St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-06-23
The Man on the Bridge
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MUST say 1 felt considerably proud
i when the people of Amber made
me city marshal. There was more in
II than in prospecting anyway, or to
put 1T plainly there was as much wealth
as | chose 10 gather in, with every
prospect of public funeral in case
l happened to get shot. The trouble
was where to draw the line, for if
just let things slide the boys would
massacre each other until there was
nothing left but the town site, and
If | did my duty the first thing would
have been to clap the whole popula-
tion in Jail or run them all out of the
country. l did neither, but just dis
criminated. Suppose a man got into
trouble, the first thing to find out
was whether he had a vote, secondly
II he had voted to put me in Office,
thirdly if he belonged to the knights
of Labor, Knights of Pythias, Miners
union, or any other kind of secret
society. Should he prove any of these
things or be well fixed as regards
wealth, it was no use to bother beyond
a formal arrest and a wink with the
off eye. If he was destitute alien
without any friends he had no right
to get into trouble, so 1 made an ex-
ample of him. Another difficulty was
about unlicensed or prohibitive busi-
ness; but if had turned the law loose
on every offender l should have closed
up all saloons, gambling halls, restau-
rants, dance houses and theaters-in
fact the whole city of Amber, includ-
ing the church, for running a gam
bling show which was advertised as a
bazar. There were few other indus
tries, laundry, mortuary and a
hospital, but they were mostly liable
for overdue taxes, so that I ought to
have put them all in the jug, includ-
ing the city marshal, which was me.
The usual thing was to blackmail
every body instead of running up Jail
expenses, but the question was where
70 draw the line. You see if didn't
blackmail enough, people concluded i
WIS dSClOSSs anu H l. uSSOSSCo thOAu UUO
much they kicked like the bulls of
Rashan- As Dan McPhal said once In
the vigilance committee when lacked
him up for cumbering the sidewalk
with packing-cases to show what q
stock Of goods he had to sacrifice
This job requires tact"
Now in case there's any benighted
Der Gulch, I'd better explain that it's
In the Bitterroot mountains of Idaho,
between Dead Mule pass and the
Northern Pacific railroad. Well, as l |
was saying, was city marshal of Am
ber in the fall of 90. when an English |
man turned up frcm goodness knows
where. dead broke. 'sLook here" says |
he, ayou're city marshal"
'sI air"
"Weil. look here" says he: "Tm
broke. I've tramped here out of Wash
ngton territory, and my partner at
Spokane Falls has stolen all my clothes
except what I've got on
aow?" says 1.
Look here" says he. 81 got strand
d in the farming country with win
er coming on. and I'd have starved to
eath for all the work I-could get. So
made for the nearest mining camp"
He had an old slouch hat. a shirt,
,veralls and pair of boots: hadn't
cen a square meal for months, looked
ne straight in the eyes, and what he
/; id was true.
WELL" says i. "what do you want?"
He looked up the street. then down.
his thoughts. then at me
traight. Il
I've written three times to the
pokane police to ask them to recover
nv clothes. got NO answer-now I
,ant you to write"
.sGo to that store" says !, pointing
D Dan McPhailts, rig yourself out,
nd tell them to charge it to me"
He thanked me, turned his head
way. wiped his eyes with one finger.
hen faced me again. "1'm not that
ind of . man. Will you write the
.tter?" /,
Of course I did. He had proved that {
rem though he was only an alien Brit
her he was straight goods-and 4
ked straight goods in any man.
borrower got his baggage from Spo- t
ane within the week. d
Next thing knew that young man s
he was "a or less-went to McPhail, c
~ that he had earned ten dollars
ritinr for newspapers. and wanted i
!, start trading. q
.Where?" asked AcPhaiL
.On the bridge" Ii
Now the Amber river runs down the 4
A. of the gulch with the town on :
!. sonth and only the railroad depot '
IN the cliffs ON the north. The
;ave Is right at the foot of Main
-.et it.ining the town to the depot.
.ss.s only one sidewalk, so that the :,
hole crowd to and from town has to Il
, over On the right hand ofthe bridge. o
& . vooden trestle business. and haN :,
.cross. over the middle of the :,
- river. there's m angle, where :,
/ i .;dex.alk bends round. The tender :,
-.nted to trade at that angle. \,
~ nil represented the county. the
: !. and the vigilance committee. He
- = that the thing was plain against
"a d;6erent laws. and yet that Brit "
--s smart. He had chosen the
q "a sssnk for business in Amber 4
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