The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-02-12
FIDDLING JIMMY.

L GlDD1IINU jim vi i.
He was long, lank and lean, light
haired, with pale blue eyes, the pro-
duct of the Missouri bottoms, where
things sprout up with such amazing
quickness and then mature with so
much deliberation.
When he dropped from train at
Dodge City, he had an old fashioned
carpetsack in one hand and under bis
| other arm was a fiddle in faded
brown bag. He looked about him some
what in wonderment at the river and
the rolling, treeless country merging
| into the sky far away TO the south and
then again at the long, crowded street
on the other side. He looked but for a
moment, however, and then proceeded
straight to the office of the Southwest
ern Stage company. His inquiry there
was short and 10 the point.
''Have ye got airy job feller kin
do?n
This was years ago, when Dodge
was the end of the overland cattle drive
and fully entitled to its reputation of a
wild and woody town. To the south
/ for few miles was a sprinkle of set
/ tiers and beyond that all was lonesome
and inhospitable.
The Southwestern company always
/ had vacancies. Along the many routes
were certain relay stations, some of
which were sure to be in need of keep
ers. There was one line in particular,
running down to Tascosa, on the South
| Canadian, i'm Texas, stretch of 80
miles, and just a little over half way
was station, No. Is, where a man
was needed at once. The pay was 40
month. The duties were simply 20
watch half dozen mules and have a
team ready for the weekly blackboard
that performed all the transportation,
the freight being usually two of Uncle
! Sans mail sacks. The company sup
piled gun, ammunition, flour, coffee,
| salt and groceries. Truly il seemed a
bonanza To our knight of the violin.
There was no haggiing over terms,
and Jim Dusenberry, fiddle and carpet
bag were duly dispatched the very next
morning to the field of his new labors.
And Jim was duly dubbed Fiddling
Jimmy 10y clerk, driver and all who
came i'm contact with him.
Jimmy had been duly informed that
he would find things ''sorter" lonesome
out at No. Is, but had responded that
lac didn't "keer durn" for being by
himself The fiddle was plenty of
company so his grub came regular.
Now, there were certain things about
No Is that had been discreetly over
looked in the telling. 1t was 30 miles
from the stations on either side and
consisted of a square hole dug at the
top of steep bank overlooking water
hole in one of those plain creeks where
such holes occur at long intervals, the
remainder being simply a grass grown
depression. The hole was rooted with
cottonwood poles, upon which dirt had
been thrown-a dugout pure and SIM
pie There was rude fireplace and a
hole for a chimney. There was jim
my's residence. There was n stockade
up on the flat for the mules, and with
| this you have the station complete.
No man who knew the country could
/ be induced to take No. l3 for love or
money, so the company had to depend
upon the ignorant and the transient.
The country was full of rustlers and
COW thieves. Occasional gangs of In
/ dams from the nation used to slip
along there, bent on any deviltry that
came handy. When No. Is was occu-
pied, it was a shining mark for such
/ gentry. The last occupant had been
4 found, not a fortnight before, lying out
on the fiat with bullet in the back of
| his head. The man before him had
had 80 mile ride for life and a month
in bed from leg broken by win
chester bullet. On each occasion No.
Is had been gutted and the mules run
off.
But in bliss.ul ignorance Jimmy
took possession of his new home. The
blackboard ratified away, the driver
looking back, sympathetic but nom
committal.
For some weeks all was quiet and
peaceful. IL was the pleasant season
of the early autumn. Jimmy put line
i'm the water hole and had fish when
ever he wanted. Twice he shot ante
lope coming down To drink and revel-
ed in fresh meat. He shot everything
of any size that had wings and feath-
ers, and being unversed as TO what was
good or bad TO eat cooked and tasted
all. Some he ate and some he threw
away. The buckboards came by with
prompt regularity, dumping off a sack
of -four or meal, and the report came
weekly to headquarters that the "fel-
ler with the fiddle out on Lost creek
hadn't been pestered yet"
''The "feller' put in his days watch
ing his stock, fishing, hunting, cook
ing and eating, and when the chill of
the evening came after supper he would
throw little wood on his fire, draw
up soapbox seat and play on the fid-
die until he was sleepy enough to roll
up in his blankets on the clay floor and
sleep the sleep of the man perfect in
health and conscience.
But one evening when the shadows
had fallen on all the valleys and the
upland, when there was but a lighter
shade over the west to show where the
sun had hidden its daily farewell, there
came Sinking up Lost creek Crawling
Wolf and seven of his dirty, i'll smell