Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1902-08-05

/ tA4NJ hr1 NhbWA utIs
a tall well-boned man, with slight
! ~ sooping shoulders, sat on the ex-
IRENE right Of the improvised theater
and seemed very much affected as the
play progressed. He was swayed by
every shadow Of emotion as if he were
seeing real life instead Of a very ordi-
nary play acted by a semi-amateur
group Of transformers. Twice he was
seen to grasp his chair conyulsiyely,
and when the leading man, he Of fierce
mustache and commanding mien,
| swearing by the everything God that
she, meaning Little Lady," should be
| his wife, whether or no, and rushed to
seize her in his arms, the tall, Well
boned man arose i'm his place with gun
leveled direct on the fierce mustache
and said: "They amt a gwine ter be
no forced marriages in this yer house
ter night and they amt no kind er use
er enjoyment in sech harrerin scenes.
Tain't good, neither fer body er soul.
Ez fer YOU Mister Bad Man, the less
seen of you around these yer diggins,
the less likely We air ter find yerself a
human tassel swinging at the end Of a
cord"
The speaker was Kansas Joe, the
same who a few days before wouldn't
hev he'd no respeck ferl. woman thet
would so fer fergit her sex ez ter come
down into Ennis Gulch ter play act
fer a gamblin', cussin', fghtin' passed.
of men" and he had scarcely finished
speaking when four-score weather.
beaten tempters of providence, gam
blers of pick and pan, arose as one man
and hurrahed the sentiment to the
echo
Judge Slocum, postmaster, coroner
and magistrate, finally managed to
get order out Of chaos, from his van
tage ground on the top of a beer bar
rel, vouchsafed a few remarks on the
occasion.
''The time hez been" said the judge,
within the memory Of many tibet I
see present, when SIGH an exhibition
Of downright cussedness would hev
been follered in due course Of time
with a lynchin'; but now, hampered
as we air by the friendly rivalry that
exists between this camp and our
much esteemed neighbors at Pine
Knob, ez ter which kin make the best
showin' of law and order; curtailed ez
our material privileges hev become by
reason of our heartfelt desire ter be
recognized abroad ez the most law
abidin' community in this yer neck O.
the woods, a desire tibet hez already led
to our freely, cheerfully refrainin'
from exercisin' our Heaven-born pre-
negative of hemp stretchin' in the
case Of Bronco Pete, when nuthin' on
| airth ever wuz more sartin than tibet
! he stole a rasher of bacon and a sack
| of beans from the home and ireside
of our lamented and dearly beluv'd
Teller citizen. Ezra Pickett, who died
manfully defending his rights to afore-
said bacon and aforesaid beans, to his
last breath of life.
81 say, gentlemen. a principle tibet
hez cost us so dearly already, must
| not be forgot at this moment Of trial
and temptation. move tibet this
| company. eNcloodin' the dangerous
looking individool, be allowed to de-
part unmolested. I move tibet this
/ uusson. Of the bear-iled mustache, be
| given a trial by a jury of his peers
| and. lastly, I move tibet the city mar
shall be requested ter levy a tax on
! every self-respectin' critter in the
| pulch accordin' ter his means and tibet
! the proceeds of the aforesaid tax be
/ presented ter this yer little pale-faced
| gal. who appears ter hev been gettin'
/ the wust of it all along the line, with
| the best compliments of the season.
This motion. with the amendment
that the marshal be instructed instead
! Of requested, as the latter word by no
/ means expressed the meaning and
! that the instructions be both given and
put in execution forthwith, passed the
house without a dissenting voice and,
| though the subscriptions were solicit
ed with a showing of guns, it was more
as a matter of form or through force
of habit than because of necessity, for
there was not a man of the four-score
who thought himself rich enough in
the remembrance of good deeds, well
done. to afford to lose the opportunity.
Kansas Joe was appointed a commit
tee of one to escort Little Lady" and
her wealth back over the trail again,
and the stories he told on his return
elected him mayor of the gulch with
out opposition.
The jury, not being quite certain as
to how much of the fierce mustached
mans ranting was due to his desire to
play act in a realistic manner and how
much to pure depravity gave him the
benefit of their doubts; but the
chairman of the vigilance committee
and Judge Slocum, having the welfare
and the reputation Of the community
at heart, escorted him to the county
line on the day following his demon