The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-12-01
tact is everything. Paynesvi!le
Press.
SENTENCED TO DEATH.

Say, was yOu oFcI SclutllCou W
death?
Well, l have been, and l am going to
tell you what it feels like, although
perhaps there are others here whose
experience is more life like.
1t was down in the southwest terri
tories in '82 and things were kind of
warm around there then when / was
employed by U. s. Senator S. B. D.
to locate claims. The Senator was
aiming to accumulate pretty large
sized ranch and the cheapest way to
get land in those days was to locate
homesteads and pre- emption claims
and do little swearing and publishing
of affidavits, and if you had a U. S.
senator behind your back there was no
trouble. My business was to get the
men to locate and to swear, which, in
view of the fact that most of them
were rustlers, 1 don't lay very heavy on
my conscience. However, the thing
finally fell down on account of fool
ish newspaper publisher, and l was
chased all over these United States by
Uncle Sans people, but as l always
had notice beforehand from headquar-
ters when they had located me, it was,
in fact, no very hard matter to keep
away. The Senator was a liberal man
with his money too, and never lacked
for that commodity, and the only thing
I ever had against him is that believe
very seriously that he hired greaser
to do me in Las Vegas. AS he failed,
it's no matter, though it did in fact
cause me to disappear for good, and no
longer rely on his bounty.
But to come back to my story.
While at D. where the land d-office
was got acquainted with the JudgeI
l will not give you his name, for he is
dead now, but he is the one who
sentenced me to death.
The judge was an ex-confederate
soldier, whose son-in.law had gotten
him the appointment, and he was a
gentleman of the old school. He loved
good whisky and quiet game of poker
and good story as we'll as as any man,
and the only fault he found with me
was that did not drink. But to make
up for that deficiency had the repu-
tation of telling good story and bet
ting a pair of aces to a considerable
altitude.
The Judge, the registrar of the land
office, a captain of cavalry and the
foreman of the Senator's ranch with
myself fifth man playing poker on the
night of which l speak l had the un
usual fortune to hold my own all night
and kept sober, while the Judge was
drinking and winning considerable and
the other three were drinking consider.
ably and losing what the Judge won.
The Judge was In high good humor
and told stories while he played-which
is very unusual ccomplishment-as
you may know. He had just told us
that the next morning he was to pro
ncunce sentence on Juan Manuel
Herrero, gambler who had killed an
other gambler in a quarrel. 1 asked
him what the sentence would be, and
the Judge answered, "Life imprison-
ment."
Shortly after 1 was so fortunate as
to beat an ace full for the Judge, which
came high as it took all his winnings
and all his ready cash, and put him in
the most outrageous bad temper.
The game then broke up, but as it
was already morning we repaired to
the hotel where after ablutions we had
breakfast and the Judge several drinks,
which in view of the duty he had to
perform, I am sorry to say, had very
bad effect on him. He did in fact,
not seem to be himself, for he continu-
ally cursed me and his luck, where, as
he was usually most courteous and
polished gentleman, even when he lost.
Shortly after breakfast we repaired
to the court house where the Judge