The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-05-09

never let on to anybody where he came
FROM. He probably had a record in
other camps under some other name.
Instead of prospecting for the metals.
Nable nosed around among the hills
for gems. He never found enough of
the garnets or sapphires to pay for
his time hunting them. h~owever-it
was reserved for men who went over
the very same ground years afterward
to strike the carbons i'm paying guam
titles. So Noble came back into Butte
and picked up a living at short-haul
%freighting and playing cards. He was
playing a game of seven-up with n
of his ~freighting %pardners one night
in the rear room of the Angel Gabriel
saloon when some shooting began in
the front room. There was nothing
uncommon about this. but when the
glass began TO crash and a couple OF
balls came through the thin board par
tition that separated the front from
the rear room of the saloon. Noble and
the man he was playing with got up
from the card table to see was
going on. They stepped together INTO
the doorway leading into the front
room. They saw Jim Scarsdale, a
killer who had several times come
near TO being the central figure in
lynching bees gotten up by Butte's
vigilance committee, IN the middle of
the saloon blazing away with both
guns at the lights and looking glasses.
The bartender was not in sight. but
when IL was all over he came out from
beneath the bar. very fierce and fero-
cious. Scarsdale Mas drunk and en-
joying himself. He saw Noble and the
other man when they appeared in the
doorway. and he had them both COW
cred before they had time To exactly
take I'm the situation. Scarsdale kept
his guns on them n talked.
t. l.. .a aRNr '
said he, 'a-pokin' in here like this
when I'm just startin' in to eat up the
camp. Amt We afraid a. me, hey?
Amt we both skeart I'll drill so many
holes in We that yen ketch your death
a. cold on a raw night like this. hey?
Because II We amt we want to be, for
I'm a-goin' to-
"Scarsdale never had a chance to fin
ish telling what he was going to do.
There were two sharp pistol cracks.
almost together. and Scarsdale fell
lead with one bullet through his heart
and the other through his right lung.
Mobiles partner looked mystified until
he saw Gus pull his guns out of the
pockets of his sack o lay them on
the table n then smother the nre in
both pocket Innings with his hands.
When Noble sat down to his game of
seven up he removed his guns from
his back pockets to the side pockets of
his coat. because they interfered with
the back of his chair. He knew. when
Scarsdale got the drop on him, that
the man was drunk enough to shoot
him dead II he made a move, and as
he had his hands in his coat side peck
cts when he appeared I'm the doorway
he was inspired to tax advantage of
the situation To save his life and the
life Of his friend. He got the thanks
of the town for finishing Scarsdale's
evil days. The pocket-shoo;ing scheme
-. t.ls .Va-l
one for a man in a tight place, and.
as | said before. he employed it on
one or two other occasions To put the
kibosh on bad men who. while en-
gagged i'm the amiable job of shooting up
the town. crossed his trail. 1t was the
good work that Noble thus did i'm rid
ding Butte of desperate characters
that induced the orderly men OF the
town to urge Gus to take the job of
night marshal.
when Noble made his announce
ment. upon assuming office, that he
intended to run the town by means of
fist persuasion entirely, unless he found
himself i'm holes too deep To climb out
of without the aid of his guns, we all
thought he was only fooling. The
thing looked absurd on the face of IL.
when. nearly every man in the camp
packed two guns and a knife with him.
when the town was honeycombed
with bad men. i'm spite OF the efforts OF
the vigilance committee to run them
out. and when. moreover. three previous
night marshals of the town, all of them
gun fighters of the first quality of
gameness had their badges
after averaging less than two
months of service each, declaring
that the pace was too warm To make
IL worth their while.
"Bu we found out that Noble meant
what III said three nights after he took
a., ,Al. - aftar-larE taanrGhnl I'm
that night Gus dropped in at Tim Lo-
gan's dance tent to have a look around.
There was nothing i'm particular going
on there-only a dozen couples or so
gyrating around on the hard packed
clay fioor to the music OF an accordion.
Noble stood in a corner talking To Lo-
gan for a while, and then started to
go out the door of the tent. AS he did
so he almost bumped into another man
Just coming in. The other man was
a miner named Lou Prindle-not a bad
man when sober. but very evil when
drunk. He happened to he drunk ON
this occasion. and he also had both Of
his guns In his hands. He essayed to
pass around Noble to get into the door
of the tent. but Noble blocked the way
and permitted a distance of just about
one foot to separate him from Prindle.
Where you going. Lou he asked
the man. with his guns ready for bust
ness.
"Prindle glared at the night marshal
drunkenly.
We'll. said he, while l can't see
that that's any of your id business,
I'm a-goin' inside yere to shoot up that
gal in the yellar skirt a whole lot fur
givin' me the double cross an fur
"'Oh, I wouldn't put in Noble
mildly still standing a foot away from
the man with the guns.
who's this we're joint?
yelled Prindle. getting mad because
Noble was blocking his way in. Git
out % my IA or I'll
Well. Gus always did have a great
way of breaking i'm on men before they
had a chance To finish saying what
they intended to do to him. He saw
that Prindle's hands Were Tightening
on his guns as he spoke. and his LETT
hand shot out like a catapult and land
ed like "A piston rod on the dangerous
mans wind. This doubled Prindle nj
n brought his head forward. and