Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-05-25
LIKE A SINGED CAT,
A Westerner who was Bet, er THIN
He Looked.
That is 10 say ha had Plenty of rhi.
Worlds Goods-A Rock Island
Family who Mtssedis When
they snubbed Their Appar-
eatly Poor Relation.

/ nny OpCn the eyes OF some
people in Rock Island:
Two or three days ago man came into
gun store IN this city He was evi.
| IDENTIFY passed middle age, and he was no,
the sort OF person who would have been
taken for a Circassian beauty. Ee had a
heavy Jaw, with tongue inside of it that
| rolled out words in kind of growl. His
| brow was one of those beetlinc affairs
mat are met with in the cheap.awful
novels of the day. He wore several DAYS
beard on his face and looked as though he
| dldn I care whether ne ever shaved again
or not. his clothes were obscured from
view by one OF the worst looking busters
that ever struck the town. II huugdow
10 his knees and tapped in the breeze and
| looReu Ike relic OF doZans of sprees
his mead was covered with a tough old
! pug hat, p2i!ed well down ever his ewes.
which were deeply Swallowed BY the beet
! ing brow mentioned. He had his mouth
fu!l OF something he had picked up at
the lunch counter As he came up to
! the proprietor of the store he swallowed
1t with a gulp and asked for certain
! Kind of rifle. His voice was half surlv
sort of growl. He inspected the gun,
/ found it what he wanted, looked at the
cartridges furnished with il, liked them.
and said he would take them
You're Just a dollar lower on the gun
| and 10 cents hundred on the shells than
| another Teller | asked up the street here a
minute ago. l ike these. Gin me a
case FOR the gun; not one that's a ward
too long for it. Ike the one that felsr
tried 10 sell me.
The tiftoj 70 81
the result was satisfactory. Down went
thumb and finger into a vest pocket for
money.
Il just come TO Rock Isle nd here dav
ago, an I'm making straight trail for
NaIiforny again, an' you can bet there's
where I'm going 20 stay sitter this. The
iolks who live back here in this part Of
Inc nation are too fine feelin' and sensl.
tive 10 suit my style"
With this the thumb and finger came
INTO sight again. Clasped between them
was crunpled wad of greenbacks On
the corner OF compile of the bills there
flashed into the. view of the startled store
keeper the mark Of a 500 greeabsck
alt; / got Some;hin smaller than
that II you haint got change" and The
crumpled wad went back and another
wsd was produced from the other vest
pocket. 1t was worse than the first.
With wild west remark about the bother
his money was 10 him the stranger Goa,
unued the search IN his pockets for cash
OF denomination suited 10 the s.ze OF
the man he was dealing with. Seeing
that be was suffering TO tell something 10
somebody, not much matter whom, the
storekeeper drew him out with oles-
ton or two.
We'll, the man went on, - used to
know somethin' about this part of the
country. Went west long time ago.
got married TO nice good woman
whose folks lived over there, indicating
with q nod the direction OF Rock Island
Two years ago she died, out with me IN
Ca.iforny. I stsid there. All had was
/ there an ! liked the place. Dom well
enough. too. Couple Of weeks ago her
father died over crost the river here. I
picks up and comes back TO see en-.
| Walks in on EN- kind CT sudden like. an
what DO get? The tips O their fingers.
| They q d shake hands with me. but they
did 1t stsudin' a long ways off. DIDN'T
like my clothes. guess l know I'm not
dressed Ike Old Man Stanford. but you
bet can have clothes if l want EN- -
As the man said that he hauled roll
of paper money up from the depths of
the trousers that were hidden under that
old dUster. To the storekeeper il looked
| as biz around as q stovepipe. and they
were not small bills, either. The owner
unfolded the bundle, picked out q twenty
and flung il g. the man behind ths coua-
ter ard showed the res, down into his
capscious pocket sgsin.
Il always besn expectin' to see my
wife's folks some day." the man went on.
and Id always thought Id bring en-
some little token when did. Twas goiu'
TO give EN- this, Just fer love and aztec
| ton, but thew didn't kind of seem TO care
for my society, and out where come
from we don't never thrust ourselves in
where We amt wanted unless it's case
of have-to.' As he spoke the man lsid
on the top Of the showcase q check. Il
was drawn on a San Francisco bank in
due form. 1t looked as though it might
easily have been Carried 1000 miles in a
mans pocket. Il was drawn for 81 900
Pm Just that amount ahead" said the
Californian, $50 says to myself I'll buy
gun and take it back to the boys. ! can
afford it. Saved 81 600 that easy might
as well have some fun with myself Out
where l come from those guns cost heap
more than that"
As he stood talking the man straight
ened out some of the spare change be had
about his clothes. He had pockets all
over him, and he had millions. it seemed,
in every pocket. Touch himself any
where and a bunch of mussed up money
would come into view. A thousand dol
lars wouldn't have nearly covered the pile
he had with him.
After he had things arranged to suit
him ne slung the rife in regular style over
his shoulder and let himself out of the
door without as much as a nod TO the man
he had been talking with. In a minute
he was back again.
"Got any knives?"
The storekeeper. who had acquired