The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-11
A HEROINE OF LEADVILLE.
MOTHER CANNON AND THE ORDER
SHE KEPT IN CAMP.

Misunderstanding Down q Night
Marshal.
From the New York Sun.
Washington.-"The written history of
mining camps always seems to me TO be
made up chiefly of the gun doings OF mar
shals and sheriffs and the bad men they
planted in the line of duty or otherwise"
said JEFF Kinkaid, a Colorado mining en-
gineer, to a group of smokers in a House
committee room the other afternoon, This
is all right so far as ii goes. The preser-
walton of order in a mining camp by means
Of sawed-off slug shooters with the sights
filed away was hefty enough work to en-
title the swift-thinking and speedy-acting
men who succeeded at 1t to any amount OF
immortality. But as peace culturists
these fellows who wore their badges with
becoming modesty on the inner side of their
belts We're certainly not the whole thing,
The Solid shrewd. masterfui, big-hearted
women who ran the camp boarding houses
during Colorado's early mining booms had
every bit as much to do with the holding
in and toning down of the rough, violent
tempered follows who tlocked to the dig
gings as did any of the official man-killers
and legal gun-fanners. The men with the
concealed badges ruled by the right of
might; their regulations inspired fear. But
the women speak of, while there was GER
tainly. nothing soft or Mandy pambyish
about them, exercised the sort of influence
that any good woman. even If her face is
as homely as 'dobe fence, can command
over the most turbulent of men, and il
would be hard to estimate the number of
hot-headed fellows whose lives were saved
through the fundamentally or interven-
ton of the old-time boarding house mis-
tresses.
Il am thinking particularly of Mother
Cannon of Leadville. Every man who
spent any time in Leadville between 20
and 70 is bound to remember her. She
was one of the best women l ever met,
even if her hands were red and podgy and
she wore mems brogans. Her boarding
house had room for nearly sixty men. 1t
was full all the time, and plenty of fellows
always had their names down for possible
vacancies, and there wasn't man In the
mob of us who wasn't better off for living
at Mother Gannons reform joint as the
boys called it. Not that any kind of Sun
day school atmosphere pervaded the
house, but simply because Mother Cannon
saw that the boys she accommodated with
rooms and board behaved themselves like
white men both at home and abroad, and
1t kind o. pleased 'em and mellowed 'em
up some to feel that there was anything
around in the shape of "A woman who car
ed a continental whether they went to the
devil or not
IAN the men at Mother Gannons shack
got into the habit of calling her Nav
Just like a pack of school kids, and the
toughest man in the gang wouldn't dare
to give her a word of slack on pain of his
life, for the others wouldn't stand for
such mutiny No matter how soundly you
were berated by the old lady-and she
never roasted one of her boys without he
needed it-you had to take 1t in silence or
look out for trouble. When any of the
gang would take sick, Mother Cannon
would drop everything downstairs, turn
ing her kitchen over to the Cinnamon, and
do as nice and careful a stunt of nursing
as could be got in any hospital She was
a big strong woman, and could handle an
average man with ease, and yet when she
got on her carpet slippers IN sick room,
the sick man couldn't tell but what he
was alone She certainly did know how
to pull a man through the delirum trem-
ems but she would never do this for the
same man twice. She would never forgive
a man who went back on her on the rum
question after giving her his promise that
he was going to quit. l remember how
George Mahaney found this out. George
had a good claim, with plenty in sight,
but he let whisky get hold on him, and
neglected his work. He was good,
square fellow and Mother Cannon liked
him. although she certainly did burn him
up often enough for blowing in all his
money and spending most of his time on
red liquor Finally George keeled over IN
a booze dispensary downtown one day.
and he was carried to his room at Mother
Gannon's with as bad a case OF the moot
ers as ever made a man see pink zeDras
and green prairie dogs.
1.-THE old lady tucked up her sleeves.
nut on a clean, white apron and her car
pet slippers, and that was the last we
saw of her downstairs for a week. She
didn't say a word of repr0ach TO Mahaney
while he was laid I'D with his dose. on
Sunday morning early Mahaney came
down, dressed up all right, but looking
pretty cheap and done uD. Mother Can
non followed, tying on the queer-looking
old bonnet. covered with red peoples, that
she always wore.
"'Ceorge.' she said TO Mahaney, get on
your hat and come along with me-
What for? WhereP says Mahaney.
"'Youre goin to mass, says the old
lady. and when mass is over you're goin
to the priest and take the pledge. And
you're goin to see that you keep It, too
''Nahaney saw IL was no use making
any kick. so he clapped on his hat and
went with the old lady. He hadn't been
inside a church for fifteen years, either.
Mother Cannon took the big fellow around
to the sacrlsty after the service was over
and George duly signed his name to the
pledge. Those among as who wanted TO
guy him when he got back decided that II
wouldn't be wise to do II Ia the old ladys
hearing and so we kept still.
"Mahaney went TO work on his claim
the next day. and for a whole month he
went along as straight as a shat cable.
Then one day he turned up at dinner with
about three parts Of a Jag on. Mother
Cannon heard his foolish talk from the
kitchen, where she was bossing the Chink
cooks. and she came to the dining room
door When she saw Mahaney sitting
there al the table. mumbling away, she
looked at him for a minute In disgust.
Then she turned and went back TO the
kitchen. She reappeared In a second with
a big homemade rolllng-pin in her right
hand She walked over TO where George
was sittlng-he was a man six feet two
inches tall-yanked him out OF his seat,
ana whom she sat down In chair she
had Mahaney struggling across her knee
In an attitude he hadn't been IN since he
was about years old. She certainly did