Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-06

September ISS-, he would have seen only
ii Greary stretch OF yellow sand on one
hand and on the other the barren rocks of
the mountain side with here and there
scrub tak stuEted pine struggling up
between them The broad waste was un-
relieved by any sign of life except perhaps
the zeurryiug form of coyote jackal.
If that same traveller had returned on the
18th Of the same month it must have seem
cd To him that Aladdin with his wonderful
lamp had visited the spot. True. in Gordon
City there were no lofty or beautiful pal
aces, but there was life-the reckless. fever
ish, almost mad life of the gold country.
Three weeks before, by the merest acct
dent, old Bill Gordon, in working his way
up the guIch. had discovered and reported
signs Of gold. on the third day of is ex-
istence the camp at the foot of the noun
tain was diSnitied by the name of Gordon
City. Strange buildings rose in irregular
blocks, while on three sides of the central
Camp clustered groups OF white tents and
cdnvas-tOpped wagons Every third build
ing was labeled Saloon and Dance Hail.
roulette wheels and faro banks made their
appearance with astonishing .rapidity.
Those were great days in Gordon CITY
Every mining camp in Colorado furnished
Its quota Of roughshOd prospectoTs and
trlm-cldd gamblers to the makeup Of this
new boom town" Money and men were
plenty; food and all the luxuries of life
and the 'MolNe Kirk were pouring a
golden stream into the town, but it took a
go0d-sized fortune to secure the use of a
bed over night There We're not blankets
enough to SO around anyway, so a good
part Of the population turned night into
gay 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 VIOlins. the cIiCkety-cIfCk
OF the wheel turning the sweat bought
e. in ha bot -
the sleek individuals behind the green cloth
one ""uIu never suspect nowadays that
me metropolis Of Marshall county" as the
IOfuOH tlty Gazette proudly STYLES it WAS
ever a center of this rough-and-tumbIc life
tLt towns, ike individuals. sometimes have
10 SOW their wild oats before they steady
IN It's youth.
Atoms with this flowing tide Of human
Il! mat set 80 steadily toward the new
town ami spread its confines further .and
further along the mountain sid. there drift
"a into Gordon City one day or night q man
VINO could uot have been far pasL forty
thoGsh ms hair and beard We're those of six
His form was erect and his face was pleas
ant, II a tribe weak 1t would have been
handsome except for its puffy whitenass
the mark OF lOHg-cOntinued dissipation
among all the motley crowd that thronged
the camp it was difficult 10 place him. He
was not q miner, for his hands Were soft
and white, plainly unused to rough toll nor
las he q professional gambler though he
often sat IN the faro game at Bill Prices
stIdlo. where the highest stakes in the
camp We're played. lie almost invariably
Sol Up from the tables a winner in spite of
the Tact that he played with no system and
win apparent reCklessness. In a more set
tied community he would have been the Oh
Ject OF q Ccal of curious interest-there was
something 80 incOEgruOu in his preser,ra in
the town: he seemed to belong among o. her
asSociations-buJ as ii was. nobody knew or
cared People were not too inoui.itiy,e
n IN,
lily And so the stranger pursued his way,
ldiy and UnmOlested. until one day T. hen
Faro Bid casually asked
w hat mout yer trade be par7ner?"
me white-hedrdei man gave his question:
scntly: or
long ago I had almost forgotten IT.
Al this Gordon City suddenly awole to
the TACT that she had gone thus Ear upon
irF clNic career without a representative of
the legal profession. As the fact that il had
not occurred To her before proved! the lack
had not been seriously felt for lsw had
been made and interpreted accorIi9, to
common sense ana the frontier code. But il
was generally admitted that the nrlission
would BE- seized upon by the AImira sun
DEAN and pointed out as Indicating 81 lack
Of urbauty- Almira was located on tba
DINER side Of the mountain. 1t was older
than Gordon City and the Sunbeam had a
Wy 81 casting envious and unpleasant as
PERSONS On tne youthful limitations Of the
rival town So It Was decided nj an inform
al meeting Of the boys held in i3uckskjn
JncS saloon 10 establish the Judge 8 .; he
was al once styled. in business. Puckskin
joe gave up room over his saloon for an
once, and that when room was the sca rcest
article in Gordon City. A prospector who
Add once been a sign painter provided q
shingIe. which soon swung before the door
bearing the legerd. Samuel woodrow. At
torney and COurselor-at-Law The fur
nlshings Of the office consisted of a rough
board tabse, q chair made out Of unpIaned
plank and a rusty stove The only books
We're a small and tattered Bible the prnp-
erty of the judge himself and thumb
worn Homer contributed by Greasy lin
who had been a classical student in an
eastern university before he turned to the
vocation Of cow punCher and prospector
But at That It was the most pretentious Of
fee In Gordon City
Thus II came about that the judge. by
no effort of his own. was SET IN in brsj
ness He accepted IL all without protest or
reimbursement. merely thanking 1.-THE boys
Tor their Kindness in his soft-mannered
WoInanlsh way 1t was not difficult to play
lh| role OF lawyer in Gordon City There
was not likely TO be much halr-splitti1g
over Nne-drawn legal distinctions and TO
very nigh regard was entertained for
weighty precedent. The seedy stranger
FOUND his task easy one and he carried
IL out with the passive Indifference with
which he had received his Mobilization as a
4ght OF the legal profession He had
strange clients and strange fees. Som@-
times Il brOnzed and booted miner threw
down handful OF gold dust as payment
was paid with half a dozen chances al
Keno or faro, which he always took and
usually Won. Once OF twice he received
shares In mines, which were expected 10
yield unlimited quantities Of pay dirt, but
which thus far had not banned out
At first the judge endeavOrei TO refuse
money offered IN payment for his services
but after a time he gave this I'D, and
seemed actually to acquire an interes. in
his work He never insisted upon Il charge,
but he no longer refused to accept pay
ment when It was offered. He invested in
law book sent out from Denver. and spent
@ good part of the time in MS office read
ing IL. though he still sat occasionally in
Bill Prices faro bank. Success seemed to
be making a new man Of the judge and
the boys wondered mildly At the change
that had been wrought in MIN.
Fifteen miles away to the southwark
where the foothills of the mountains sink
In long undUlating waves into the broad
expanse OF prairie, a sluggish stream made
its way between banks, dotted with scr.sw-
ny cottoAwoods. Here stood a lonely prairie
cabin. a typical western ranch house, long,
low and Unstghtly. No other building was
IN sight; in fact, there was no human habi
tatlOn between II and Gordon City But the