The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-03-10
, HARMONY AT BOOMOPOLIS. :
} BY William NJ. Tisdale.
s~o0o~o~es&o>e~oNe

NAP'N JENKINS want no dude, but
" he wuz mighty fine lookin' all the
same, specially when he wore his vel
vet coat, his Mexican sombrero with the
silver braid, his bucksliin lrhlin'
breeches, an his gilt spurs. On them
'casions Mrs. jenkins use to ,foller him
'roun till satisfied thet he wus safe
'mongst us boys an way frum the
ladies. None of us he'd ever seen mother
velvet coat like that one within hun
dred mile of Boomopolis. So, when Mr.
C'rb Perkins, hailin' straight frum
Boston, as claimed ter be IN artist n
huntn' "local color" fer his sketches,
dropped inter Doc Morey's place with
mother velvet coat an a sombrero, an
him Jenkins size TO an inch-why us
boys all fairly gasped fer breath an Mr..
Perkins found jest what he wuz a.
looliin' fer.
'Twuz tn evenin' of the day when the
Chinese bunkhouse at the Golden Wedge
mine wus blowed up with dynamite
Who blowed her up nobody knew, but
we all sespicioned Badly Bowers-big
man, bad man. Never havin' did n lick
Of work in his life, ii naturally guv
Baldy pain ter see Chinaman a-work-
in, so quiet an patient-like, same's n
burro, never sayin' nothin', 'cept leetle
gee-hawin' oncet in awhile 'mongst his
own kind. an never standin' treat.
Baldy probably lit the fuse to thet
charge of dynamite out of pure. all
'roun' cussedness, Jest to make row an
hurt somebody. But in this last he wuz
disappointed, fer. barrin' n broken leg
or two, the Cinnamon 10 off alive.
Seems like n Chinaman hez ez many
lives ez n cat, anyway.
We WIZ all discussin' this event that
evenin' In Doc Morcy's place an Cap'n
Jenkins remarked that twuz low
down. cowardly trick He wuz no friend
of tn imported Chinese hirelin'. but he
b'lieved in fair play. lie w'dn't shoot n
dog with n rope 'roun its neck or muir
der n cat in it's sleep. The man thet he'd
done this thing wuz no gentleman. an
il the cap'n only knew fer certain who
'twuz. he'd take pleasure in lickin' him
within an inch of his wuthless life. We
cd see Baldy Bowers eyes flame up, like
coal when you blow it to light your
pipe, but he didn't say nothin'-not in
words. BY an by the boys cummenced
to deal fer seven-up an Badly invited
the cap'n to play game of cribbage,
Twas n queer invite at sech time. but
the cap'n consented. an they sot down
at table by themselves, ordered drinks
fer the crowd. an commenced to play.
Now. 7 don't know nothin' bout crib
bage. or old maid, or any of them ladies'
games with keerds. but we all saw thet
there wuz the maxim Of n good-sized
row in thet ere game. It run long
kinder monoternous fer awhile, 'tif
tecn-two. fifteen-four. fifteen-siX-go,"
an all the rest of the childish lingo.
The cap'n played very slow and keer-
less. reachin' fer the cards with that
'eetle, white, wiry hand Of his. softly an
quietly ez il he wuz half asleep, an
Badly KEEP a-bangip' the keerds down
onto the table, an n-rippin' out lot
of big Greaser cuss-woNs, an account
in In voice like bass drum. an then,
Of course. they quarreled bout the
countin'. That wuz what the game wuz
for.
Cap'n jenkins insisted 'twuz fair to
count one way, an Badly swore the rule
wuz tother way. don't know which
wuz right an I don't care. But pretty
soon Badly ses: "Cap'n Jenkins. you're
a-countin' wrong ag'n; you're a-ryin'
to cheat ag'n."
you're a liar" sed the cap'n. turnin'
shade or two whittier, like he wuz get
tin hot.
Then Badly made q leetle play thet
he'd often took the starch out Of bigger
men than Jenkins. lie ris up TO his
six feet two. an throwcd OF his coat, an
rolled up his shirtsleeves. showin' the
muscles on his arm. bout ez big en- .
keg Of beer, an he ses: "Cap'n Jenkins.
you lectle whifYet, I'm a-goin' to lick
you right now"
you're liar" sed the cap'n, an he
slowly riz up onto his feet.
Nobody rightly knowed Jest how II
happened. but when Baldy drew his
big, slcdgc-hammer Ast back. the leetle
table that they'd been a-playin' on Aew
up between 'sn. an Baldys dst came