The Princeton union., 1897-11-04


carry themselves
with sWagger and figuratively drag
their coat tails on the ground at all
times in the hope that some one Will
give them an excuse to shoot.
Fairplay is a very good name FOR
town or camp, and Fairplay, Colorado,
is today thriving, lawabiding place,
but, like all western towns, it had to
pass through all the stages OF soclal
evolution from the, absolute barDarlty
of its beginning to the high clVlllza-
ton OF the present.
There are many men not yet beyond
middle life who distinctly remember
tthe first hut erected in Fairplay, and
who retain vivid recollection OF the
first hotel the Great Western, which
was composed Of three rooms, one
canvas, one log and the other un-
planed boards. Though this establish
ment claimed to furnish ''accommoda-
lions for man and BEAST" it had no
stable for horses, and all its dodgers
mad to sleep in hunks in one room,
while bread and bacon constituted the
bill Of fare, with now and then sugar.
hess coffee. The "eXtraS' were COM
posed wholly of bad cigars, strong
chewing tobacco and whisky of kind
so much viler than the ordinary fluid
that one drink of it has been known to
produce all the effects of dellrlum
tremens on a man accustomed to 1t,
and it always produced a homicidal
mania in those who indulged in it as
often as once a week.
The bar of the Great Western was
the rendezvous, the headquarters, for
all the miners and teamsters in the
vicinity, and you may be sure that it
was constant resort for the gamblers
and desperadoes who always swarm
about a new mining town like flies
about a sugar i1ogshead in July.
For the accommodation of the latter
class, with whom he was in full SYM
pathy, and with an eye to his own
gain-he had only one eye-the land
lord of the Great Western had fitted
UP place for playing faro, and num-
Der of pine tables on which those so
Enclined-and it was surprising how
many were so inclined-could play
that alluring but most uncertain game
called poker.
At this time there were only two
women in Fairplay, viz: Mrs. Cham
berlain, the wife of the principal mine
superintendent, and Lizzy Chamber
lain, her daughter.
Ladies were certainly at premium
and Lizzie was very popular and a
standing toast with the hundreds OF
men working in or near the camp
But as she was very charming, mod
est girl she would have been popular
had the sexes been more evenly bal
.anced.
Some men, with wives and daugh-
ters at home in the states, rather
blamed Mr.. Chamberlain for subject
ing his family to the hardship insep
arabic from such a life, but had they
known that the devoted wife an(
daughter insisted on accompanying
him and sharing his trials, they Woul(
not have been so hard in their iudg
.ment.
Arthur Lyons fine fellow of fou
and twenty, was Mr.. Chamberlain's as
s!stant, and as he boarded with his me
ployer, it was pretty generally con
'ceded that he had ''the inside track
SO far as Lizzy was concerned, an(
that their marriage was only a cues
tion Of time.
There was, however, in Fairplay
one man who emphatically refused t,
believe that Llzzy Chamberlain looket
kindly on Arthur Lyons, and this mai
was known as Red" Snively. the frs
name being given to designate his com
plexion and the sanguine color of hi
bushy hair.
Red Snively wished to be known a
<The Mountain Terror" and he trie
hard to have the name attached +
himself but as the majority of tn
miners looked upon him as nufsanc
rather than terror, the name did no
stick to any great extent
Red Snively was a swaggering ever
armed braggart. He was supposed T.
be a silent partner in the Great West
ern hotel and it was matter @
notoriety that all the gambling fea
lures of the establishment were unde
his immediate charge
He always had money; he alway
drank, yet he was the one man wh
did not appear to be affected bv tn
vile whisky-indeed, it would be nearl
impossible for any liquor to make hi,
more brutal and bloodthirsty than h
was when in his natural condition.
He claimed Missouri as his hom
and when he became confidential
which was always the case when til
game was going against him-b
would hint that he was forced to CON
west "owin' to little cuttin' scrape
he had over a game of cards.
With the brazen effrontery Of h
class, Red Snively made himself We,
Objectionable to Lizzy Chamberlain /
his disgusting attentions, so much >
indeed, that she dreaded to venture o,
unless accompanied by her father
Arthur Lyons.
On one occasion the latter told RI