Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1900-11-02
IN n plank. which he had chucked

across the angle of the bridge. Under
meath was the river, raging among the
big powders, ali ice and spray, but
mind? He didn't mind. He was hang
ing on in midair by the skin of his
teeth, pecdling cigars across the hand
rail.
"IIave smoker" says he, and pre-
scented me with cigar, then struck
match on his breeches and gave me a
light. Pay for it? Not much! Why.
the Britisher thought he was under an
obligation to me. He met his obliga-
tions. Once l saw man pay him a
silver dollar that was in dispute, and
the Britisher flung it at his face. Next
time | passed the man on the bridge
had two dry goods boxes for a coun-
ter, a trading license stuck up, lot
of apples, two kinds of cigars and
some trinkets which didn't catch on.
In three days he was full of grub, color
in his face. a coat on his back and doing
a roaring business.
After a week or so he began to build,
and the beaver wasn't in it for cunning.
On lHTte DIlS VI scdH 'ilH5 tNi oe9 tHN
angle he put floor, walls, roof, then
glass front along the hand-rail with
sliding sashes. He had dog kennel
door under the hand-rail to crawl in
by, 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 a business at hundred per cent.
profit of eight dollars a day. Then he
began to advertise all over town with
pictures he made himself of cats smok-
ing, babies crying for 'em. and 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 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
When men died of his smoke
With a gulp and a choke
He was sent to this town for 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.
a 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 scantling and began to fill in the
walls, then went to the 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 1 sent one of my deputy marshals
to see how the Britisher felt.
ooh. that's all right" says the man
on the bridge. Long Shorty rests one
end of his bridge tmbers on railroad
land and the other end on private house
property. If get his timbers sawn off
at both ends, the gentleman will have
to swing his saloon with ropes"
"What from"
"The Clouds" says the Britisher, and
gave my deputy a cigar.
Now, if that youngster had kicked up
fuss and gone after Long Shorty with
gun, I'd have let them worry it out
between themselves; but the man on
the bridge, although only an alien and
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 |:
Dan, 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 %. 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 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 chucked 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 of holes if he ever showed
his ugly mug in Amber Gulch.
Going back into town l interviewed
the man on the bridge who had stuck
up crazy poster suggesting a necktie
social or lynching bee. which was OFF,
cious of him, and might lead to harm.
"Take that down." says 7, wondering
If he'd thank me for running his enemy
out of the country-but not bit of it.
"All right" says the man on the
bridge--curse his cheek! 81 see that
the people has risen in it's might for
vengeance on the where did
you hide ?"-London Black and White.
Rhode Islands Fine New Capitol.
Rhode Island is the smallest state In
the union in area, and it's entire popula-