The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-04-18
HIS LAST FORD.

"You see tibet bluff over there? Thet's
Coyote point" This was addressed to
me by my guide and assistant, MIR.
Amos Adams as he loved to be called.
I had been sent out to this No Mans
Land tomake a preliminary survey with
barometer and hand level fora railroad,
and, putting up n night at a saloon,
the only hotel in Williams, had met
tame, a tall, broad sheuldered Ari-
zonian, who took quite a fancy to me
because / called him "Mr. Adams" and
offered to go with M ''jest fer the fun
Of the thing" Learning that he was
more familiar with the country than
any n around there, ] was only too
glad to employ him. All | needed was
some one who knew the principal passes
and the location of the tanks" (rocky
basins in ravines where water from the
winter rains or melted snow is held till
long in the summer).
1t had been a month since we had
camped on the banks of a muddy little
stream known to the In1ians and Next
cans al La Rio Puerco, and we were up
in the mountains north of the spot
where the town of Flagstaff is now To-
Gated.
We had finished a rather meager din
ner of bacon and hard tack, with small
piece Of venison, part of a deer which
Anne had killed the night before, and
were stretched out under a pine tree
enjoying "a pipeful." Our horses,
which we had unsaddled and hobbled,
were cropping the occasional tufts OF
grass which grew near.
/ turned my head lazily ia the direc-
tien indicated and mumbled a gruf
"What of itg'
tWell, it wuz nigh on six year ago
tibet / last see tibet bluff. You see, Coy
ote wuz a bad man, half Indian an half
Mexican, an a meaner critter
breathed. He could throw a rope bet
tern any of us an ride the meanest
broncho tibet ever went up in the air.
II wuz punchin cattle for Palmer
Bros K Y z brand, about 80 mile
Barker an Dandy butcher an Lem
Leonard, Coyote al me. There wuz
about 25 more, but we wuz the only
mes in at the time / speak Of.
1.-THE old man, as we called Jim
Palmer, wuz about 60, with white hair
an a heart as big as a yearlin calf. He
wuz always a-doin somethin for us
boys. an when Jim Barker had the
smallpox the old MAJ never left him.
ssHis brother Jack wuz a different
sort Of a chap, a full ten year younger,
an he'd been a captain OF lieutenant
or somethin in the army Office at Wash
ington. We never knew exactly, but
heard tibet he he'd he'd trouble with some
society woman, an she he'd turned him
down, so he resigned an came out to
help his brother. who loved him an
watched over him like a father.
stHe always wore a necktie-some-
thin the old man never he'd on, / guess
~(leastways I never see him wear one),
an occasionally he'd get on his high
boss an ride into Prescott, get drunk
an raise a row. No one would hurt him
because he was the old mans brother.
Then the old man would drive in an
get him without sayin a word toa Twin
soul.
Zone night-it wuz just after the
round up-all the boys he'd worked hard
an wanted a little fun. The old man
gives us each 500 an told us not to
show up till it wuz gone. He knew we
would be back next night or the day
followiu, cause a hundred wouldn't go
far them days.
"We all rode into town, keepin pretty
well together, all 'ceptin Coyote, who
slipped away early in the evenin.
about Q o'clock in the mornin we
pranced into the Merino saloon. We
didn't get a very lively reception, an
old Simpson raised his hand an sed,
Ssh, boys, Jacob Palmer's got his dose.
You could hev heard a pin drop. Every
one of us had thought the same thing,
sWhat'H the old man think3' Then out
came the guns, an we all crowded
round Simpson to know who'd done it.
All we heard him say was Coyote an
we made a break for the door.
"Well. we hunted tibet town owe
'twixt thet an daylight, all the low
joints an Mexican dives, an finally
found out tibet he'd taken his boss an
lit out north.
s.Then we supposed he wuz goin
after the old man, an there wuz the
durndest scramblin fur bosses you eve
see, an we rode hot an heavy fur the
ranch. Simpson said he'd send the body
right after us in a wagon.
'sThe boys from the Rancho Sabine
joined us an made a party about 30
strong.
sAs we turned the bend an came In
sight of the house Jim Barker sed,
THANK God, there's the old man. an
we all felt easier. When we refined in
around him, he sed, what, you don't
want more money, do your Then lookin
at our drippin bronchos, No;some poor
devil has stole a boss an got to pay fur
it..
eve had swung down out of u
saddles, an the boys all looked at me.