Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1897-09-03
R~e\o\e@coNoNo\oNe
A FRONTIER DUEL. {
BY MAI. ALFRED R. CALHOUN.

THE plaques of the mining camps
j In the for west were the bullies
and desperaGoes who, ignoring honest
industry, lived by gambling or even
worse.
These fellows always go armed, carry
themselves with swaggcr and figura-
lively drag their coat tails on the
ground at all times in the hope that
some one will give them IN excuse to
shoot.
Fairplay Is q very good name for
town or camp, and Fairplay, Col, is to-
day thriving, law-abiding place, but,
like all western towns, it had to pass
through oil the stages of social evolu-
tion from the absolute barbarity of its
beginning to the high civilization of the
present.
There are many men not yet beyond
middle life who distinctly remember
the first hut erected in Fairplay, and
who retain vivid recollection Of the
first hotel, the Great Western, which
wus composed of three rooms, one can
vas, one log and the other unpaned
boards. Though this establishment
claimed to furnish Accommodations
for man and beast" 1t had no stable
for horses, and all its lodgers had to
sleep In hunks in one room, while bread
and bacon constituted the bill Of fare,
with now and then sugnrless coffee.
The "extras" were composed wholly of
bad cigars, strong chewing tobacco and
whisky Of kind so much viler than the
ordinary fluid that one drink of 1t has
been known to produce all the effects
of delirium tremens on q man unac-
customed to 1t, and it always produced
q .homicidal mania in those who in
dulged in it as often us once week.
The bar of the Great Western was
the rendezvous, the headquarters, for
oil the miners and teamsters in the
vicinity, and you may be sure that II
was constant resort for the gamblers
and desperadoes who always swarm
about new mining town like flies
about sugar hogshead in July.
For the accommodation of the latter
clnss, with whom he was in full SYM
patty, and with an eye to his own gain
he bad only one eye-the landlord of
the Great Western had fitted up place
for playing faro, and a number of pine
tables on which those so inclined-and
1t was surprising bow many were so
incllDed--could play that alluring but
most uncertain game called poker,
At this time there were only two
women In Fairplay, viz, Mrs. Chamber
lain, the wife of the principal mine
superintendent, and Lizzy Chamberlain,
her daughter.
Some men, with wives and daughters
at home in the states, rather blamed
Mr.. Chamberlain for subjectipg his fam
lily to the bardships inseparable from
such q life, but, had they known that
the devoted wife and daughter insisted
on accompanying him and sharing his
trials, they would not have been so hard
In their judgment.
Arthur Lyons, fiue young fellow of
four and twenty, Mr.. Chamberlain's
assistant, and as he boarded with his
employer 1t was pretty generally con-
ceded that he had "the inside track" so
far as Llzzy was concerned, and that
their marriage was only question Of
time.
There was, however, In Fairplay, one
man who emphatically refused to be-
lleve that Lizzy Chamberlain looked
Kindly ON Arthur Lyons, and tbis man
was known as "Red" Snivcly, the first
name being given to designate his com
plexion and tie saDguine color Of his
hair.
Red Snively wished to be known as
1.-THE Mountain Terror" aud he tried
hard TO have the name attach to him
self, but as the majority OF the miners
looked upon him as nuisance rather
than terror the name did not stick
to my great extent.
Red Snively was staggering, ever
armed braggart. He was supposed to be
silent partner In the Great Western
hotel, and 1t was matter of notoriety
that all the gambling features of the
establishment were under his immedi-
ute charge.
He claimed Missouri rs his home, and
when he became confdential-which
was always thecase when the game was
going against hlm--he would hint that
he was forced to come west "owin' TO n
little cuttin' scrape" he had over a game
Of cards.
With the brazen effrontery Of his
class, Red Snively made himself very
Objectionable toTlizzy Chamberlain by
his disgusting attentions; so much so,
indeed, that she dreaded to venture out
unless accompanied by her father or
Arthur Lyons.
On one occasion the latter told Red
Snively very emphntically that his con-
duct was disagreeable to- Miss Chamber
lain, and that 1t must be stopped, and
this was said with such calm emphasis
that the bully was not left in any
doubt as to the young mans meaning
nor of his determination to enforce his
request.
Tn addition to its many other uses the
Great Western was The post office at
which the weekly-more often the
monthly--mail was delivered.
One rainy afternoon after the mail
hud come in Arthur Lyons went up to
,9et the everwclcome letters and papers
from the east.
While he was leaning against the
damp bar waiting for the man behind
4 to look over the addresses OF the
parcels that had come by post, he fell
a heavy hand on his shoulder ana at
The same time he heard Red Sniveiy
saving. In a mocking. bantering tone
that meant miscief: :,
"Come, Lyons, join me ana wei
drink to the health OF the beauty o.
Fairplay." ,,..su h,.,