The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-22
PETE LEAcHs CHECK.
IL Was Good Even IL written on an
Old Paper Collar.

old Paper Collar.
From the Philadelphia Times.
This was one OF the many stories toll
US by Doc Relster that composite char
acter. philosopher. cowboy and hermit.
Doc had been relating his experiences
Of having held up Texas Jack. attending
"a Rocky mountain funeral I'm the dual
capacity OF undertaken and preacher. and
his hunting mountain lion. When we
asked him II he had ever been In wy
oming he told US the story of the famous
check.
Doc started by stating that he had been
employed by an eastern syndicate AS
herder 10 bunch Of cattle, which were
ranging along the Powder river In Wy
omlng. Them was warm days." said
Doc. between the Indians and the drought
we had a he'll Of a hustle. Every spring,
after the roundup, / drove a bunch OF
cattle down to Cheyenne for shippln'. I
think IL was in the spring OF IS / left
With about two hundred head OF cattle
and had crossed the north fork of the
SWeetwater and had Travelled over the
Black Hills when l saw an outfit headed
by old Pete Leach, one OF the dirtiest and
richest herd owners in that there terri
tory. He didn't know me. but / knowed
him the minute / clapped my CNe on
him. He'd been down 70 Cheyenne ship
pin, and l know'd he'd made a pretty
good deposit in the First National Bank
there. After we had grubbed together 1
noticed he had his eye on six OF my po-
ries, but never let on I'd catched on, an
when he mentioned, careless like, that
they wasn't such a bad los, Just praised
'em like they was dropped right down
from the heavenly chariots-an ] drove a
pretty stiff bargain
when / told him I'd take a hundred and
nifty for EN- the old man kicked like a
steer but l never weakened.
well. when he offered me a hundred
and twenty-five, as a kind Of compromise
/ started TO move over TO our corral, and
then the old skin called me back and said
II was a 60 Then came the stlckin point
we didn't carry greenbacks loose in our
clothes no mOre'n we did inlS-an' when
the old man suggested maxim out a check.
which ! knowed was as good as gold i
near had a MT. Well, he smoothed me
down, an at last told him 20 fork over
his check. OF course. he didn't have none.
and he said he'd left his check book at
Rockville. but that he'd give me something
just as good
We'll sir, we had the damnedest time
you ever saw huntin' pencil and bit OF
paper. AT last we did scratch up a pencil
but there wasn't no paper in the whole
outfit. them cowboys not bein' of a liter
airy turn of mind, an no mail carriers
passln' that way. There wasn't much use
o. writin' letters. Old Pete wasn't done
up so easy-he was determined TO have
them ponies sOmehOw-so. seem q tender
foot among his herders. what was sportin'
a paper collar he ordered him to take Il
of immejiet an said he wasn't goin' to
have no damn dudes among his men. When
the Teller was out Of sight he sat down
al N al d fas
Cashier Of the First National Bank,
Cheyenne-Pay to Doc Reister within the
next six days one hundred an fifty dol
lars for six ponies traded for near Lara
mic Park, Wyoming. Reister is a short.
skinny man, about six foot six, with
long hook nose. Pete Leach.
This was writ on the paper side Of
the collar, an l remember the old man
tearin' the cloth backin off an sayin,
If that didn't go to write him at Rock
VILE
Three days after that he was in Chey-
enne, an tell you had time tryns to
make that dude back OF them bars in that
there bank give me my hundred an fifty
dollars They KEEP me standln' up there
but half an hour, an a lot Of men come
an looked at me like was some wild an
imal escaped from a show. At last when
/ was gettin red-hot, they showed me
into a back room where six or seven
gents was STUN, an they asked me 20
swear all kinds of swears that / was
myself. Then an old gent with white
hair, lookin' for all the world like a sun
day school superintendent, who 'peared 10
boss the whole shootin' match, stood up
an speechified bout my probably bein'
the right party an then he kind o. winked
at the cashier, an remarked that my
features was a pretty good proof Then
he picked up that dirty paper collar with
two fingers like It was goin TO bite
him-an' II hadn't got any cleaner IN my
jeans-an' he said:
I'VE have warned Mr.. Leach about
maxim out checks like this, and have
told him we would not honor them. This
once we viii make an exception, but 1t
must be the last
Then he nodded to the cashier, an
he planked out the hundred and fifty dol
lars.
THE next spring / went back TO that
there bank In Cheyenne an there was
that dirty old greasy paper collar check,
with a nice white paper border an a fine
wooden frame around II, a-hangin' over
the desk, where they keep the pens and
ink, long with the real decent checks.
That payin' teller knowed me, an he
nodded up toward that there frame an
said somethin bout IL havin' been hon
ored an bout the man what had writ
It havin' quarter Of a million dollars to
back it right in their safe.
Il s'pose that laundried dude thought he
was tellin me somethln' / didn't know,
but had drove cattle myself for old Pete
Leach five years before, an l think /
ought knowed what his check was good
for, If it was writ on an old paper col