The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1900-07-24
The Man on the B'se !


T MUST say felt considerably proud
when the people Of Amber made
me city marshal. There was more in
IL than in prospecting anyway. or to
put it plainly there was rs much wealth
as I chose TO gather in. with every
prospect Of a public funeral in case
happened 10 get shot The trouble
was where to draw the line. fc-- II [
just let things slide the boys would
massacre each other until there was
nothing left but the town site. and
IL did my duty the first thing would
have been to clap the whole popuIa-
tion in jail or run them all out Of the
country. / did neither, but just dis
criminated. Suppose man got into
trouble. the first thing to find out
was whether be had Z 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. il was no use 10 bother beyond
a formal arrest and a wink With the
of eye. If he was a destitute alien
without any friends he had no right
TO get into trouble. 50 7 made an ex-
ample of him. Another difficulty was
about unlicensed or prohibitive bust
ness; but If had turned the law loose
on every offender should have closed
up all saloons. gambling halls. restaU-
rants. dance houses and theateTs-in
fact the whole city of Amber. includ-
ing the church. for running a gam
bling show which was advertised as
bazar. There were a few other indus
tries. a laundry. a mortuary and
hospital. but they were mostly liable
for overdue taxes. so that I ought to
have put them all in the jug. incIud-
ing the city marshal. which was m,
The usual thing was TO blackmaiI
everybody instead Of running up Jail
expenses. but the question was where
10 draw the line. You see If didn't
blaekmail enough. people concluded I
was useless. ard If assessed them TOO
much they kicked ike the bulls OF
Bashan. As Dan McPhail said once in
the vigilance committee when ! lacked
him up for numbering 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 wko doesn't know Am
Der Gulch. I'd better explain that its
in the Bitterroot mountains Of Idaho.
between Dead Mule pass and the
Northern Pacific railroad. Well. as I
was saying. was city marshal OF Am
Der in the fall Of 90. when an English
man turned up from goodness knows
where. dead broke. Look here" says
he, you're city marshal"
I air.
well, look here says he; ''I'm
broke. I've tTamPed 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 1.
Look here" SAYS he. 81 got strand
ed in The farming country with win
ter coming on. and I'd have starved to
death for all the work could get So
! made for the nearest mining camp
He had an old SLOUGH hat, a shirt.
overalls and a ,sair of boots: hadn't
seen a square meal for months. looked
me straight Il the eyes, and what he
said was true
Well" saws I. what do you want ?"
He looked up the street. then down.
collecting his thoughts then at me
straight.
I've written three times to the
Spokane police to ask them TO recover
my clothes. got no answer-Bow
want you to write"
go to that store" says l. pointing
TO 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. I'm not that
kind of man. Win you write the
letter."
OF course I did. He had proved that
even though he was only an alien Brit
Usher he was straight gOOds-and I
liked straight goods in any man.
Moreover got his baggage from Spo-
kane within the week.
Next thing knew that young man
he was "a or less-went TO McPhail.
said that he had earned ten dollars
writing for newspapers, and wanted
TO start trading.
ssWhara9ss asked MephaSI
ION the bridge"
Now the Amber river runs down the
side of the guleh 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 trestle business. and half
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.
McPhal represented the county. the
city and the vigilance committee. He
knew that the thing was plain against
three different laws. and vet that Brit