Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1892-09-16
q Rad MAN BEATEN.
The Unstable Quality of Fictitious Rep
utation.


The Unstable Quality of Fictitious Rep
utation.
Where he got his reputation OF beng
a bad man nobody knew, but he had IT,
No one had ever known of his hurting
ANYBODY or doing anything worse than
getting drunk regularly every pay DAY.
o, yes; sometimes he did whip his VIE.
But finally when the Wabash railroad
was struck by 'bum" epidemic and
every freight train and most of the pas
senpers carried two or three or half
dozen sway beaters" he found q place.
It was to stand around the train yards
and capture these gentry travelling on
an "axle pass" after which to hale
them before the nearest police justice
whence they would find their way to
pile of raw macadam material.
AS he always carried large revolver
and club Of corresponding size, his
duties were performed without inter
ruption, and he gradually had the pleas
ure of being lodged by all evll-doers.
That bad-man reputation OF his former
days was now appreciated, to an enor-
nous extent. The "gun" helped. Ere
quently he drew it on some drunken
stranger, and it had even sent search
warrant in the shape of a bullet as Dig
as marble after some fleeing maletac-
tors.
And still the reputation grew. Real
izing this fact, he was dubbed "detec-
tive" by the railroad, and in time was
placed at the head of that important
branch of a great transportation COM
pany's business. "Chief detective" he
was, and the reputation was now COM
plete. Persons on whom he frowned
now walked around blocks to avoid
meeting him. Once he came to Chicago
and was mulcted in heavy damages
while engaged in meeting some Chicago
detectives in faro game, and the re-
porter of his home paper down In CEN
trail Illinois who wrote about 1t had the
nightmare every morning for @ week.
The bad man threatened to kill him on
sight for it. But he didn't.
And now to better sustain the mag
nifcent reputation he had to increase
his evil deeds and be really bad. He
shot, he dubbed, he arrested, and oil
with the beautiful indiscrimination Of q
newly appointed member of the force"
One night at midnight he was sitting
on the stool of cheap lunch counter
near the depot of one Of the central
cities of the state, not far from Spring
field. He had just encouraged an i'm
mense appetite by 'pinching" three
tramps from the platform Of the blind
baggage car, and was now rewarding
himself with plato of baked beans,
two hard boiled eggs and dish Of
kraut. The sleepy night waiter be-
hind the lunch counter had reused
enough to let his eyes express admira-
ton for the burly detective who was
known the length of the road, when
there came an interruption. To this
day it is told in railroad circles Of that
region as the nerviest thing that ever
happened.
On the stool next the bad man sat an
other man, stranger. That is, the de-
tective and the waiter did not know
him, but of course he must know the
detective; everyone did. The stranger
was little, and his appetite was core
spondingly delicate. No beans and
lraut for him, but chicken-boiled
chicken, right out of the gravy where it
was keeping hot over the steam table.
The chicken was not tender, nor were
the knives sharp. Driven by the neces-
sity of gnawing hunger, the little man
seized it firmly in his various fingers
and by steady application of teeth and
hands the bones were at last stripped
bare.
Then what was he to do? His hands
were smeared with gravy and no finer
bowl was placed before him. OF deli
for napkin, upon which the unappre-
ciative waiter scornfully said: "Ah,
what yer givin' us? Dis ant no Del
monico's." What could the gentleman
do? But one resource was lefthim. He
turned quietly to the side where sat
the detective, the bully, the bad man,
and gently took in his fingers the loose
sleeve of the detectives coat and wiped
upon it all the gravy and grease that
had been clinging to his hands.
For an instant the bad man was
paralyzed. Then it came to him that
but one thing was left to do "Biff'
went his fist and the little man went to
the floor. When he rose, however, he
had gun in his own hand. lie had
the drop" too. At the word of COM
mand the ex-bad man backed out of the
door, the little man paid his check, and
the scene ended.
But it had witnesses. The bad mans
heart and reputation were broken. 1t
did not save him that he had knocked
down the offender. The sting of death
lay in the fact that the little man, the
stranger, should have wiped gravy and
grease on his, the big bad mans, coat,
and was not afraid.
And to-day that once bad man is mild
as baby. Little children actually
come near him without fear, English
sparrows hover DER him, and reporters
say of him what they please. He IS
bad do more.
But it was the nerviest thing ever
done in Jacksonville.-Chi Times.
The Bib and Tucker.