Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-05-19

OAo MY, IsuUo, uOOU, IL 8 h 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 exhibit
ton when that yell goes up
"'1'm saving myself for a game that's
coming later on the man told me with
another Of those finty glares stealing into
his eyes. The shows bound for Calnargo,
Mexico, isn't it9'
II told him that Camargo, Mexico, was
on the date book; that it was probably the
last town the show would appear in be-
fore going into winter quarters.
: "'That's what I understood when I
the job said the man quietly. You just
let me out Of whatever scraps happen be-
tween here and Camargo. When we get
there I'll do what I can to keep my end
up
"Then the man opened up and told me
why he had it in for Camargo.
ga greaser tried to pink me with q
knife in the back a couple of months ago
over in Camargo,' he said. Don't know
why. Never saw the gopher before. 1
was too quick for him and planted a ball
In his shoulder. Then about a hundred of
his pals hoped mo, and they came near
kicking me inside out. That's what allied
my head when I joined the show. When
they got through with me, the half Injun
constables got hold of me and chained me
to the floor of a dungeon. I was there for
two weeks, on bread and water, when I
got the steel out of one Of my boots md
sawed myself loose. I broke out of tho
dungeon and swan the Rio Grande to get
on American soil. While I was chained
n 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 all right.
That's what I joined the show for
"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
show struck Camargo. But I didn't. A
lot of old pals Of mine in the circus bust
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
I had along with me in my gang about
the toughest bunch of fifty and odd bad
sorappers that ever hit up a dirt road and
as, besides, I felt that this quiet tentman
had a genuine grievance, I just chewed a
straw and walked away.
"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 a hundred miles around
had galloped in to take in the show. About
th~ree-quarters Of the bunch of several
thousand in the tent were gaudily bedeck-
ed cow handlers. They all had knives in
full sight, but no guns. Mexican COW
punchers rarely pack guns. They don't
fight on the level, and q knife isn't q level
instrument to fight with.
"Before the flaps were pulled up for the
crowd I noticed my quiet tentman getting
q stack Of wagon poles, nearly q hundred
of them, piled together in q heap. I also
noticed that none of the hands, either in
my gang or in the other gangs-there
were 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.
"The last act of the concert following
the show vas 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
tho yelp all over the tent. Then they came
a-rushing for the poles. Well, I thought
I'd keep out of that one. Imade for the
shelter of q ticket wagon and saw it all
from there. The quiet tentman served
out all Of his poles in less than two min
utes, and then the hands began to break.
First the constables in their funny blue
uniforms and bare feet-20 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 q spirit of complete def
ance he quickly dropped his pole and be-
Ean to use his fists. He was q six footer
and built in proportion, and the way they
went down was q caution. Finally his
eye lit upon the prison guard who had
beat him when he was chained, and, by
acurious coincidence at the same moment,
the greaser who had tried to stab him
heaved in sight. The victim Of Camargo
dragged one to the other by the scruf Of
the neck, banged their heads together and
then stabbed them both to the heart with
or of the guards knives. That was the
last I ever saw Of him, but he got away.
We got across the Rio Grande in our
barges just in time to see five troops Of
Mexican cavalry pull up on the banks Of
the Mexican side. The show would have
been there yet II they'd been q bit earlier"
Washington Star.
.@Hsf - slaraE.ss.-L