Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-06
SOLDIER AND BAD MAN

| man or thAfwestieome together the soldier
| gets the worst OF it. But there are excep-
uohs. Ihere are also some very bad SOL
! dlers. Norman was one Of them.
| inns Is the story of a savage knife fight
| that TOOK place in 1851, at II Waco, Wash,
| between Portuguese gambler named Luz
| ruzzu and an artillery soldier named Nor
| man, who 9was stationed at Fort Candy.
| There is nd imoren desoiate military post on
earth than Fort Candy. Wash. 1t is stu
| ate on Bakers bay. a sort of inlet at the
| mouth Of the Columbia river, and about ten
| miles across from Astoria the salmon fish
| ing town OF Oregon-and an evil enough
town. too Fort Candy is at the base of
cape disappointment. and couple of bat
terles OF heavy artillery have been station
ed there for many years. Ever since the
| estaoilshment of the post II Waco three
miles away through dense, bear-infested
| Io,est, mas been the payday resort of the
soIolers: 1t Is an evil, pine-inclosed little
| town OF shacks, where brace games of all
S S",,s run wide open, where the most viii
famous liquor known to man Is puryeye ed
out of barrels with tin clippers and where
crime used to be a pastime
| rms soldier Norman was bad from mill
itaty point of view. and he was a bad man
IN me bargain. All the men he soldiered
with knew that he was a bad man. and
theY let him alone. He occasionally got in
TO their payday poker game. and he al
ways won. Their games were not big
enough for him. however and he spent all
ms liberty over at II Waco. bucking the
brace faro and stud poker games-and
peatlne them Beating brace games was
Normans specially. In truth. 1t was a
marvel among all hands that so accom-
plshed a gambler and short-card PLAYER
should have entered the army and the only
natural inference was that he had put on
.,te UNIFORM TO avoid capture at the hands
of tn" civil authorities
Norman'S unvsryinp success at II waco
n:ace tables finally enraged the proprietors
OF the layoits to such an extent that all
except one OF them closed up on him The
man who did not close up on him was Luis
l.uruzzu, as bad a Portuguese as ever car
REQ knife in his boot. Luruzzu had been
mr. so hard by Norman that he kept his
laoIes open to the soldier in the hope of
getting back some of the money His hope
was. vain. Tor Norman went right on Win
ming Finally, III desperation. Luruzzu sug-
gcsted one Sunday afternoon to Norman
mat they play two-handed game of draw.
Lnruzzu was an expert crooked draw
PLAYER. and he thought to retrieve his losses
In this way
You're on" said Norman
IN the presence OF couple of soldiers
ana a couple of hangers-on of IL Waco,
%"7"'n ""i nrl12-' AT y wn to the GO me
In the one-room shack where the Portu
suese lived. LuruzZu won at first and his
beady eyes CLEANED with the anticipation of
sc',lng back not only all his own brace
tanle losses. but of acquiring lot of the
s"Ia that Norman had taken from the
gan to lose. as he did he grew so nervous
that he began to drink bad liquor in order
70 get hold on himself. Norman did not
touch q drop. Norman was NOT a drinl,inr
man. anyhow.
Luruzzu began to lose his own jackpots
sometimes on his opponents bluffs. ard
sometimes on his opponents genuine hands
now ever the hands We're put togeth her
ana then Lu'uzzu drank more, in a fashion
very uncharacteristic of a gambler and the
Pre- prietor of brace tables Norman con-
habit. ~ '-'
Along toward O'Clock in the evening
after five hours, play, Luruzzu was out
d" III ~ 'ah' ana n" vas growing very ugly
ana insulting. Norman took the Portu-
sueses insults calmly, and went on ac-
curing Luruzzu's money At 8 O'Clock
when Luruzzu had only $500 left, he STAYED
IN on a deal of the soldiers. The ante had
sr"Mh TO 10. so that l.uruzzu had $475 still
IN nand to bet. He stood pat on queen
nigh flush OF diamonds. The soldier drew
one card to his two pairs. kings and tens
ana f1 caught another ten. Luruzzu cast his
melodramatic flourish of drunkenness.
You blue man.. you big gun man, You
dealer OF cards queer. YOU must now be
beat. he shouted, wildly. II call for a
showdown. having no more money by me :"
He laid down his queen high flush of dia-
monds with Il bang. Norman put down
one by one. his ten full. letting both of the
iiStii'iS rest on lHe money in the center of
the table and looking quietly. but very de-
terTninedly. like man expecting trouble.
straight into the wild eyes of the man
across the table Luruzzu's face became
blopd red, and he was fumbling underneath
| the table. Suddenly. quick as thought
there was a CLEAN of knife in the air.
and Luruzzu's knife came down. aimed for
Norman's right hand. But Norman's hand
didn't happen to be there Neither did his
left Norman was standing at full length
| WIN a bowie knife in his right hand and
he gripped it like a man who knew nov, - -
| use it. ~
The two men stood looking at each other
LOT second. and the look meant that the
hsnt was to be Immediately on. One of the
| lou tpur 4hlookers, soldier quickly hauled
the table to corner of the room and Nor
man and LuruZZu, leaping at each other in
| the center of the shack began the bowie
| fence, which both appeared to understand
thoroughly. LuruzZu was a trf1e the het :
| ter of the two, but he was handicanned Nv
| his condition. and reeled at critical noints
| The two men, both leaning far forward
WIN EXTENDED and appraised knives, clrcled
around each other with the caution of cats
| lungng and lodging. but never settino
| near enough for the thrust for several min
utes, both of them painting heavily. once
| Luruzzu's knife grazed the fingers of the
| soldiers knife hand, but that was as near
| as he ever got to the artilleryman. Tha
| tour men looking on from various corners
| ers on being indifferent as to the outcome
| ana the soldiers seeing that their man
| probably had the winning end Of If
| oh, no. you don't" said Norman ouiet
| iy. after peculiarly vicious thrust on hi
fuzzus part, and, taking advantage of a
staSger his man made, he ran in snddenIv
| and planted his knife squarely in the hea rt
| Of the gambler, who was dead within \
| minute. The bad soldier threw his knife
| against the wall Of the shack without a
| word to any of the other men, gathered IN
| the gold and notes on the table strode int n
| the black darkness of II Waco's mirv
streets down to the waters edge, ran up
| the single sail of fishermans felucca
| moored there. and showed off into the wa
| tiers of Bakers bay. He was never after
| ward traced. although the presumption Of
| the army officers and civil authorities who
| made the investigation was that he sailed
| across to Astoria and slowed away on the
| steamship Columbia that sailed from As
| toria for San Francisco at O'clock the
| next morning.
But many an American frontierinr sol,
| der has succumbed to the American had
| man to offset this one of few instances
where the soldier held the edge
| Athletics for Girls.
| From the Boston Transcript.
| The gymnasium work alone would hardly
| account for the improved physical condition