The age-herald., 1899-11-05

at once wrote to her father: My son has had the audacLty to propose to yatlr daugh- ter. Hence l think it only fair to say that if you have the proper affection for your girl you will tell her to discard him al once But she didn't discard me, and both those old gentlemen lived to be glad their plan had failed"
 New York and Wall street came next
 After a meteoric career in the street Colonel Baxter went back to Tennessee and set up a stock farm. which was notable even in a region that knows Belle Mead. He had 300 thoroughbreds in hls stables That was before the epoch of city yearling races. Jere sold his youngsters insthe home paddocks, and feasted the crowd which came to buy and to look on in princely fashion Barbeeues were plentier than blackberries, and mint juleps flowed free as from a foundtain. Millionaires rom Wall street came to eat and drink. They were welcome. but no more welcome than the simplest and most unlettered of the crowd About this epoch Colonel Baxter was crowned king of Nashville high rollers by what was declared to be the biggest bluff ever made It was at the Hermitage club. and with only a pair of Kings he bluffed Duncan Cooper, putting up unc0unt- ed thousands against the stock Of the American newspaper. just then in Cooper possession. That historic game was but one of many Fate had it in mind. however. to give Colonel Baxter an experience Of dead- ly risks even more thrilling.
 For years there had been i'll blood be- tween the Hickses and the Baxters. How it began is imnaterial so is the exact man ner in which 1t get to shooting pitch. There was a lawsuit on, and in the course Of II the Hickses reflected severely upon the father of the Baxter boys. Everybody who knew them knew that that meant trouo!e And trouble came, swiftly and suddenly. The Baxters fully armed, met the Hickses, also fully armed. There was instant shoot ing, and when the smoke cleared away three Hickses and one Baxter lay dead, with several wounded on either side Colo mel Baxter was one of the wounded. He will carry scars to his grave. He was i'm" prlsoned charged with murder, but ac- quit.ed after a long and exciting trial. To the Tennessee mind legal interference in the settlement of gentlemen's quarrels seemed very like an impertinence. The killing was done in fair fight every one agreed.
 Colonel Baxter decided to quit stock Breeding Of course he did not do 1t in commonplace fashion. He had fine olg house, some five miles outside of NashVlle, and in full sight from the railway. Round about it there stretched a big rolling es- tate Nobody wanted the place as a whole very badly though there were many Who coveted 1t in parcels. Among them were the Masons, just then in search Of nome for their widows and orphans. They or fered y31O,oeO Tor the mouse anu part ol tlN land Mir Baxter sold what they asked. then made the order a present of one-half the price.
 After some further and profitable experi- ence in New York, he went back to rem nessee, and into politics. The governorship was, indeed, his objective point. He be- gan a state canvass with f1attering pros pects Very possibly he might have won the nomination but for the fact that his elder brother Is attorney for a railway cor pora ton which is tremendously unpopular throughout the state. Then, too, that was a popullst year. Many of the soveredgns said as they listened to his eloquence: Oh yes he talks fine; but you know, an krow, every Baxter belongs to them rail- roads"
 Still. when conversion day came Colonel Baxter was, on the face of things. the leading candidate. Then there came to pass a strange incident. Back in the days of the stock farm Colonel Baxter had bred Shetlands as well as thorougnbreds. To his last sale of them there had come llt- tie lad, iingling some money in his palm and saying:
 "Ar. Baxter my papa promised me one of your ponies, but he died, you know, be- fore the sale. Mother has given me S30- all she can spare. So won't you please pick out the best thirty dollar pony yau have got? Not the best. you know, just the best thirty-dollar one"
 "No," said Mir. Baxter, shaking his head. 'tI won't pick him out-but you shall. Here, come witA me. These are all thirty dollar ones,' leading the would-be buyer up and down the frolcsome, haltered line.
 The lad looked them over critically, felt their names. patted their noses halted and looked back, now at this one, now at thdt, or ran forward to feast his eyes upon some thing which struck his fancy. MT. Baxter walked beside him, never hurrying his choice, though 300 grown-up folk were wait It.. 1,-N rl,lY the lad was suted, his guide made groom saddle and bridle the pony he had chosen, and set the youngster on his back, saying as he patted the faXen head: "Keep your money, son and tell your mother am glad she sent you for this pony. I knew your father, and hope his son will grow up my friend"
 The boy had not grown very big when MT. Baxter's canvass came on. He lived in the edge of Nashville. The convention met there. Two days before it BaNter head quarters were opened in the Maxwell house. To them the little fellow betook himself
 'I can't vote for you myself, MT. Bax- ter," he said, 'tbut I'll try to bring some people who can.'
 He kept his word. All day and night long he hauted the hotels, railroad stations, the places where arriving delegates were to be met with and did his best to take them in- to the Baxter camp. In many cases he was successful. His face and his story went straight to many a heart. In speak ing of it afterward, when he had been soundly beaten, Colonel Baxter said: That little fellow was worth twice many votes to me as my ablest political lieu tenant. I shall always remember him, not so much for what he did, as for the fact that he is the one shining example of gratitude, pure and unmixed, that l have encountered in the whole course of my life"
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