The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-07
IN GORDON CITY.
Nv MARIE $. THILL.

.-.,.riqbt 1899, by Marie S. Thill.
o.-5on city had sprung up almost in
# a traveller had ridden along at
f,ot Of the mountain on the first
Of September, 1SS-, he would have
,5lv a dreary stretch of yellow sand
,o hand and on the other the barren
", If the mountain side. with here and
acre a scrub oak or stunted pine strug-
g-e, nm between them. The broad waste
unrelieved by any sign of life except
hons The scurrying form of coyote
ioo1al If that same traveller had re-
4 - ON the 18th of the same month 1t
Fl have seemed to him that Aladdin,
.s,b mis- wonderful lamp, had visited the
+ True. in Gordon City there were no
,,ft, or beautiful palaces, but there was
pfe-the reckless. feverish, almost mad,
4 life of the gold country.
Il v,bree weeks before, by the merest ac-
.t+dnt old Bill Gordon, in working his
ua, mn the gulch, had discovered and
renorted signs of gold. On the third day
- it's existence the camp at the foot of
w. mountain was dignified by the name of
kcoryon City. Strange buildings rose in
II IRREGULAR blocks, while on three sides of
Ma central camp clustered groups of white
tents and canvas-topped wagons. Every
hind building was labeled Saloon and
#nance Hail." roulette wheels and faro
Ebanks made their appearance with as
Ntonishing rapidity. Those were great days
in Gordon City. Every mining camp in
#Colorado furnished its quota of roughshod
Nprospectors and trim-clad gamblerssto the
and men were plenty; food and all the
*luxuries of life were scarce and dear. The
S.Iost Chord" and the "Mollie Kirk" were
#nouring a golden stream into the town,
Nbut it took a good sized fortune to secure
& the use of a bed over night There were
mot blankets enough to go around any
wav. so a good part of the population
burned night into day. There was no lack
of diversion for these. All night long the
#dance halls and gambling houses stood
with open doors. All night long could be
#heard the squeaking music of cracked vio-
#lins, the clickety-click of the wheel, turn
Esing the sweat-bought treasure of the min
hers into the pockets of the sleek indi
zviduals behind the green cloth. One would
5never suspect nowadays that "the metrop-
ois Of Marshall county" as the Gordon
4City Gazette proudly styles it, was ever
sa center of this rough-and-tumble life,
but towns. like individuals, sometimes have
to SOW their wild oats before they steady
down, and Gordon City was lively enough
Hin its youth.
Fl Along with this flowing tide of human
by that set so steadily toward the new
town and spread its confines further and
'fur-her along the mountain side, there
.drfted into Gordon City one day, or night.
4 d man who could not have been far past
In, though his hair and beard were those
n 65. His form was erect and his face
pas pleasant If a trhe weak; it would have
feen handsome except for its puffy white
fess, the mark of long continued dissipa-
EHon. Among all the motley crowd that
#fhronged the camp it was difficult TO place
fim He was not a miner, for his hands
EFere soft and white, plainly unused to
Nfough toll, nor was he a professional gam
#ber, though he often sat in the faro game
En- Bill Prices studio" where the high
tst stakes in the camp were played. He
almost invariably got up from the tables
A winner in spite of the fact that he
s9ayed with no system, and with appar-
pm recklessness. In more settled COM
nunity he would have been the object of
deal of curious interest-there was some
fhing so homogeneous in his presence in
ne town; he seemed to belong among
+ tner associations-but as it was, nobody
knew or cared People were not too in
fuiStNe about one another's antecedents
N Gordon City And so the stranger pur-
fued MIS- way, idly and unmo.ested, until
phe day when Faro Bill casually asked:
What mOut yer trade be- pardner?"
Inc white-bearded man gave his ques-
loner a half startled look and then re-
Piled absently:
o. yes; l used to be a lawyer; il was
" long ago had almost forgotten It,"
Al this Gordon City suddenly awoke to
ne fact that she had gone thus far upon
Pr civic career without a representative
the legal profession. As the fact that
had not occurred to her before proved,
~ 'ack had not been seriously felt, for
-" mad been made and interpreted ac-
&ol'Hhg TO common sense and the frontier
o'e' But 1t was generally admitted that
le omission would be seized upon by the
ihlrd sunbeam and pointed out as indi-
a''hs a lack or urbanity. Almira was
cdled on the other side of the mountain.
was older than Gordon City and the
uuoeam had way of casting envious
unpleasant aspersions on the youth
mutations of the rival town. So II
- decided at an informal meeting of
he boys" held in Buckskin Joe's saloon
esta oHsh the Judge" as he was at
ce styled, in business. Buckskin Joe
up a room over his saloon for an
nee and that when room was the scare
atucle in Gordon City. A prospector
10 had once been a sign painter provid-
i sHihsle, which soon swung before the
bearing the legend Samuel Wood
i w. Attorney and Counsellor at Law"
-e furnishings of the office consisted of
,oush board table, a chair made out Of
planed plank and a rusty stove. The
DOCKS were a small and tattered BIZ
Ule property of the judge himself.
Il tnumb-worn Homer contributed by
easy jim, who had been a classical stu
III IN an Eastern university before he
le" 10 the vocation of cowpuncher and
ospeclor. But az that it was the mos,
~ lious office in Gordon City.
nus II came about that the Judge, by
eHort of his own, was set up in bust
-. re accepted it all without protest
ocuragement, merely thanking "the
~, lor their kindness in his soft-man-
e. "omanish way. 1t was not difficult
Il pay The role of lawyer in Gordon City.
- was not likely to be much hair
'5'HHs over fine-drawn legal distinctions
,u no very high regard was entertained
Weghty precedent. The seedy stran-