Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-02-27
The' Stpru Teller.
HIS FATE.
The Bully of Gilroy.

There is not a community in the
length and breadth of the land that
has not its bully. A very sweeping
statement, to be sure, but every per-
son who reads these words can, after
a moments reflection, put his finger on
a staggering, clustering bully, who is
forever Dragging of his strength and
displaying bis brutality, by his dispo-
sition to impose on some person weak
er than himself.
i In the more law abiding districts
these fellows lean toward pugilism, and
delight in dog fights. They are the
terror of the timid and the heroes OF
the depraved, and usually spend their
declining years as guests OF the state,
or die with their boots on.
As the bully is invariably coward,
he never blazes out in all his over
bearing brass till he feels secure in the
knowledge of pistol or knife concealed
on his person, where there is law, or
ostentatiously displaying them where
there is none. Hence he is the prom
|inent figure in frontier villages, where
the daring pioneer has gone on, and
law has not yet come, with the securi-
ty its presence gives.
Gilroy is a thriving, beautifully loca.
ted, well-to.do California town now.
Thirty years ago its location was just
as attractive, but in every other re-
spect it was not foursihing place for
business, nor a desirable place for
quiet religious families to settle down.
! The worst characters of the coast
range made it their headquarters, and
the horse thieves of Tulare Valley
looked upon it as their base of sup
plies. Yet even 80 years ago the ad.
vance guard of industry and respecta-
bility secured some of the best posi-
tions on the park lands around Gilroy.
Prominent among those early set
tiers were the families of Ernest Rob-
erts and Hector Mason. They had
come from the eastern states together,
and the heads of the families had been
friends and the children playfellows all
their lives. AS they brought consid-
cradle means with them, they were
enabled at once to stock and open up
their farms in a way that secured
Immediate comfort and promised pros
perity.
They were just the people to settle
a new country, for, in addition to their
great probity and eminent respect
ability, their homes swarmed with
healthy children, some Of whom had
not even learned to hop, while others
had learned to love.
Jennie Observation-Disclosures the
oldest of her fathers many children,
and young Frank Mason thought her,
by all odds, not only the prettiest and
best of her own family, but of all her
sex, so far as his experience extended.
1 To be sure, he could not see well-not
that he had any defect of vision, but
love plays strange pranks with the
best of eyes, and Frank Mason was
one of his victims. In this case, how
ever, love could scarcely have exag-
gerated the merits of its object.
There were many dark-browed SEN
oritas near Gilroy, and at certain sea-
sons Digger Indian squaws, in the
scantiest of calico 6g-leaves, came to
the settlement to trade; but the at
fractions of aborigine and native born
paled in the eyes of Gilroy's army OF
bachelors the moment Jennie Roberts
made her appearance.
| It did not take long for the bettre
inclined to see for themselve that Jen-
MES heart was another's so they pru-
IDENTIFY withdrew from the contest,
though they could not cease to admire
and respect one who was as good and
modest as she was bright and beautiful.
At this time Gilroy had bully. To
be sure, it had a dozen fellows with
similar ruffianly tendencies, but Jack
Culp was pre-eminently the master in
his way. He was stout, thick-set
man of IS, with long red hair, forid
face, and always appeared in an attire
that might be described as loose and
loud.
Jack Culp was ostensibly horse
trader and undisguisedly a gambler.
He put on the belt containing his knife
and pistol with as much punctuality
as his boots or wide-brimmed slouch
hat. He was fierce swearer, loud
talker, and as such men are invariably
braggarts, Jack Culp proved no excep-
ton to the rule.
There was general impression
among the people of Gilroy that he
had killed scores of men in fights and
duels; but as this belief had ics origin
in Jack Culp's statements, there were
not few rash enough openly to assert
that they thought Jack Culp could lie
without feeling any subsequent pangs
of conscience.
The protection and exclusiveness
that society throws around the home
in the older states are unknown in
new settlement. Everybody knows
everybody, and there is free-and-easy
way of getting acquainted that is often
pleasant, but as often the reverse, for
there is not a frontier cutthroat who
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