Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-04-18

sized went down like a shot and was
never more seen, but the brave rider,
with his bag. battled with the roaring,
icy torrent till he stepped, painting and
dripping, on the muddy shore, and with
chattering teeth and staggering gait
started for the station ten miles away.
Sixty miles out from St. Joe, Johnny
Fry awaited the arrival of the courier
till it seemed to him it was too late to
possibly make it. When he got his
packet he had four hours to make up.
1t looked impossible. At st. Joseph
thousands were gathered on the bluffs
to see the last rider come in. People
hardly breathed as the time drew near,
and yet no signs of his approach.
1t was getting to be torture to wait.
No one spoke. AS the time was almost
up a little cloud of dust rose on the
western horizon, then soon after the
measured beat of a ponys hoofs came
pulsatlng on the breeze, and, lathered
from head to heels, the painting pony,
with wild eye and fiuttering breath
came stumbling to the spot, making the
last mile in one minute and fifty Sec
onds.
st. Joe was the last residence of Jesse
James. He lived here quietly, having
travelled a great deal formerly by rail
during his life, meeting up with stran-
gers on the cars and conversing with
them briefly on current topics. Thrown
among strangers as he was so much all
his life, it is not strange that at the last
he courted quiet and rest with complete
change of scene.
He lived in st. Joe under the nom de
plume of Howard, and those who were
impudent to him at that time now often
start up wildly in the night and shrek
with terror after dreaming that Mr..
Howard has returned to life in st. Joe
and with large shotgun in one hand
and John l.. Sullivan ultimatum in
the other is engaged in settling up old
scores.
MI. James lived a very uneventful life
at st. Joe, and the gas man who remem-
bers now the time when he and Mr..
Howard were alone in the cellar looking
at the meter, and how Mr. Howard
spoke rather feelingly about the feeble
veracity of the meter, and how he (the
gas MANI talked loud and got red in the
face and bullied Mr.. James into paying,
now trembles like leaf when he passes
the house. and can hardly look a gas
meter in the face.
Prior to the time Mr.. James lived here.
Mr.. Eugene Field, now of Chicago, was
resident of st. Joe. Senator Cochran
and Major Bittinger now run The Ga
zette and Herald, respectively, and Ma
Jor John n. Edwards for years Uttered
up the streets of st. Joe with the shat
tered vitals of his foes. During the hot
weather it was said that Major Edwards
foes who We're awaiting their turn at
the undertaker's became even more of
fensive than they We're during life.
st. Joe is great overall center. The
regalia of the Farmers Alliance is made
here III great numbers, and the overall
girls throng here like blackbirds in the
spring. If | had time l could stand for
hours watching them with deft and
agile fingers overalling and painting for
the trade.
st. Joe is said to be the richest city of
its size in the world. In travelling about
l run across a good many of those. The
richest city of its size Is getting to be
very plenty in America, and IL numbers
IS only equaled by the town which has
never had what you may call boom,
but has regular, steady and healthy
growth" wish l could remember how
many 2f these towns have encountered
just this season.
A short time ago ! visited The Bee
Office, in Omaha. Mr.. Rosewater says
it is the largest newspaper office on the
globe. 1t is certainly the largest ever
saw. 1t is fireproof and very well
planned for convenience,
A short time ago We passed through
Galloway county, Mo. Galloway county
has the honor of having seeded at one
time from the state of Missouri. Acting
on the principle that if a state could Sc
cede, the divine right also belonged to a
county, Galloway refused to recognize
the emancipation fad and also rocked
back On her launches and refused to
pay taxes to the state. This ran on for
some time, but at last she was forced to
come back into the Union because for
eign powers refused to recognize her
sovereignty and her currency was not
taken at par by other nations. as it was
poorly printed by an amateur job printer,
, who did it in colors.
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