The Red Cloud chief., 1899-06-09

,ytraneous word. His sword, not his
tongue. Is his most formidable weapon.
Mrs. Gomez is a handsome woman even
If she is over SO years OF age. She
looks much younger. She can speak
English, Spanish and French and can
get more music out Of a piano than al
most any other person on the island
Of Cuba. During the late war she
moved her home as often as General
Gomez moved his camp and her piano
was always carried along. She learned
to play when a young woman while
attending school in Wayne county,
Mississippi. One OF her classmates was
a sister to the robber Murrell and this
woman is somewhere in Cuba, she also
having married one OF the natives. The
gallows upon which Murrell vas exc
cuted still stands at Waynesboro and
his e%xecutioner. DR.. ]. X. 8. Pitts, is
n OF the prominent republican poll
ticians OF the south. He paid court and
attention to Miss Parker, who subse-
quently became Mrs. Johnson and later
Mrs. Gomez.
Miss Parker was considered the belle
Vi Y NlNlhitJ Whtu cut HldTIltu JOHH-
son. She could follow the hounds all
night long in a fox chase. ride the
widest Of horses, coon" a log across
a creek with the agility OF a ~schoolboy
and bring a deer to a standstill 100
yards away nine times out Of ten and
use but one rifle ball. She possessed
all the accomplishments OF an aristo-
cratic farmers daughter. She knew
how to use the huntsman's stealthy
step. With a leaf she could yelp as a
turkey and imita,e the call OF a quail.
She spent much OF her time In the
woods and learned to know the songs
n habits Of birds like a naturalist,
She ran foot races with the girls of her
set" could row a boat and swim like
an athlete. When Johnson married her
there was great surprise In that part
Of Mississippi. He was just a plain sort
Of farmers boy. He could whistle,
play the banjo, call hogs, and take
corn to the mill. So when Miss Park
er married him society was somewhat
startled. The couple removed to John
sons home, some miles away, where the
bride was compelled to abandon mu-
SIC and books for the kitchen and wash
tub. Their married life was not hap
py. She saw her mistake. There were
quarrels, a separation, and ultimately
a divorce. Johnson went west and
his former wife went to Mobile. where
she received employment in a schaol
Of music. From the time OF her sep
aration until she sailed for Cuba she
was not the same woman.
She had wasted from a bright. viva
cious creature to q mere m%elancholic
skeleton when twenty years ago she
met a milliner from Santiago de Cuba.
Her first husband. Fish" johnson.
settled in Taylor county, Texas, after
his divorce, at a time when the in-
habitants consisted chiefly OF prairie
dogs and buffalo. A few months later
he was elected probate Judge OF the
county, about the time Abilene, the
county seat, was the widest and
"wooliest" village between Visalia,
Cal, and New Orleans. IL there was a
day passed while johnson was Judge
hat there was not a tragedy of some
character or other the citizens talked
about It. He performed the functions
of his Office In much the same manner
as did the illustrious Judge Roy Bean
OF Langtry, Texas. who. when a white
man was brought before him for hav-
ing killed a Chinaman, discharged
him because he said ne could find
nothing in the statute books which said
a man mustn't kill a Chinaman. John
son never got through the third reader
and 1t was with difficulty that he could
write his name. In deciding a case
he never looked at a law book, but
rather examined the merits OF the con-
..ua1u frnpa tha .taaIn1t-