Omaha daily bee., 1895-09-20
STONES BETTER THAN PISTOLS.
remarkable Experience of n Yale
Graduate in Montana.

~
zone Of the best men that l ever kneV at
adapting himself to circumstances" OBJ
served Major Hotchkiss to a New York
Tribune reporter, was a young fellow that
we'll call Robinson. He was a Yale man,
and, l fancy, a bit of a black sheep. He
came Of a good New England family, and
one brother went into the ministry and an
other came to this city and prospered in the
law, but these pursuits were too prosaic for
him. After he left college he went to Cuba
for a few months, and then came back and
drifted to Chicago and became a reporter on
the Chicago Times. This was in the old
Storey days, when a Times reporter, in the
event Of refusing to give him news, was
expected to take the man down and hammer
it out Of him..
Robinson made a mistake one day. He
the city editor and had to leave
town. He promptly went out to Badger
Rock, Mont.
Badger Rock at that time was one of the
hardest towns in the west. Homicide was a
pastime. like lawn tennis or croquet in other
parts of the country. Mining and gambling
were the only two recognized industries,
with the preference given to gambling as a
gentlemanly vocation. Robinson got imme-
date employment OF : morning paper called
by it's owner with fine irony the Daily Dove.
1t was the worst sheet in town, which IL
saying a good deal. The exciting nature Of
a connection wltn 1t may be best realized
when l say that the papers strong point
was abusive personals in a country where all
personals are dangerous.
When Robinson got to town he found the
post OF city editor vacant and applied for
the place. The owner, notwithstanding his
belligerency, was a fair man to his employees.
He slipped his arm into Robinson's and led
him half a mile up the mountain to the
little cemetery. Pointing to three white
wooden headboards, he said: Young man,
there sleep your predecessors There's
room for another between that end and the
fence answered Robinson, and he took
the position of city editor.
But the worst thing about the outlook for
the young man / have not mentioned. He
could not shoot. He had tried to learn many
times, but, in his own words, he couldn't
hit a flock Of barns When he explained
this popularity to his employer this indi-
vidual was for having him Immediately
throw up the position.
why he explained, they'll get you in
side of a week. Quick and accurate shooting
is the only chance for a man on this paper.
I'd rather have a man that can't write than
one that can't shoot
"'Just let me alone answered Robinson.
III you are not satisfied at the end of a
month I'll resign
"'Give me the address of the friend you
want notified. please said the man, whip
ping out a pencil, but Robinson only
laughed, picked up the shears, cut the lapels
off the side pockets of his coat. walked out
and wandered up the gulch,
SplllCAIlllb ~ VII VI lHC bdll9
Dove didn't know was that Robinson had
pitched for three years on the college base
ball club. He had been the best pitcher the
club had ever had. He could throw a ball
harder and straighter Tor crookeder, as the
circumstances might ~require) than almost
any man who up to that time had stood In
the center of the diamond. He had made up
his mind to utilize his talent in this direction.
Up the gulch he began selecting stones about
the size of hens eggs, hard and jagged, l
think he picked out galena specimens largely,
as being the heaviest and frequently rough
and square-cornered. He dropped half a
dozen nuggets In each side pocket and took
off his hat and filed that and returned. At
the office he emptied the hat on his desk and
I went TO work.
"The second day after this his employer
said to him.: Robinson, there's a man come
to town named Wash Galley. He is a Grim
inal and a deadbeat 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 tomor-
row morning. Robinson wrote a 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 columns of
the Dove 1t was a hnL paragraph, and
when the foreman read 1t he simply re-
marked: Well, l hope the man that takes the
city editorship tomorrow will write a palmer
hand
About 10 o'clock the next morning Robin
son was walking quietly along the main
street Of the town with his right hand resting
oarelessly In his coat pocket. Suddenly Mr..
Galley stepped out IT the door Of a saloon.
He reached for his revolver. The young man
from Yale who couldn't shoot took his hand
out Of his pocket. In 1t was an irregular
specimen Of lead ore. l remember now the