Omaha daily bee., 1893-11-19
HOW SILENT JIM DIED
An Omaha Mans Experience in an Early
Colorado Mining Camp.
ONE NIGHTS WORK FILLED FOUR GRAVES
Hung the Wrong Man for Murder, Then
Evened Up by Seeing the Right Mans
Hearts Blood Warm a Dagger
Point-Senorita's Revenge.

The inquirer may find q constant source Of
wonderment in What lies beneath the sur
face life of n western city. Its inhabitants
have histories peculiar to themselves and
with all that has been said and written the
greater part of IL remains untold. Here lies
a distinction of which the Mississippi river
is the dividing line. The eastern citizen
grows 10 manhood among the same scenes
and influences that surrounded his father
and his grandfather. His life is but a repe-
tition Of those who have gone before. 1t is
uneyentful because IL has been forced into
the groove which has been worn smooth and
even with the passage of many decades. In
most instances he succeeds to his fathers
business, his ambitions and his cares. His
whole history and that of his ancestors be-
fore him is known to the village gossips and
even the circumstances Of his courtship and
marriage are subjects of general knowledge
and comment.
But in the west the family tree is an I'M
known quantity. Men come and go and
settle and accumulate fortunes, and no one
knows or cares who their father might have
been or whether he wore broadcloth or Ken
lucky jeans. He tells as much as he pleases
| of his previous life and the rest remains I'M
known. People judge him by what they see
Va hiA ahN AZ ~ TAU bbSJ hAS' W AAS
father.
Under these conditions it is not strange
that many a life story of absorbing interest
is stored away among the half obliterated
recollections OF men who may be seen on
Farnam street almost any day in the year.
| But few of the best known business men of
Omaha have reached their present position
without e~ncountering some of the striking
events which puncIuate the history Of the
west. The western citizen roughed it in the
days of his itinerancy. Scratch the bricks
of his palatial residence and a personal eX-
perience OF unsuspected interest may stand
revealed.
1t was the fortune of a reporter to stumble
upon one of these bits of unwritten history
where he would least have expected TO find
il, II was in the library Of a man who has
for many years occupied a responsible posi-
tion with a leading Wholesale house ana
some time ago retired TO spend his later
years IN the enjoyment of the competence
which he had spent his lifetimei in acquiring
a man whose bent figure and silYered hair
would scarcely recommend him AS one who
had participated in some ofthe most stirring
scenes which marked the early days of the
west.
While the old gentleman was searching
through his desk for some papers the re-
porter's glance rested curiously on a buck
skin bag Of peculiar pattern. IL was wei
worn and had been wrapped In tissue paper
as II TO preserve 1t from further mutilation
u suppose you are wondering why i take SC
Huch care oi lnat piece OF ouchsAin, re
marked the old man as he unwraDped tbs
covering and caressed the bit of leather a,
though he felt q personal interest In III
welfare. "Well, it is a relic of an even
which happened over thirty years ago anC
which was the most exciting episode of nj
life i have never told the story except 4
a few of my intimate friends, but If you car,
10 listen l will tell you how came by tina
keepsake and then perhaps you will no
wonder that / preserve it will SO mucl
care.n
The scribe was all attention, and after tn
old man had lighted o fresh cigar he spul
the yarn as follows: THE first time l sa,