The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-27
. HEROINE OF LEADYILLE.
MOTHER CANNON AND THE ORDER
SHE KEPT IN CAMP.

0Fo4 w NNAbFbNe Nv NfNOANe NNNVN ~
sssrais-A temperance Losson nr GEORGE
Mah~anoS-CniiinE BOWS y HiEht p1nrshai.
WASHINGTON. June 26.-"The written his.
tory Of mining camps always seems TO inc to
be made up chiefly OF the gun doings Of Mar
shals and Sheriffs and the bad men they planted
In tho line Of duty or otherwise" said Jeff Kin.
kaid, n Colorado mining engineer. TO n group
Of smokers In a House committee room the
other afternoon. This 10 all right so far as It
goes. The preservation Of order In u mining
camp by means Of sawed of slug shooters with
the sights died away WAS hefty enough work to
ontitlo the swift-thtnking and speedy-Hcting
mon who succeeded at II to any amount Of Inn
mortality. But as peace culturists those fel.
lows who wore their badges with becoming
modesty on the inner side Of their belts were
certainly not the whole thing. The solid. shrewd.
mastorful, big. hearted women who ran tho
camp boarding houses during Colorado's carly
mining booms hud every bit as much TO do
with the holding in and toning down Of tho
rough, violent-tempered follows who Hocked
to the diggings ~ did any Of the oficial man.
killers and legal gun-fanners. The men with the
concealed badges ruled by the right Of might;
their populations inspired fear. But tho women
! speak OF, while there was certainly nothing
soft or nnrnby .pamhyish about them. exercised
the sort Of influence that any good woman,
even u her taoe 10 As hoineiy rs 'dobe fence.
can command over tho most turbulent Of men.
and II would be hard TO estimate the number
Of hot-heahed fellows whose lives were saved
through tho fundamentally or Intervention
OF tho old-time boardinK-houBe mistresses.
II am thinking particularly OF Mother Gan.
non OF Lead willie. Every man who spent any
time In Lead willie botween 10 and 70 Is hound
TO remember her. She was one Of the hast
women ] ever met, even II her hands wers red
and podgy and abe wore mems brogana Her
boarding house had room for nearly sixty men.
II WAS full all the time. and plenty Of fellows
always had their names down for possible va
cancies. and there wasn't a man In the mob Of
us who wasn't better OF for living at Mother
Gannon's reform Joint as tho boys called II,
Not that any kind OF Sunday school atmos-
phere pcrvadcd the house, but simply because
Mother Cannon saw that the boys she 40
cornniodated with rooms and board behaved
themselves like white men both at home and
abroad, and 1t kind o pleased EN- and mellowed
'em up some to feel that there was anything
around In tho shape of 6 woman who cared q
continental whether they went to the devil or not.
IAN the mon at Mother Gannon's shack got
into the habit Of calling her Nav. Just like a
pack Of school kids, and tho toughest man In the
gang wouldn't dare to give her IA word Of slack
on pain OF his life. for the others wouldn't stand
for such nutiny. No matter how soundly you
were beraicd by the old lady and she never
you had to take 1t in silence or look Out Tor
trouble: When any Of the gang would take
s soxn M11her ,S GaTnon n would 10, d drop everything u Ing
Chin men. and do MS nice and careful a stunt Of
nursing as could be got in any hospital. She
was n big. strong woman. and could handle an
average man with euse, and yet when she got on
s sS5,S S" = ia nIl'gBp ,s w in q hi stoE s1s room sPos the ' Is. man mar
tainiy did know how to pull a man through the
de!irimm tre,nens, but she would never do this
give a man VINO went back on her on the rum
question after giving her his promise tina, he
Mshnx" ":"R found 10 fI Ills OUT t'"i george f"S a Se soos
claim, With plenty in ,isht ba, he let whisksy
wa Was y a 90" ," so ",n; t e "sa' and M H'i woF Gann ao
liked HIN. although nlue cer.aip!y did hirn hin
S Sp o, nSsnS snonT mos, for q s'S SI. ,foI In al all hi s' i%i S",sy,
Finally George kee'ed over In a booze dispen.
sstrS downtow, one day. and he wns carried to
case OF the hooters as ever made a mar see pink
1eS STs. an" md f,sssn ,p prss,r,' n dog h. .,..v.. NJ, ,
clean white apron and her carpet slippers. and
that was the last we saw OF her DOWNSTAIRS FOR
On sunday morning early Mahaney zane down,
snS'I done up "p al Methsr ~ G.n 'S%s'" iEolHYG ss',S i tsinP
on the qneeriooking old bonnet, covered with
red a.j GsSSPlss> . .ays : sbs 1 ,H Nsh ~ s &c, on your
ha, and como along with me-
" Ivy @r4 'V rotn "h To %as say, ss MsA ;hs yo,a l.av,
priest ana take the pledge And you re goin' TO
"Mi,hafcy saw il was no use making any
k ,hs ia 20 ,. he clqppe6d , on his ha, and went wtth
for fifteen years. either. Mother Cannon took
the big fellow around to tho sacristy after the
name TO the pledge. Those among us that
,E.' {; w TO Epy him bs W.T. w.G Po Do be & sG 1T , hack I'D dG f.sS
hearinE. and so We kept still.
"Maheney went TO work on his claim the next
day. and for a whole month he went along as
StIaDsIt rs N shaft cable, Then ono lhy he
turned up at dinner with about three parts ola
from the kitchen, where she was bossins the
SSoMnirrk S %6sr an! ana she % Tap to the dlniIS.room
the table. mumblins away, sGe looked at him
Tor a minute in disgust, Then she turned and
went back into the kitchen. She reappeared in
her right hand. She walkci over to where
George was sitting he was u man six feet two
when she sat down In a chair she had Mahancy
STRUGGLING across her knee In an attitude he
She certainly did drum him good, too. He was
too game a man to ask for quarter or TO lot out
been UP against, When the old lady, anallSy
all over. The thing, was a lesson TO him. and
wS year be M aSd s1"H EsnnS aG'p n,.ds 1 s% ,atr iSf SvH n
his casa little repentant, J guess, for having
keeping her InJuns. Ms she used to affection
aIeiy call some OF them, out OF the way Of
trouble. One morning before breakfast Link
Sloan, a pretty quiet quartz FOUNDER when he
was let alone, but bad and evil all the way
through when he WAS picked on, went into the
kitchen where the old lady WAS superintend.
Ing tho preparations, for the morning meal.
Link had II queer light In his eye.
shoot up that rubber-neckin' Jim worley on
film worley was then ono OF Lead ville's
night marshals.
whats he been doin' to you. Linki' says the
az was comm along homo a little after mid.
night this mornin', nindin' my own business
says Link. when this here night shooter, drunk.
er'n an owl, popped out OF the Mountain Lion
saloon, a'c,oyerin,, me with both his gums, and
the street pretty lively. lie had The drop on
me, and had to Kit, But ] never did nothin'
to him, and I'm goin' to plug him to-day or got
'"fhe old lady studied for n minute.
10y Ou're liable to get plugKed yourself,