Crittenden press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, 1902-06-26

| iA'As NlAO tNlANA ANlhN lAlAlA AlN0tA. y
crowded at the far end of the room,
and whispered to her, his yellowmus-
tache close TO her little ear. She
turned pale while he was whispering,
then looked up at him and gave him
her right hand. Anybody looking at
them would have known that some
thing had happened. After that
Trimble got positively gay lie
laughed a good deal and his eyes fol-
lowed Miss Minnie about the room as
if she belonged to him, and he was
proud oft.
At three o'clock in the morning
they were lined up for the Virginia
reel, 40 couples of them. Trimble
and his sweetheart stood at the far
end of the line. The boss fiddler gave
a scrape or two and opened his mouth
to call the first figure, when a shout
rolled down the room:
Hold up, there! My turn to
dance~
Bill Raglan stod in the door. half
drunk and white in the face. With
him was Red Symonds, of Fort
Concho. Symonds held a sawed-of
shotgun and it was pointed straight
down the row of dancers. He was
drunken than Raglan and was saying
nothing. Raglan walked slowly down
the room, with his eve fixed on Trim
Bile. When he got to him, he slipped
his hand behind him. drew his pistol
and jammcd il against Zeke'slips.
You cowardly coyote he said,
this is the way YOU try to steal my
girl, is it? Say word and you're
corralled right here
As he talked he jammed the muzzle
against Trimble's face again and
again, and it left white rings on the
flesh. Nobody moved. Then. witha
slight wrist motion, he raised the
weapon a little and let the end of it
fall on Zeke's FOREHEAD, bringing the
blood. He looked hard at the girl,
laughed and walked out. Ten sec
onds later, as the crowd surged to the |
door. the rattle of hoofs were heard. !
Raglan and Symonds were gone into !
the night.
The people tried to resume the |
reel. but there was no heart in them. |
Minnie Scott stood with both arms |
about her dads neck and cried on his
shoulder. Trimble went upand tried |
to say something, but she only chung |
the closer, and old man Scott growled: |
Git away! No man like you kin
talk to my darter!"
The young fellow looked around.
He met glances of contempt from the
men. In the eyes of some of the
women was pity; in the eyes of the
others was disgust. Then it came to
him that they had branded him as a
coward. He got as white as chalk,
picked up his pistol, buckled it to
him and went out. He was not at Bar
c ranch next morning. Some wages
were owed TO him, but he did not stop
to collect them. Raglan stayed on the
Running W ranch for month. He
lid not hear from the girl, nor she
from him. He talked a good deal
about his successful invasion of the
dance and his cowboy associates made
much of him. Then he, too, tired of
glory and went away. The Diamond
men noticed that Miss Minnie was
more quiet than of old, but that was
the only change in her.
One afternoon in summer old
Buck got back from Alpine with
he ranch mail and handed her a
newspaper, directed to her in a
crawling hand. She opened it won
leringly and saw that il was a copy
If the San Angelo Star. Her eye
vas attracted by a circle Of black
lrawn around a short article on the
ront page. This is what she read:
STAGE ROBBERS UP AGAINST 1T"
TWO KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD LAID
OUT BY ONE MAN"
"Ye scribe learns from a good source OF
fight that occurred last slight IN which
two men lost their lives The stage to
stockton, which has beep held up ten
lines this year was held up again last
light, ten miles from here. The stage was
rven by Sandy Mcpherson, the prompt
nd reliable mail carrier and had but one
,as senger. a man named Trmble. a cow
10Y. This man, ye scribe is informed, |
when the robbers said Hold up your
landsw jumped 10 the ground. jerked his
-un, and went 10 work. The FIRST robber
vas shot within five. or possibly seven.
eet Of the stage door. He was hit In the |
lead. The one AZ the front OF the horses
vas shot through the stomach. the 45-cal-
Der bullet striking him in the body He &
ell with a grOan and died before help |
ould be summoned. rhe dead men were [
IDENTIFIED as Red Symonds, a wel-known
amber OF this place, and William Rag
an, a brOnco-buster formerly employed