St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-06-23

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had two dry goods boxes for cour
; ter, a trading license stuck up, Z 10
of apples. two kinds of cigars an
some trinkets which didn't catch OF
In three days he was full of grub, colo
in his face, a coat on his back and doin
roaring business.
After week or so he began to build
and the beaver wasn't in it for cunning
On three bits of scantling across tn
angle he put floor, walls, roof. the
a glass front along the hand-rail witt
sliding sashes. He had dog kenne
door under the hand-rail to crawl il
by, box stove to keep him warm an,
cook his meals on. and enough foo
space to roll out his blankets at night
In six weeks the man on the bridge wa
worth hundred and fifty dollars. do
ing business at hundred per cent
profit OF eight dollars day. Then h
began to advertise all over town with
pictures he made himself of cats smok
ing, babies crying for 'em, and Who'll,
menagerie of men and animals enjoy
ing of 'em. Here's from one of his poe1
advertisements:
HE saw that the prospect was fair
| II 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 choke
He was sent to this town for his crimes. '
Idon't know whether it was the poen
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 t.
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 te
build a house on them beams. Hs
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 l sent one of my deputy marshals
to see how the Britisher felt.
'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 timbers sawn OF
at both ends, the gentleman will have
to swing his saloon with ropes"
"What from?''
"The Clouds" says the Britisher, and
gave my deputy 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
l went to Dan McPhail, and says L:
Dan, I guess I'm going to have my
spring cleaning"
Good business" says Dan, so We set
to work making out 4 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
nittee, posted a guard around my lit
lie calaboose and ran in the gentlemen
,ne by one until we had full house.
Then we started the whole bunch-2s |
lead-and herded them with stock |
Whips and chunks of ice through the
streets 10 the municipal boundary,
where we turned them loose with the
emark that the world was all before
hem where to choose" One or two
Who objected we chucked into the river
o cool OF, but for the most part they
vent like lambs, including Long
shorty. who understood that I'd plug
i'm full of holes if he ever showed
is ugly mug in Amber Gulch.
Going back into town I interviewed
he man on the bridge who had stuck
p a crazy poster suggesting a necktie
ocial or lynching bee. which was OH.
ious of him, and might lead to harm.
take that down." says /, wondering
he'd thank me for running his enemy
ut of the country-but not bit of 1t.
"All right" says the man ON the
his cheek! ST see tha:
,e people has risen in its might for
engeance ON the evil-doers-where did
on hide g'-London Black and White,