The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1896-05-28
FIDDLING JIMMY.

sprout up with such amazing q%uickness
and then mature with SO much delibera-
ton.
When he dropped from a train at
Dodge City, he had an old fashioned
c~arpetsack in one hand and under his
other arm was a fiddle in a faded brown
bag. He looked about him somewhat in
wonderment at the river and the roll
ling, ~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 mo-
ment, however, and then proceeded
straight to the Office of the Southwest
ern Stage company. His inquiry there
was short and to the point.
Have ye got airy job a Teller kin
do?'
This was years ago, when Dodge was
the end of the overland cattle drive and
fully entitled to its reputation Of a wild
and woolSy town. To the south for a
few miles was q sprinkle of settlers and
beyond that all was lonesome and in
hospitable.
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, in Texas, a stretch Of $50
miles. and just a little over half way
was a station, No. Is, where a man
was needed at once The pay was $40 a
month. The duties were simply to watch
half q dozen mules and have q 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 a gun and ammunition, flour, cof-
fee, salt and groceries. Truly it seemed
a bonanza to our knight of the violin.
There was no haggling over terms,
and Jim Cusenberry, 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 by clerk, driver and all who
came in contact with him.
Jimmy had been duly informed that
he would find things 'sorter'' lonesome
out at No. IS, but had responded that he
didn't "keer q durn" for being by him
self. The fiddle was plenty of company
go his grub came regular.
Now, there were certain things about
No. IS that had been ~discreetly over
looked in the telling. 1t was S5 miles
from the stations on either side and
consisted Of O square hole dug at the top
Of a steep bank overlooking a water
hole in one Of those plains 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 were q rude fireplace and q
hole for a chimney. This was Jimmy
residence. There was a stockade up on
the fat for the mules, and with this you
have the station complete.
No man who knew the country could
be induced to take No. 13 for love OF
money, SO the company had to depend
upon the ignorant and the transient.
The country was full of r~ustlers 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. ID was occupied, j,
was q shining mark for such gentry.
The last occupant had been found, no
a fortnight before, lying out on the fla,
with a bullet in the back of his head
Tho man hofora hin, had L,l 4, On ->sl.
ride for life and a month in bed from
leg broken by a winchester bullet. On
each occasion No. Is had been guttet
and the mules run of.
But in blissful ignorance Jimm,
took possession Of his new home. Tn,
blackboard ratified away, the driver
looking back, Sympathetic but noncom
initial.
For some weeks all was quiet ant
peaceful. 1t was the pleasant season O
the early autumn. Jimmy put a line il
the water hole and had fish wheneve
he wanted. Twice he shot antelope com
ing down to drink and reveled in fresl
meat. He shot everything of any siz
that had wings and feathers, and bein,
IMMERSED as to what was good or bad t
eat cooked and tasted all. Some he ate
and some he threw away. The buck
boards came by with prompt regularity
dumping off a sack Of -four or meal, an
the report came weekly to headauarter
that the ''feller with the fiddle out O
Lost creek hadn't been pestered yet"
The teller put in his days watchin
his stock, fishing, hunting. cooking an
eating, and when the chill Of the ever
ing came after supper he would throw
little wood ON his fire, draw ND a soar
box seat and play ON the fiddle until b
was sleepy enough to roll mp in hi
blankets ON the clay floor and sleep III
sleep OF the man perfect in health an
conscience
But ons evening when the shadow
had fallen on all the valleys and Il
upland. when there wal hut q liaht.
La r