Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-12-07
|: BILLY BRAG:
800 900 900

His name was Phincas Ellsworth,
but we boys at the LIN" ranch called
Kim Billy Rrag for reasons which ten
minutes conversation with him would
make obvious even to a total stranger.
To say that he was Opnionated Is
dra awing it very mild, and to state that
the chiefcst of his opinions was the
particularly excellent one he held Of
himself is Supcrtluous.
Those were humdrum, mOnotonOus
days at the I'm" and there was scant
opportunity for Billy to exhibit the
courage. prowCSS, skill. ability and so
forth which-wc had his own oft re-
peatcd statements for it-he possessed
to a remarkable degree.
Once in awhile something would
happen to relieve the mOnotOny, but
Billy somehow or other was never on
deck to show what he was worth. He
always turned up aftcrward with:
Huh. Ye galOotS jps make me ache
all over! Wy. any bloomn' tcndcrfoot
cd "a tOl' we bcttcr'n that" or, That
wuz Il fool trick. Now, cf I'd been
thar Id a did so an so;" or, "IIuh,
Dye call that anythin' ter menshun?
Wy. back thar on tn Kcya Paha we
used ter let III kids an wimmcn do
that kind o work.
And so il went for nearly year,
and. though we invented many plan
to give Billy an opportunity to show
his worth, he managed on one prcteXt
OF another to keep ont of our snarcs.
One day Gale Smelling, who was out
lookin" up some stays. fell in with
maverick steer feeding in Il cOulce and,
thinking at first that it was an I'M
crittcr. rode toward it. But the beast
was what is known as bad un."
and, horns down and believing with
rage. he turned and charged on the
startled cowboy. Gale tried to turn his
pony and run. but the animal was
green and only reared and snortcd.
Gale thought lie was about to take a
place hcrdng clouds, but he yanled
his gun and let 80, catching the steer
right between the eyes and dropping
it not more than ten feet away.
Gale was n bit new in the business,
and he was rather pale when he rode
up to the ranch and related his expert.
encc, but there was 4 triumphant tone
in his voice as he told of his successful
shot from the back of bucking pony.
Billy listened with n superior air.
Huh he remarked diSdainfully.
"What yc wantcr kill i'm fer? Ye cd
jes z we'll creased an roped i'm. Some
folks never hey no r'gard fer prop'ty.
Waste not. want nothin'."
We all groaned and proceeded to CON
gratulatc Gale on his luck but Bill did
not seem to care. He was getting used
to our irrcverence. 1t may be noted,
however. that when we tried next
morning to Billy to take galloping
shot at the stripe in blanket nailed
on to n shed door, to see how near he
could have come to "creaSing" q mad
steer from the back of a fool pony. our
proposition met with scorn. "There ye
20 ag'in." said Billy. whats tn blame
use O wastin' er whole lot O cartridges
t"s' ter convince er mess O gabDlin'
cgiots that er thing kin be did? Aw, go
off an try poundin' san in er rathole
fer yer wits. Bet ye carnt even do
that" And he rode Off, much offcn.ed.
When Joe Fleming, brother OF the
boss, and Hank Barr had a brush with
half a dozen Indians and just escaped
with their lives, leaving bunch of fat
cattle to he run off by Uncle Sans
dear, sweet proteges, Billys opinion
was Mt once forthcoming. 'Ruh! Ye
mout jcs' 2 well saved mos o tn crit
ters an got them thievin' red cuSses
too. Wy didn't ye, wen we seed 'cm
ridin' down ON We, jes' kill three or four
critters an pile 'em up fer er barricade.
That'd ben better'n loSin' tn hull
bunch"
When Bob Hall, cowboy from the
''3 Bar" the next ranch-One of the
meanest ugliest, most quarrelsome bul-
lies who ever 1ourished a gun-got kill
ed at the hotel in town by an unoffend-
ing tcnderfoot whom he had tried to
compel to take drink, Billy, as usual
had something to say. "IIuh! That's
them tenderfcet all over. They think
ef cr man tries ter hev fun with 'em
hyar that they've got ter shoot, an
shoot quick. Tn galoot oughter've jes'
took Bob Hill by tn scruff O. tn pants
an kicked or throwed i'm out, an Bob
'id'vc pollygizcd too quick. Bob Hall
never had no sand"
All the same, there was an old story
10 the effect that once when Billy had
been maccountably absent from the
ranch for three or four days, he had
been in town. devoting considerable at
tcntion to keeping out of the belligerent
Mr.. Halls way.
But Billy's opportunity came one day.
He had been laid up a week and was
still lame as the result Of being on the
side next the ground when his pony
stumbled and fell one day and was sit
ting at the door one morning about
IL 30 when the stage came along. Sev-
eral of us were in the ranchhOuse and
were somewhat surprised to hear the
wheels outside, for the stage road was
two miles from the ranch. AS we
crowded TO the door we saw some