Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-03-15


 
 IT WAS OUR RACE.
 bilious town, who was also the editor of O great family weekly newspaper, could not maintain his dignity and encourage horse racing at the same time. For two years we have owned n running mule which can get under tho wiro ahead of anything OK cept a streak of lightning, and when we decided to give up racing hc had beaten everything on legs for a hundred miles around. Our intentions had no sooner be- come public than every Critter who owned a beast which could gallop four miles an hour began to bluff us. No ono can un- derstand our mental sufferings for the past few months. Every mail has brought us from five to a dozen lettcrs challenging us for race and indulging in moro or less personal abuse, and scores of buffers have called at tho office and waved green backs under our nose and declared that we had lost our sand. We simply driven to abandon our position on the horse race question.
 Last week we lot it be known that We would make match, and mon came over from Lone Jack, Pinc Hill, Rapid City and other points, and a great race was planned. We hoped to savc something of eur dignity by having our horse editor ride OUT mule, but when objections were made we sacrificed everything. The raco came off Tuesday afternoon, with 99 horses and mules in tho field. We took even bets and took and gave odds, Wo drew our last dollar from tho bank, and we borrowed right and loft until nonc of our friends could pay cash for a plug uf tobacco. Moro than 2,000 people assCm- bled to witness tho race, and the owners and riders of tho other animals wCrc pre- pared to go to any length to prevent us from winning. From start to finish it was our raCo, however. Our mulo was not only in fine fettlc, but seemed to know how much depended on him, and he ran as never before. There was n rod of day light between him and tho nearest horso when he went under the wirc, and cvcn our bitterCSt enemies could find nothing to criticisc.
 Six of tho adjacent towns wCrc so thor oughly cleaned out on that race that not an inhabitant can get his boot heels ro- paired bcforc spring, while the people of | this burg will rcvcl in champagne and fried oysters. We have CaSed our con science by giving half our winnings to | charity, but we shall mako no further promises to abandon tho race track. An
  | but hero in this wide free west no editor can take a huff of any sort and rotain his prestige We lost 4SO subscribers while re- fuSing to mako a race, and 1t was only l question of time when at least half of our | advertising would havo followed. If thcro | Is an animal of any sort left in Arizona whose owner has feelings against us he can 1 write to or call upon our horse editor and | arrange n match.
 A SAD SPECTACLE.-Sunday evening last there arrived in this town tough looking individual calling himself Rocky | Mountain sam, and by noon of Monday it was pretty generally understood that he | was a self styled terror from Torrorville. | Shortly after noon, while we sat in the mayors office in tho city hall, we heard | firing on the street and fSoked out of the window to see the stranger shooting the insulators of the telegraph poles. As the town is temporarily without a city mar shal and we were busy for the moment, Rocky Mountain Sam had things all his own way for timc. This fact greatly encouraged him, and after firing a dozen shots he turned into tho Empire drug store and commanded MT. Williams, the pro- prietor, to throw up his hands. MessrS Baker White and Parkinson were in tho store at the time and were included in tho | holdup. All four gentlemen ara dead shots and usually go armed, but on this occa- sion none of them had n weapon within reach. Whilo they stood in q row with l their hands up Mir. George Hooper and l Colonel Dyer entered and wCro added to the list Both had guns with them, but the stranger had the drop. He was not satisfied with holding up six men, but ho obliged Colonel Dyer to dance a skirt I nd fhrnatpnaH MF vii stant death if he did not sing After tho Ball"
 | A boy who was about to enter the drug store and saw the situation of affairs gave the alarm, and Charles Freeman, Zeke | Fisher and Abc Davidson pulled their | guns and hastcncd to tho rescue It is all most beyond belief that not ono uf these | mon was able to firu a shot. Their guns were either empty or cluggCi with rust and Rocky Mountain Sam had n picnic. | He split Mir Fishers left ear with bull let, shot tho tip of Mr. Davidsou's nose | off, and Mir Frcuman received a rako across the skull which will keep him SOTO headed for days to come. When Sam got good and ready, he headed for the country and stood of 50 men who ought to have | peppered him. Later on we headed a | posse of 20 men on horseback to look for him, but he was not to be found. A sad der spectacle was never presented to tho gaze of our people. It has been our loud and constant boast that no terror could whoop twice and live on in this town, and from the highest to the lowest every man has been supposed to carry at least ono gun and keep 1t in better order than his liver. It was shameful incident, and the effect has been to depreciato real estate go per cent and to drive away Sl0, 900 capital anxious to invest here. We have ordered the flag on the city hall to be kept at half mast for a week, and our agricultural editor, who was one of those who didn't shoot, got the bounce that same evening and left town on foot