
From the very first issue of the Kicke,
we took for our motto, Elk dono fama
semper vivat,' which used to mean in our
neighborhood in New England, Tell the
truth without fear or favor even if you
never get an Office or own a dog. We
have stuck to that motto, and while il
has made us some enemies it has also
made us host of friends and power in
the land. In pursuance of our policy we
now wish to say word about The Great
Arizona Home Provider Company
which is advertising extensively IN the
East Its latest scheme is to advertise
city lots in Blue Hill City at $50 each.
The city is represented as a hustling
young town-three railroads, two banks,
one theater, 5000 people, and bound to be
the Chicago of the West We rode out
to the site the other day. When we re.
turned the company offered us SEQ to
keep still. We denounce it as fraud
from top to bottom and warn the people
against investing.
"A POINTER FOR THE BoYs.-There
are three or four tough men in this town
way back toughs, with carloads of
sand in their systems-but there are 400
wouldbe toughs who are not bit tough
and never can be. 1t isn't in them and
they are not in it. They go around spit
ting over their shoulder and blutfing the
Cinnamon aud half breeds, but they take
good care not to run up against the man
whose father owned the spring which
was the fountain head of Fighting
Creek. In a fatherly way we want to
say to these boys: Don't It's waste
of time and raw material. The goods
are cotton mixed and the dye won't
stand. Come off the perch and drop
your claims and let everybody size you
up for what you really area lot of old
deadbeats who ought to be driven on the
sand hills.
"In this connection we wish to briefly
refer to the little affair of Sunday, which
our contemporary will no doubt misstate
in his usual fashion. We We're sitting on
the steps of the post-ottice waiting for the
place to open at the usual hour, when an
individual known around town as Holy
Smoke Bengal Tiger Steve Johnson
came along No one knows where he
came from, and some folks have been
very much afraid of him. He picked his
teeth with grizzly's claw, carried a
bowie knife, and claimed to shoot two
handed.
In writing up The Buffers, of this
town a few weeks ago we asked this
Smoky Tiger or whatever he calls him
self, what prison he had run from? He's
been promising the boys to slice off our
right ear, have it broiled in Bill Taylor's
restaurant, and then publicly feed it to
Steve Aker's Virginia foxhound. We
haven't been greatly worried and we
didn't skip cog when we saw the Tiger
rolling along toward us. He came to a
halt in front of us and tried to look
awfully wicked-real old Rocky Mount
ain wicked, with the gore thrown in as a
chrome.
1--WE didn't shiver.
"Then he smiled-a fac smile of the
grin Kit Carson used to put on as he
counted up his dead Injuns and whistled
for the buzzards to begin work.
l,~s4 ,,,I I.,t
tons.
"Then he sent his deep base roar down
to his feet and brought it up again to tell
us that our ear was his. He REACHED for
it, but he never got there. We rose up
and knocked Smoky off his pins at one
punch, aid then we walked on him and
sat down on him and hammered him
from head to heel until he roared like Il
calf and whined like coyote. Wehave
his two revolvers and bowie knife ON our
table as we write. We are waiting for
him to prove property and take them
away.
Perhaps it would be appropriate to
observe in this connection that there will
be little bee or gathering or convention
Or some such thing on Pawnee Square
Saturday evening. Most of our promi-
nent citizens will be there. Several of
them will be provided with ropes. There
will be various committees appointed to
wait on various disagreeable individuals
in this town and ask them how long they
intend to remain. If longer than two
hours the committee will bring them to
the bee and they will be argued with.
The Bengal Buffer is on the list to re-
ceive callers.