The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1893-12-02

= ~.&-1<L
SszsTfEtIZ%T the story of that
wild race of boom
ers who, at the
| rifles crack, spurred their horses over
| the boundary line of the Cherokee strip
| and sought for themselves or their mas
| ters claims and manifestations, in
most cases of less value than the flint
rock on New England farm. Few,
| however, followed their movements
further or know aught of life in such
| frontier towns.
AS the town of Perry stands to-day,
thrown, pitched. tumbled into place by
its %, 900 inhabitants, its streets pre-
sent more conglomerate picture of
struggling humanity than any seen in
Chicago's lamentcd Midway Plaisancc.
There are four distinct classes of peo-
pie in Perry: First, men who have
money and are improving the Strip in
promising localities in the hope OF add
| ing still more to their wealth. Second
! men who have but little ready cash and
| have come with the determination of
making n home for themselves, their
wives and their children. Third, the
class of shiftlcss men who have never
done well and never will do well, be-
cause they believe that ''luclS is agin
'em," and are too lazy to make an eff
fort to disprove the fallacy; and last,
the set of gamblers. thugs and black
legs of every description always found
In new and half-civilized community.
To man, women and child possessed
with other than strong eyes, accus-
toned to wind and weather. life in the
Strip would be hell on earth. The
| soil is strongly alkaline. Wind drives
L.. t,Ntr h.. &c
and nostrils until it bites and burns.
| Huge goggles are n necessity. They
are made of mica, lcathcr-bound. But
even with these protectors one dare not
venture out in the face of such wind us
ut times comes sweeping across the
| desert.
The daily routine of life in Perry is
wcarisomc and monotonous. With the
sinking of the sun and the closing of
the land Office, however, the men seek
their houses, camp fires or whatever
they call home. The evening meal of
| beacon and coffee. common with banker
and squattcr for Perry has Il bank is
disposed of, and then back into the
streets goes the throng, uneasy with
| the unrest which pervades everybody
and every thing in the territory. Set
tiers from outlying claims ride in to
join the gaunt, bcgoggled throng which
| collects on corners, in barroomS and
around poker tables, trying to forget,
each in his favorite way, the trials,
troubles and suffering. both mental
and physical. of the daylight hours.
One of the first houses built in Perry
| was combination saloon, dance hall
and gambling den. Other similar re-
sorts were soon running in opposition,
but this one, owned and conducted by
"a woman called BLACK Nell" will
| probably always hold more than its
share of patronage. Whisky is the one
| beverage in demand. Most of it, com
| pared with which that which is dis
| ,pensed in New Eork's famous South
street saloons is truly nectar, was at
first sold over the tail-boards
of prairie ''schooncrs," as the long
bodied wagons are called. a few
more cntcrprising settlers erected bars,
in the open air and under the protcc-
ton of tents by the very simple process
| of laying board across two barrels,
ON which was displayed all or most of
| their stock i'm trade.
| But BLACK Nell" with her follow
| ing of women, Mexicans and half
| breeds was among those camped in the
/ race for claims began hers was stalled
out. When the wild throng reached
the site where Perry now stands the
corner posts of Nell's establishment
were in place. by nightfall she was
doing rushing business. The house
is made of pine boards Along one
side runs the bar, behind which can
teens and bottles are arranged on
shelves and barrcl-tops. On the other
side of the room are tables for poker,
faro, keno and craps. Crowds of UNI
lienpt, sullen-faccd and desperate men
throng the place, hopir-; against hope
that they may win enough to take
them out of the territory and back
whence they came. In what will some
day be another room, but which is now
only u canvas-wallcd addition, is the
dance hall, where are carried on night
ly such wild and uncouth rcvclrics as