Omaha daily bee., 1899-08-10
SHOT THEM nOTH.
One of the Most Touchiug Tragedies
of the SANTA lee Trail.

ONt VI Nv "bNA W.
of the SANTA Fc Trail.
One OF the most touching of the many
tragedies of the old Santa Fe trail oc-
Cured at Newton, Kas., in early days and
the chief actor was an old man dwarfish in
stature and deformed, who kept a saloon
and gambling house, relates the Chicago
Record. He had a wonderfully intelligent
face and quick, shrewd eyes, and had only
two apparent objects in life. One was to
accumulate money, for he was a perfect
miser, and a handy man at all games OF
cards, and the other was a watchful and
tender solicitude for the welfare OF his
daughter, the only being for whom he
ever showed any respect or affection. She
was a beautiful girl, bright and intelligent,
and apparently she loved the crooked old
miser. He was educated, and taught her
from books in a building half tent and half
shanty that stood behind his gambling
house. She did the cooking and was seldom
seen except when he was with her. Every
luxury that could be secured on the inhos-
pitable frontier was seized for the girl by
the old man, and the only money he was
ever known to expend from the large guam
titles he gathered in was for her benefit.
The story went that she was his only
child, and that he had come west to make
a fortune in order that when she grew to
womanhood she might live like a lady in
the states.
Nobody knew where he came from, al
though for several years he had driven a
team and handled some goods of his own
on the Santa Fe trail, nor did any one
know his name. He carried a nickname,
as every man of consequence In the COM
munity did, and 1t was derived from his
peculiar. habitual expression, "Jes-so."
To every remark that was addressed him,
to every assertion that was made in his
presence, be it a matter of dinner or death,
he had only one reply, and that was:
Jesse"
The girl was about II. and was so care
fully guarded that she was discontinued,
and used to have sly firtations with cow
boys and other hangers-on at the camp,
which would have ended in murder had the
old man discovered them. While he was
at the card table she was chattering at the
rear of her tent with one of her many low
ers. And one night she eloped.
The old man used to gamble all night
and sleep all day, and when he awoke one
afternoon from his slumbers he detected
her absence. A cowboy named Bunny
was also missing, and the old man, by max
ing inquiries, discovered that they had been
seen together during the previous evening.
He remarked "Jes-so' as usual, but he
crawled through the town like a wildcat
and borrowing a horse, buckled his revolt
yer belt around him and started across the
prairie toward the ranch where Bunny
was employed. .
The next day he returned to Newton said
"Jes-so'' as usual, but sold out MS traps
and disappeared forever,
Two DAYS later travellers along the road
reported that they had found in an aban-
doned mud hut near the river two corpses,
| those of a beautiful girl and a stalwart
Young man. They were on their knees
their right hands were clasped, and a prayer
book, covered with blood, lay on the foor
beside them. The old man had discovered
the betrayal Of his daughter by Bunny =
had married them himself and then shot
| them both through the heart.