Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-07-09
#tistellateons geading.
DANGER WAS WHAT HE LIKED.
An EngIishman'a Prowess In Rough
and Tumble Fights.

An ENGLISH mans Prowess In Rough
and Tumble Fights.
Three were talking together along af-
ter midnight, with pipes and weak grog
on the side, and the talk had ranged
over pretty much all the field Of thought
thus far explored by mankind. At last
1t came to the spinning Of yarns.
lone of the most interesting chaps
ever met" said the man with queer
eyes, was an Englishman named Tip
stock.
He was a very tall man, who looked
taller because he was so slender, and as
he seldom took he trouble to stand up
straight, you got the idea that ne was
weakling and hollow-chested, but he
wasn't. His mild blue eyes and boyish
mustache gave you the same notion
too, when you looked at them. but he
could look blue blazes, all right, when
| he was stirred up, and when he forgot
his lisp, as he did on occasions. you
didn't think any more about how soft
and silky the fringe was that hid his
lips.
1T was not so very queer that ne
should know all about horses and dogs
and understand every game of chance
that was ever played, or that he should
be able to pick the winner In any ordi-
nary race by looking over the horses.
I've noticed that a good many younger
sons of British families who live outside
of England, are gifted at such things.
But I think it was queer that he didn't
20 in for horses regularly, instead of
punting a little once in awhile.
After 1 came to know him better,
though, I came to understand that the
only thing ne lived for was excitement,
and that all ordinary things had ceased
to excite him. Even gambling, he said,
had become tiresome to him, because ne
really didn't care whether he had 1--we
dollars or fifty thousand in his pocket.
1.-THE only thing that seemed to give
him any real interest in life was to get
in danger, and he had curious theories
about that. I asked him, once, after I
had come to understand him. why ne
didn't go in for ballooning or handling
DYNAMITE, or something Of that sort,
but he said they did not present the
sort of danger he enjoyed.
"'You 20 up in a balloon he explain
ed, and there Is no real danger unless
| II comes from your own carelessness.
The thing is scientifically correct, and
If YOU don't blunder somehow. you
come down all right and the danger
that comes from stupidity Is uninterest-
ing.
land pretty much the same thing Is
true of dynamite. There are practically
no accidents from that. excepting those
that result from carelessness.
What I like Is to get into some sltu-
alton in which I am liable to be con-
fronted with some totally unexpected
and unexpectable peril, in which have
to rely on my own skill or wit for
safety
"I told him I didn't understand the
distinction very we'll, and he laughed
and said he wasn't sure he understood
It himself, but he knew that some
things attracted and some didn't.
Among the things that he enjoyed most
was fighting.
IT remember the day they hanged a
dozen or so of Molly Maguires at once
in Pennsylvania, was in Pottsville,
where they swung up four Of them.
ITO a stranger there was something
mysterious in the air, and it was not
until a day or two afterward that 1
learned that the community had been
so terrorized that everybody had ex-
pected a rescue of the condemned mur-
derers, up to the very last moment.
"Tipstock was there. We went moon
ing around, with no definite purpose,
apparently, but greatly interested in the
possibility Of disturbance. had been
trying to sell goods the day before the
execution, but had given 1t up, as no
body would talk business, and he and L
talked a lot that night, as we smoked
together on the motel steps.
IT didn't see him again until two days
later, when I was up in one or the
mountain villages in the district. the
general storekeeper was an old custo-
mer of mine, and he had just told me l
was a fool to have come into village
of miners just then, for they were haV-
ing a wake over two of the Mollies, and
any stranger who came into town was
liable to be done up.
Just then Tipstock came sauntering
up the main street Of the village. II
anybody could ever be accused Of rub
bering, the charge could have been
maintained against him.
1.-The noise of the keening Of the wo-
men in the cottage where the two dead
Mollies were, attracted him, naturally,
and he stopped at the gate and looked
in. Then he opened the gate and walk
ed up toward the door.
"'Good God!' exclaimed he store
keeper, who had been looking at him as
I had from some little distance. If he
goes in there they'll kill him sure.
1T seemed likely enough to me that
they would and I shouted to him at
the top of my voice. He heard me and
turned his head, and at the same mo-
ment a heavy club that had been
thrown from the corner Of the house
struck him glancing blow on the tenn
pie that was sufficient to knock him
down.
Before he could rise. half a dozen
men had rushed from the door and were
kicking and beating him with sticks.
The sight was too much for me, and