Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1897-06-26
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DOC PIPPIN. !
BY CY wARMAN. s
BY cY wARMAN.
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Sharpened, and on my way nome saw
Doc climbing across n cloddy field be-
hind a harrow, and he hailed me. When
he came out he hung his chin over
the top of the fence and said: I'm
goin' west"
"When?"
Tonight"
"No!"
"Yes. Will you iine me?"
whats it cost?" | asked.
"Forty-nine dollars second class from
St. Louis to Denver"
"Have you got the money!"
Doc shook his head.
did you ever see that much money!"
well, not at one look, but I've got
it all figured out"
"IIow much have you got?"
Haven't got any, but got job at
Whiticer's stable in Carr street, an if
you go I'll see that you never want.
We can sleep in the haymow and board
around"
How'll we get to st. LOUISE"
asked.
"Ride when we're tired of walliin' an
walk when we can't ride" was his re-
ply.
The thought of getting up at morn
Eng and not knowing where l was GO
ing to sleep at night frightened me,
and / told Doc so, and we parted.
A few years later, when the west
bound train stopped at a little bleak
and dreary mountain town where l,
having gone west, had elected to drop
anchor, / looked out from the car win
dow and saw Doc sitting close up to
the crooper of an old sorrel horse that
was hitched to an express wagon.
went over to him at once, for was
lonesome. A mountain town is not
thing that one is apt to love at first
sight. Desolate! That is better than
four columns of agate to describe the
place. The dry March winds came out
of the canyon and swept the sands of
the mesa up into eddies and swished
and swirled in around your collar and
cut your face. The sunlight was so
dazzling that it bewildered and seemed
unreal, and the cold winds were con-
stantly contradicting its warmth
Are you homesick, Doc?" 1 asked,
as L rode uptown with him, for he was
there to haul people and their baggage
up to the hotel.
Mop" he said. "It's the dry wind
it's busted my lip so that 1 look like
I'm goin' to cry when I'm tryin' to
laugh. I'm goin' back home this fall,'
he added, after a pause, 'to get my
money-Pm 21 now, but I'm comm
back out here-this country is all
right"
Doc, who had earned his title by doc
toring his uncle's horses, had inherited
little fortune of $1,sO0, and when the
summer had come and gone he went
back home in Pullman car. for he had
saved $50 out of his salary of 500 and
board every month.
Five years later, in the dawning of
the morning, as was climbing out of
an upper berth at another mountain
town, n nan caught hold of my coat
tail, and found that the man under
my bed" was Doc Pippin. He said he
was living in Denver; so was I, and
In few days he came in to see me.
He came often, and tod the best stories
| had ever heard. He was thin and
pale, and I noticed that he coughed
and pounded his left lung when he
did so. Those stories were not told to
me for publication. but I know he will
not care, for he is careless now.
Doc went TO Chicago after receiving
his money and became acquainted with
q well-known detective. think he said
1t was Billy Pinkerton. 1t was like the
Pinkertons to detect in this almost
beardless boy remarkably intelligent
person.
Pippin got an offer of employment,
he accepted it and was sent at once to
. small town in Illinois to find out a
band of thieves who were stealing hogs
and robbing shops.
If Doc had tried he could never have
dressed well. Even clothes that were
made for him didn't fit, and he wore
his hat crosswise, like the leading man
at French funeral. His appearance
upon this occasion was in his favor, and
he was not long in forming the ac-
1uaintance of the toughest lot of loaf
ers in the town. They liked Doc, as
everyone did who knew him, but it,was
a long time before they would trust
him. Docs money gave out, and he tried
to borrow, and the gang gave him the
laugh. "Git out an turn a trick
work" said one of the men.
What can do? Show me and then
watch me-" said Doc.
See that jay ridin' out O. town."
said the tough, nodding down the road
where lone horseman was going away
with the sunset at his back.
"Yes."
"Well, he's goin' out to his place in
the country-goes every Sat'day night
an comes back Monday-hold i'm up"
Doc knew the man, as he knew near
ly every man in the place, by the de-
scriptioa given him at Chicago, and by
the middle of the following week this
wealthy citizen had been notified from
headquarters that he would be held up
on the next Saturday night. Doc was