Saint Mary's beacon., 1899-10-12
Death BY Heart Failure.

afternoon. lt had been for some
time past. Nobody had been shot
or knitted, and no lynching bee had
occurred for good many weeks.
Nobody had even been drunk. Ad-
amsville was becoming degenersted, I,
and ron could see ennui written on
the countenance Of every male citi-
zen, in one form or another. There
were no female citizens that il Of
the go 2nhieat 4 IN entn u -
n4k4fs. Ihoss who we're aIways
had lively time Of it. There Was
Spanish Dick across the street now
quarrelling with one Of Diamond
saloon. Dick was one Of her male
"friends. in front Of the leading
citizens of Adamsville-or rather
one Of the most prominent ones.
She had another name, but il was
too long for everyday use, 90 they
called her Dick for short.
Dick was Q beauty-also q devil in
skirts. That she was bad goes
without saying. She was not only
bad, but she was the most vicious,
quick-tempered, ready to stab Of
her kind that ever infested q min
ing camp. Everybody was afraid
of her half the town kuuckled to
her, and she did as she pleased. l
think very few people would have
been sorry to have seen her leave,
because she had habit Of shooting
in q very impartial way when in one
OF her tempers, and Of course no.
body could shoot back or defend
himself. -
On this particular. afternoon she
was quite calm and we loafers in
front Of the hotel only heard q word
or two from the pair across the
street. but We could see and guess,
and our guess was that Dick was in
q white heat and that something
unpleasant would result to the gen.
tleman with whom she was debat-
ing. who was Mr.. Frank Beasley,
the s'gentlemanly and obliging bar
keeper" at the Diamond. We
guessed very closely to the truth.
but it was worse than we expected.
After the discussion had proceed
ed for some time Frank turned on
his heel to re-enter the saloon, but
here On interruption occurred. Phil
Holmes, the gambler, came out of
the barber shop next door and said
something which caused Beasley to
halt suddenly and wheel around.
Il was ell done in moment. We
saw Dick point her finger ct Bsas-
ley tragically and heard her voice
screeching in Spanish. We saw
Holmes lip move in saying some
thing to Frank-the latter's hand
few back to his gun pocket-there
was a report, sharp and quick. We
rubbed our eyes and rushed over.
On the steps lay Beasley, shot thru
the heart-the gambler had had his
gun in hand behind him. all ready,
and had been too quick for the
other. Itwas cold-blooded murder,
but there was no proof that Holmes
had been ready, :. the first reach
seen was that made by Frank, and
so there was nothing to be done.
However, Holmes evidently DEEM
ed that his presence in Adamsville
for awhile could be easily dispensed
with ; 90 IN less than an hour he
end the woman we're on their way
to Woodruff . town about twenty
five miles distant.
There was @ good deal Of serious
talk in Adamsvllle that night.
Beasley, the dead man. had been
very popular there vas not q man
in the camp who did not feel his
loss 40 that Of Q personal friend,
and the purse raised for his funeral
was the largest thing in the sub
scription line the oldest inhabitant
could call to mind.
On the other hand, the murderer
was heartily disliked by nearly ev-
cry one. He was one Of those cold
blooded, heartless, pale-eyed, taci-
turn fellows, for whose oft-display-
ed nerve there we're plenty of ad-
mirers, but whose real friends
might be counted on ones fingers.
He had been ct the camp two years,
but never, to anYone's knowledge,
done Q kind act to o man, woman,
or beast. Although he had been
uniformly careful TO keep ont OF
trouble OF any kind, and there was
10 specific act except the shooting
VI a a q