Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1898-06-25
The Shadow Of the CreenbaCk
By ROBERT BARR.

copyright, 1898, by the Author.]
Hickory Sam needed but one quality
to be perfect. He should have been an
braggart, always boasting of the men he
had slain and the odds he had contend
ed against, filled with stories of his own
valor; but, alas, he shot straight and
rarely missed unless he was drunken
than usual. 1t would have been delight
full to tell how this unmitigated ruffian
had been held up by some innocent ten
derfoot from the east and made to dance
at the muzzle of some quite new and
daintily ornamented revolver, for this
loud mouthed blowhard seemed just the
man to finch when real danger con-
fronted him; but, sad to say, there was
nothing of the white feather about
Hickory Sam, for he feared neither
man nor gun nor any combination of
them. He was as ready to fight dozen
as one, and once had actually held up
the United States army at Fort Concho,
beating mastery retreat backward
with his face to the foe, holding a troop
in check with his two seven shooters
that seemed to point in every direction
at once, making every man in the COM
pany feel, with a shiver up his back,
that he individually was covered" and
would be the first to drop if firing ao-
tually began.
Hickory Sam appeared suddenly in
Salt Lick and speedily made good his
claim to be the bad man Of the district.
Some old timers disputed this arrogant
contention of Sans, but they did not
live long enough to maintain their own
| we'll earned regulations as Objectionable
citizens. And so Hickory Sam reigned
supreme in Salt Lick, and every one in
the place was willing and eager to stand
treat to Sam or to drink with him when
invited.
Sans chief place of resort in Salt
Lick was the Hades saloon, kept by
Mike Davlin. Mike had not originally
intended this to be the title of his bar,
but had at first named it after little
liquor cellar he kept in his early days
in Philadelphia. called the Shades, but
some cowboy humorist particular about
the eternal fitness of things had scraped
out the letter IS, and so the sign over
the door had been allowed to remain.
Mike did not grumble. He had in Phil
adelphia taken keen interest in poll
tics, but an unexpected spasm of civic
virtue having overtaken the city some
years before Davlin had been made
victim, and he was forced to leave sud-
denly for the west, where there was
no politics, and where a man handy at
mixing drinks was looked upon as
boon by the rest of the community.
Mike did not grumble when even the
name "Hades'' failed to satisfy the boys
in their thirst for appropriate nomen-
clature, and when they took to calling
the place by shorter and terser synonym
beginning with the same letter he
made no objection. Mike was an adapt
i've man, who mixed drinks, but did not
mix in rows. He protected himself by
not keeping revolver and by admitting
that he could not hit his own saloon at
30 yards distance. A residence in the
quiet city of Philadelphia is not con-
ducive to the nimbling of the trigger
finger. When the boys in the exuber-
ance OF their spirits began to shoot
Mike promptly ducked under his coun-
ter and waited till the clouds of smoke
rolled by. He sent in a bill for broken
glass, bottles and the damage generally
when his guests were sober again, and
his accounts were never disputed and
always paid. Mike was a deservedly
popular citizen in Salt Lick and might
easily have been elected to the United
States congress if he had dared to 90
east again. But as he himself said, he
was out of politics.
1t was the pleasant custom of the
cowboys of Buffers ranch to come into
Salt Lick on pay days and close up the |
town. These periodical visits did little
harm to any one and seemed to be pro-
ductive of much amusement for the |
boys. They rode at full gallop through
the one street of the place like troop
of cavalry, yelling at the top Of their |
voices and brandishing their weapons.
The first raid through Salt Lick was
merely a warning, and all peaoeably ]
inclined inhabitants took it as such, re-
firing forthwith to the seclusion of |
their homes. On their return trip the
boys winged or famed with unerring
aim any one found on the street. They
seldom killed wayfarer. If fatality
ensued, it was usually the result of &C.
cident and much to the regret of the
boys, who always apologized handsome
ly to the surviving relatives, which ex-
preston of regret was generally received
in the amicable spirit with which it
was rendered. There was none of the
rancour Of the vendetta in these little
If man happened to be