St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1900-06-16
| The Man on the Bridge
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r MUST say felt considerably proue
l when the people of Amber made
me city marshal. There was more II
it than III prospecting anyway, or te
put it plainly there was as much wealth
as 1 chose to gather in, with every
prospect of a public funeral in case
! 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 i did my duty the first thing wotl ]
have been to clap the whole popula;
tion in Jail or run them all out of the
country. did neither bast j just dis
cfi1ninated. Suppose a. man got into
trouble, the first thing to- find ont
was whether he had a vote, secondly
if 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 a destitute alien
without any friends he had no right
to get into trouble, so / 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 ] should have closed
up all saloons, gambling halls, restau-
rants, dance houses and theaters-in
fact the whole city of Amber, i1lclud-
ing the church. for running gam
bling show which was advertised as a
bazar. There were a few other indus
hospital. but they were mostly liable
for overdue taxes, SO that [ ought to
have put them all in the jug, inelud-
ing the city marshal, which was me.
The usual thing was to blackmail
everybody instead of running up Jail
expenses, but the question was where
to draw the line. You see if / didn't
blackmail enough. people concluded
was, useless, and if / assessed them too
much they kicked like the bulls of
Bashan As Dan McPhai1 said once in
the vigilance committee when / lacked
him up for cumbering the sidewalk
with packing-cases to show what
stock of goods he had to sacrifice
'"This job requires tact
Now in case there's any benighted
pilgrim here who doesn't know Ann
ber 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 I
was saying. I was city marshal of Am
Der in the fall of 80, when an English
man turned up from goodness knows
where, dead broke. look here, says
he, you're city marshal
81 air.
well, look here" says he; "Tm
broke. I've tramped here out of Wash
ington territory. and my partner at
Spokane Falls has stolen all my clothes
except what I've got on"
What made you come here, any
how?" says I.
look here" says he, "I got strand
ed in the farming country with win
ter coming on, and Id have starved to
death for all the work could get. So
l made for the nearest mining camp
He had an old slouch hat, a shirt,
overails and pair of boots; hadn't
seen a square meal for months, looked
me straight in the eyes, and what he
said was true.
WELL" says I. 1what do you want ?''
He looked up the street, then down,
collecting his thoughts, then at me
straight.
1--WE written three times to the
Spokane police to ask them to recover
my clothes. / got no answer-now I
want you to write"
$50 to that store" says 1, pointing
te Dan McPhairs, rig yourself out,
and tell them to charge it to me-
He thanked me, turned his head
away wiped his eyes with one finger.
then faced me again. Tim not that
kind Of man. Will you write the
1etter?''
Of course [ did. He had proved that
even though he was only an alien Brit
isher he was straight goods-and /
liked straight goods in any man.
Moreover I got his baggage from Spo-
kane within the week.
Next thing knew that young man
he was "a or less-went to MePhai1,
said that he had earned ten dollars
writing for newspapers, and wanted
10 start trading.
"Where?" asked McPhail.
"On the bridge
Now the Amber river runs down the
side of the gulch with the town on
The south and only the railroad depot
agin the cliffs on the north. The
bridge is right at the foot of Main
street, joining the town to the depot.
There's only one sidewalk. SO that the
whole crowd to and from town has to
20 over on the right hand of the bridge
It's wooden trestie business. and half |
way across. over the middle of the
Amber river. there's an angle, where
The sidewalk bends round. The tender
loot wanted to trade at that angle.
AcPhail represented the county, the |
;ity and the vigilance committee. He |
knew that the thing was plain against
hree different laws, and yet that Brit
sher was smart. He had chosen the
lest stand for business in Amber |
Iulch
"You can't trade" +" says McPhail, ION
he bridge"
mo" says the Englishman, "and
ion't want to. Who does the air over
he middle of the river helnna o2n