Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-08-30

of the hardest towns of the West. Homl
eide was a pastime, like lawn tennis OF
croauet in other parts of the country.
Mining and gambling were the only twc
recognized industries, with the preference
given 10 gambling as a geutiemanly voHa-
zion. Robinson got immediate employ
ment on a morning paper, called by Its
owner with fine irony, The Daily Dove
1t was the worst sheet in town, which Is
saving a great deal The exciting nature
of a connection with 1t may &c bes'
realized when say that the paper strong
point was abusive personals IN couhtf!
where all personals are dangerous
when Robinson came 10 town, he
found the pest Of city editor vacant and
applied for the place The owner, not
withs landing his belligerency, was faii
man to his,employes. He slipped his arm
into Robinson 5 and led him half "a mile
no the mountain to the little cemetery.
Pointing to three white wooden head
boards, he said: Young man, there sleep
your three predecessors.
There's room for another between
that end and the fence, answered Robin
sor,. and he took the position of city
editor
.sBut the worst thing about the outlook
for the Young man 1 have not yet men
tiDped. He could not shoot. He had
tried TO learn many times, but in his own
words. ne couldnt hit a flock of barns
When he explained this popularity to his
employer this individual was for having
hin. Immediately throw up the position.
why he explained, they'll get you
inside of a week. Quick and accurate
shooting is the only chance for man on
this pap,r I'd rather have man thar
can't write, than one that cau't shoot.
- Give me the address of the friend you
want notified, please said the man,
whipping out a pencil, but Robinson only
laughed. picked up the shears, cut the
lap,ls off the side pockets of his coat,
walked out and wandered away up the
gGlch.
"Now, something the owner of The
Daily Dove didn't know was that Robin
son had pitched for three years on the col
lege base ball club. He had been the best
pitcher the club had ever bad. He could
throw ball harder and straighter (or
crookeder, as the circumstances might
require, than almost any man who had
up TO that time stood in the center of the
diamond. He had made up his mind to
utilize his talent in this direction. Up
the gGlch he began selecting stones about
the size of hen S egg, hard and jagged.
think he picked out galena specimens
largely. as being the heaviest, and fire.
quently rough and square cornered He
dropped half dozen nuggets into each
side pocket, ana took off his hat and filled
that. and returned. At the Office he
empticd the hat on his desk and went to
work.
1.-THE second day after this his employer
said to him: Robinson, there's a man
come to town named Wash Galley. He
Is criminal and a dead beat who has
Killed five or six men. He is now drunk
and going about town destroying the
property of some of our best advertisers.
just touch him up tomorrow morning.
Robinson wrote ripping item, in which
he called the man a coward, tramp,
chicken thief and SO forth and warned
him to get out of town under pain of
further disclosures in the fearless col
umns of The Dove 1t was a hot para
graph, and when the foreman read it he
simply remarked: Well, hope the man
that takes the city editorship tomorrow will
write a palmer hand
about 10 o'clock the next morning,
Robinson was walking quietly down the
main street of the town, with his right
hand resting carelessly in his coat pocket.
Suddenly Mr.. Galley, stepped out of the
door of a saloon. He reached for his re-
volver. The young man from Yale who
couldn't shoot, took his hand out of his
pocket. In it was an irregular specimen
of lead ore. 1 remember how the local
doctor tried to explain subsequently that
the specimen didn't hit Galley in nee
essarily vital spot; but it was vital
enough for all practical purposes, and the
next morning The Dove remarked cas-
uaily that when the cutthroats of this
town meet around the hearth tonight,
tn re will be one vacant chair Jim Gaz-
ley Is no more
THE fate of Galley ought to have been
enough for the other obnoxious citizens of
the neighborhood, but of course it wasn't
A week later man came down from
Placer Bench, winged the chief of police.
shot out the lights in the post office and
his horse on the sidewalk THE Dove
him. He took foolish and
erring shot at the city editor, who replied
with a stone, and returned to his office and
wrote that another old settler has gone
out from our midst. Life is indeed IN
certain. Now is the time to subscribe
Robinson stayed a year before he got
tired of the place and went to San Fran
ois 70, but l don't think that after the FIRST
three months he had any trouble. During
that time | would not dare to say how
many he popped over. OF course, most of
them he only wounded. But, as he re
marked in his valedictory far more than
we intended have gone with less prepare
ton than we could have wished. 1t
should only serve to remind us that in
tho midst of life rock may catch us in
the jaw,
II never knew what became of him,