The Somerset reporter., 1896-01-23
FIDDLING JIMMY.

He was long, lank and lean, light
haired, with pale blue eyes, the product
of the Missouri bottoms, where things
sprout up with such amazing quickness
and then mature with SO much delibera-
ton.
When he dropped from train at
! Dodge City, he had an old fashioned
carpetsack in one hand and under bis
| other arm was fiddle in 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 We 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 woolly town. To the south for a
few miles was sprinkle of settlers and
beyond that all was lonesome and in
hospitable.
The Southwestern company always
had vacancies. Along the many routes
were cert~in relay stations, some of
which We're sure to be in need of keep
ers. There was one line i'll particular,
running down to Tascosa, on the South
IDn9d1DH N or Of
miles. and Just little over half way
was station, No 10, where a man
was needed at once. The pay was $40 a
| month. The duties We're simply to 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
Sam s mail sacks The company sup
! piled IA gun and ammunition, flour, cot
| fee, salt and groceries. Truly it seemed
a bonanza to our knight of the violin.
There was no haggling over terms,
and jim Cusenbery, 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. ID. but had responded that he
! didn' t "keer durn' for being by him
self. The fiddle was plenty of company
so his grub came regular.
Now, there were certain things about
No. - that had been discreetly over
looked in the telling 1t was 30 miles
from the stations ON either side and
consisted of IA square hole dug at the top
of steep bank overlooking water
hole III 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 rude fireplace and
hole for "a chimney. This was Jimmy's
residence. There was a 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. - 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
dians from the nation used to slip along
there, bent on any deviltry that came
handy. When No. ID was occupied, it
was "a shining mark for such gentry.
The last occupant had been found not
fortnight before, lying out on the fiat
! l, "a ht1Il LOT IN, hn &C. IL.
The man before him had had 30 mile
ride for life and month in bed from
leg broken by winchester bullet. On
each occasion No. % had been Quilted
and the mules run off
But in bliSsful ignorance Jimmy
took possession Of his new home. The
blackboard ratified away, the driver
looking back, sympathetic but noncom-
initial.
For some weeks all was quiet and
peaceful 1t was the pleasant season of
the early autumn. Jimmy put line in
the water hole and had fish whenever
he wanted. Twice he shot antelope COM
ing down to drink and reveled III fresh
meat. He shot everything of any Size
that had wings and feathers, and being
unversed as TO what wis good or bad to
eat cooked and tasted all. Some he ate
and some lie threw away. The buck
boards came by with prompt regularity,
dumping off "a sack of flour or meal, and
the report came weekly to headquarters
: that the 'feller with the fiddle out on
Lost creek hadn't been pestored yet.
The Teller" put in his days watching
his stock, fishing hunting. cooking and
eating, and when the chill Of the even
ing came after supper he would throw Il
little wood on his fire draw mp soap
box seat ana play ON the fiddle until he
was sleepy enough to roll up III 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 lighter
shade over the west to show where the
sun had hidden its daily farewell, thero
came sinking up Lost creek Crawling
Wolf and seven of his dirty, i'll smelling
brethren, foul birds of the night, ready
for anything, from petty larceny up to
murder, provided the situation allowed
crime without danger to the criminal.
They had "A herd of stolen ponies cor