Evening star., 1899-04-15
THE CIRCUS MAN GOT EVEN

! I've been mixed up in a good many Hey.
| Rube,' fights in the western states, and We
got myself pretty badly clawed apart in
some of them, at that" said the settled
down Capitol Hill man who used to be boss
| tentman with a circus, but the worst fif-
teen-minute Hey, Rube.' battle 1 ever got
| tangled with happened in Mexico. The scrap
| gave me pretty exact line on the fighting
ability of white men in contest with half
breeds. The battle was started to satiate
| the vengeful spirit of one man, and the neat
| way with which he brought it off was
surely warming to grasshoppers. This man
was in my gang. He Joined the show up in
the northern part of Starr county, Texas.
| He was inexperienced, but he was a WORKER,
| and he didn want to do all the talking
| himself. His head was done up in bandages
| when he Joined the outfit, and / asked him
! who had been slugging him.
| " Greasers,' he replied, shortly, and as a
sort of hard, steely light crept into his
| eyes when he snapped out the word, l
didn't press him for details.
| I'VE had sort of a half-baked Hey,
| Rube,' fight down in the middle of Starr
| county-we were working toward the south
| and 1 noticed that the new man didn't
| take any part in it. I took occasion to call
| him down for his apathy
| you've got to do your end of these mix
| ups told him. When you hear the Hey,
Rube.' hoot it's a part of your business to
| grab the heaviest thing you can swing and
| rap the first duck that doesn't belong to
| the show with it, Hey, Rube," means all
| hands around, and every man that draws
wages from the show is expected to give a
| club-swinging exhibition when that yell
goes up
I'm saving myself for a game that's
| coming later on the man told me, with
another of those fiinty glares stealing into
| his eyes. The shows bound for Camargo,
Mexico. isn't it2'
st told him that Camargo, Mexico. was
thn 1ata hoe hot nha
| last town the show would appear in before
going into winter quarters.
-" That's what understood when Joined
| the show and that's why I took the job,'
said the man, quietly You just let me out
| of whatever scraps happen between here
and Camargo. When we get there I'll do
what can to keep my end up:
1T struck me then that this chap had
probably been in Camargo. Mexico, before,
and that he'd perhaps got the worst of it
! there. But 1 didn't say what 1 thought to
him. He wasn't talkative chap, anyhow.
When the show struck Rio Grande City
! which Is directly across the Rio Grande,
| on this side. from Camargo. Mexico-my
| st1il-tongued tentnan came to me while
| the night performance was on, and said:
I told you awhile back that 1 WASH t
hunting for any trouble until the show
reached Camargo. Mexico. The show
crosses over to Camargo tonight Tomor-
row I'll be looking for trouble, and whole
| lot of 1t. Just thought I'd tell you
=" Looking for it, eh? said 1. We'll, you
cont want to get the show into any mix
up up, The i,e,ry Hey, Rube," yelp don't go unless
fracas You can hunt up all the trouble
you want to on your own hook but don't
get the show mixed up with the Mexican
authorities that's all
Then the man opened up and told me
why he had it in for Camargo.
"A greaser tried to pink me with knife
IN the back couple of months ago, over in
Camargo he said. Don't know why.
Never saw the gopher before / was too
quick for him. and planted a ball in his
shoulder. Then about hundred of his pals
nopped me, and they came near kicking me
| inside out. That's what allied nv head
when l Joined the show. When they got
through with me the half-Injun constables
got hold of me and chained me to the floor
OF dungeon. 1 was there for two weeks,
on bread and water, when l got the steel
out of one of my boots and sawed myself
loose. broke out of the dungeon and
swan the Rio Grande to get on American
soil While was chained one of the guards
made it his business to come into my
dungeon every day and punch my sore
head Oh. I'm going to have some trouble
In Camargo tomorrow, all right. That's
what joined the show for. Just thought
I'd tell you
Now, it was my business as one of the
responsible men of the show to peach on
this Fellow and have him fired before the
snow struck Camargo. But 1 didn't A
lot of old pals of mine in the circus busi-
ness had told me Of the way they had got
the worst of it on many occasions at the
hands of the Mexican authorities; and as
had along with me in my gang about the
toughest bunch of fifty and odd bad scrap
pers that ever hit up dirt road and as
besides, felt that this quiet tentman had
genuine grievance, L just chewed straw
and walked away when he slung me this
spiel about the way they had put 1t on him
i in Camargo. But ! knew there would be
something doing when the tent was full
| across the way in Camargo, all the same.
"A huge crowd of half-breeds turned out
for the show in Camargo There was but
one performance, the night show, and the
ranchers for about hundred miles around
had galloped in to take in the show. About
three-quarters of the bunch of several thou
sand in the tent were gaudily bedecked
COW handlers. They all had knives in full
sight. but no guns. Mexican COW punchers
rarely pack guns. They don't fight on the
to fight with.
Before the flaps We're pulled up for the
crowd, | noticed my quiet tentman getting
a stack of wagon poles nearly a hundred of
them. piled together in heap. 1 also no.
ticed that none of the hands, either in my
gang or in the other gangs-there We're
nearly 200 men all told connected with the
show-were doing much talking. They
seemed to be on edge for something that
was going to happen.
1.-The last act of the concert following
the show was about over, and the greasers
were leaving their seats, when my quiet
tentman hoped on top of the pile of poles
he had fixed and gave the Hey, Rube,'
yelp-gave it like any bull of Bashan. He
had put the whole gang of hands next, for
they didn't waste a second in taking up
the yelp all over the tent Then they came
a-rushng for the poles. Well, l thought
I'd keep out of that one. 1 made for the
shelter of ticket wagon, and saw it all
from there. The quiet tentman served out
all of his poles in less than two minutes,
and then the hands Degan to break First
the constables in their funny blue uniforms
and bare feet-twenty of 'em were batted
into unconsciousness in less time than I'm
telling it. The quiet tentman looked like a
devil up in the front of the scrapping. In
a spirit of complete defiance he quickly
dropped his pole and began to use his fists.
He was a siX-footer and built In proportion.
and the way they went down was a eau
ton. Finally his eye lit upon the prison
guard who had beat him when he was
chained. and by curious coincidence at
the same moment the greaser who had
tried to stab him heaved in sight. The vic
tim of Camargo dragged one to the other
by the scruff of the neck, banged their
heads together, and then stabbed them both
to the heart with one of the guard S knives
That was the last / ever saw of him hui