The St. Johns herald., 1900-07-21
The Man on the Bridge

MOSA say fcit COuSaGcTaDt9 pEOuO
 when the people Of Amber made me city marshal. There was more in it than in prospecting anyway. or to put ii plainly there was as much wealth as I chose 10 gather in. with every prospect of a public funeral in case happened 10 get shot. The trouble was where to draw the line, fc. 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 10 clap the whole popula- ton in jail or run them all out of the country. did neither. but just dis criminated. Suppose a man got into trouble. the first thing to find out was whether he had 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 . formal arrest and a wink with the of eye. If he was a dPstitufe alien without any friends he had no right to get into trouble, so I 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 hezses and theateIs-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 a few other indus tries. laundry, a mortuary and hospital. but they were mostly liable for overdue taxes. so that I ought 10 have put them all in the jug. includ- ing the city marshal. which was mL. 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 I was useless. and if assessed them too much they kicked like the bulls of Bashan. As Dsr McPhail said once in the vigilance committee when lacked him mp for cumbering the sidewalk with packing-cases to show what a stock of Poods he had to "sacrifce"-
 "This job requires tact"
 Now in case there's any benighted pilgrim here who doesn't know Am Der Gulch. I'd better explain that it's in the Bitterroot mountains of Idaho, between Dead Mule pass and the Northern Pacific railroad. We'll. as was saying. I was city marshal of Am Der in the fall of go. when an English man turned up from goodness knows where. dead broke. Look here," says he. you're city marshal"
 ''I air.''
 "Wcll. look here" says he: "Pm broke. I've tramped here out of Wash ingtnn territory. and my partner at Spokane Falls has stolen all my clothes excepf what I've got on."
 "What made you come here. any how?" says I.
 Look here" says he, CT got strand ed in inc farming country with win ter coming on, and I'd have starved to death for all the work could get. So ] made fer the nearest mining camp"
 He had aH old slouch hat. D shirt, overalls and a Lair of boots; hadn't seen square meal for months. looked me st~aight iS the eyes, and what he said was true
 "Wen." says I, ''what do you want ?"
 Ee looked up the street. then down, collecting his thoughts. then al me straight.
 ''l've written three times to the Srokans police to ask them to recover my clothes. got no answer-now want you to write"
 ''Go 10 tha; stc'e," says I. pointing to Dan MePhairs, 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. "I'm not that kind of 8 man. Will you write the let;er?"
 Of course did. He had proved that even though he was only an alien Brit isher he was straight goods-and I 1 liked straight goods in any man. Moreover l got his baggage from Spo- Kane within the week.
 Next thing knew that young man he was 24 or less-went to McPhail. said that he had earned ten dollars writing for newspapers, and wanted | to 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 go,over on the right hand of the bridge. It's a wooden trestle business. and halt | way across, over the middle of the | Amber river, there's an angle, where | the sidewalk bends round. The tender | foot wanted to trade at that angle. McPhail represented the county. the | city and the vigilance committee. He | knew that the thing was plain against three different laws, and yet that Brit isher was smart. He had chosen the best stand for business in Amber Gulch.
 You can't trade" says McPhail, lon the bridge"
 ''No." says the Englishman. "and I don't want to. Who does the air over the middle of the river belong to?''
 The Almighty says McPhail; eff you want to trade there you'll have to take out license from Heaven"
 twill you interfere?"
 "No." says McPhaiT. 'I guess not. I