St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1900-06-16

rail.
/ ssHave a smoke?" says he, and pre-
sented me with a cigar, hen struck ;
match on his breeches and gave me
| light. Pay for it? Not much! Why
the Britisher thought he was under al
obligation to me. He met his obliga
/ tions. Once I saw man pay him {
silver dollar that was in dispute, ane
| the Britisher flung it at his face. Mex
| time I passed the man on the bridge
had two dry goods boxes for coun
ter, a trading license stuck up, lo
/ of apples. two kinds of cigars an6
i SOME trinkets which didn't catch on
4 I'm three days he wasfull of grub, color
in his face, a coat on his back and doing
4 a roaring business.
! After a week or SO he began to build
/ and the beaver WASH t in it for cunning
] On three bits of seant1ing across the
/ angle he put floor. walls, roof, ther
a glass front along the hand-rail with
sliding sashes. He had dog kennel
door under the hand-rail to crawl in
/ by. a box stove to keep him warm and
cook his meals on. and enough floor
space to roll out his blankets at night
! In six weeks the man on the bridge was
worth hundred and fifty dollars, do
| ing business at hundred per cent.
profit of eight dollars asday. Then he
| began to advertise all over town with
| pictures he made himself of cats smok-
ing. babies crying for 'em, and a whole
menagerie of men and animals enjoy
ing of 'em. Here's from one of his poem
| advertisements:
| ''He saw that the prospect was fair
| If he only could find him a lair,
| But no place could be found
| On the dry, solid ground,
| So he built up his house in the air.
| With cigars he's seen desperate times
| AS he roped in the nickels and dimes
I When men died of his smoke
| With gufp and choke
He was sent to this town fer his crimes.
Idon't know whether it was the poem
| or the cold or the Barring crash which
busted all the banks and reduced our
population to half, but anyway the
crazy man on the bridge began to have
bad time. His trade went down to
nothing, and instead of three square
meals day he began to fill up va.
cancies by eating his own stock, five
cents worth of candy for breakfast
and smoke for dinner. Besides that.
Long Shorty, one of our special brand
OF. toughs, Thought that the man on
the bridge. was having more than his
share of prosperity. One morning late
in December Long Shorty put two
heavy timbers across the river behind
the man on the bridge and began to
build a house on them beams. He
planked over his floor, set up his frame
of scantIing and began to fill in the
walls, then went to tie city council and
told them that he intended at his own
expense, to lay down an extra side.
walk to cover the space. over the river
between the bridge and his new sa-
loon.
Of course that meant sweeping away
the man on the bridge, shanty and all,
by permission of the city authorities:
SO / sent one of my deputy marshals
to see how the Britisher felt.
s.Oh. that's all right" says the man
on the bridge. Long Shorty rests one
end of his bridge timbers on railroad
land and the other end on private house
property: If get his tinbers sawn of
at both ends, the gentleman viii have
to swing his saloon with ropes.
ssWhat from? ?''
'.The clouds" says the Britisher, and
traVe nv danl1fv q CIGAR
Now, if that youngster had kicked up
a fuss and gone after Long Shorty with
a gun, I'd have let them worry it out
between themselves, but the man on
the bridge, although only an alien and
a tenderfoot with nothing to live on
but his native grit, was the only law
abiding inhabitant in my district. So
/ went to Dan McPhail, and says I: 1
sDan, I guess I'm going to have my
spring cleaning"
Good business, says Dan, so we set
to work making out list of the pro-
posed exiles, gamblers, buns, crooks,
etc, etc, who would never be missed
from Amber. to the number of 25. We
called a session of the vigilance com
mittee, posted guard around my lit
tie calaboose and ran in the gentlemen
one by one until we had a full house.
Then we started the whole bunch-25
head-and herded them with stock
whips and chunks of ice through the
streets to the municipal boundary.
where we turned them loose with the
remark ''that the world was all before
them where to choose" One or two
who objected we ehucked into the river
to cool off, but for the most part they
went like lambs. including Long
Shorty, who understood that I'd plug
him full eof holes if he ever showed
his ugly mug in Amber Gu1ch.
Going back into town interviewed
the man on the bridge who had stuck
up a crazy poster suggesting a necktie
social or lynching bee, which was Off
cious of him, and nightlead to harm.
Take that down. says I, wondering
If he'd thank me for running his enemy
out of the country not bit of il.
.'All right" says the man on the
bridge-curse his cheeki ST see that |
the people has risen in its might for
on the evil-doers- where did
you ?"-London Black and White.
Rhode Islands Fine New Capitol.
Rhode Island is the smallest state in |
the union in area. and its entire popula-
tion is about equal to that of the city |
of Boston, yet this state has nearing
completion a state capitol which is eS-