Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-07-09

ers he swung him around in the air. as
he might have swung a heavy stick
and knocked all he others down. Then
he threw the man he was holding bang
up against the side Of the cottage. a
dozen feet away, 80 violently that the
fellow fell stunned to the ground.
when 1 came up Tipstock was in
dustriously knocking down five or six
men who were trying to get up and
never saw anybody who seemed to be
enjoying himself more, though his face
was bleeding and his clothes were torn.
"'Come on, now called to him;
well have to run for our lives
"'All right he said coolly. I'D like q
little more Of this, but suppose there'll
be a dozen more Of 'em at US in a min
ute
more like hundred I said. The
whole village is turning out
And 1t was. I never saw 80 many
people come out Of a small house as
seemed to be coming from that cottage
all at once, and as we looked back to-
ward the road we saw men running to-
ward US from both directions.
ION one side only was there chance
of escape, and that was directly down
a steep bluff to the right Of the cottage.
AS we looked over the edge Of the bluff
1t seemed as If we could jump clear OF
all obstruction to the valley thousand
feet below, so precipitous was the de-
scent.
"'Come on said Tipstock, as he
rushed over the edge with me a close
second.
"The way we ran and tumbled, and
rolled, and scrambled through under
brush, and jumped and fell down that
was like a nightmare,
but when I turned on him, after 1t
was all over, and cursed his folly, he
laughed lightly and said he wouldn't
have missed it for thousand dollars.
II haven't heard anything about him
for a year or more, but somehow I nave
a notion he was in st. Pierre when 1t
was destroyed. I can imagine him
poking his nose over the crater on Mont
Pelee at the very moment Of the great
HE wasn't what you would call a
quarrelsome man. That is, never saw
him begin a fight, but he would get
into one more joyously and promptly
than anybody else ever saw If there
was an opening for him.
II remember one instance In which
he deliberately butted into a game of
three-card monte that party Of greas-
ers were playing in Texas, near the
border. It was an ugly crowd that we
were in, and he and I had been watch
ing the greasers swindling two or three
tenderfeet, till Tipstock got uneasy.
"They were playing the game. ask
ing the bystanders to bet on the ace,
and then substituting some other card
for the ace, so that when they threw
down the three there wouldn't be any
ace on the board to pick.
1.-THE tenderfeet were betting ten and
twenty at a time, till they had lost
maybe two or three hundred and was
wishing something would happen,
though learned long ago never to in
terfere with anything that goes on in
a gambling house. I don't like fighting
as we'll as Tipstock does.
1.-The big greaser had thrown the
cards and one Of the tenderfeet was
just about to bet, when Tipstock put
in a word.
"I'll bet you a hundred I can pick
the ace he said, and the tenderfoot
drew back.
IT looked at Tipstock in amazement,
for knew that he knew, as well as l
did, that there was no ace on the board
but he never winked.
1.-The dealer looked up in surprise,
but, though I fancy he scented trouble,
he was game, and as Tipstock laid
down his money he covered it.
"Then Tipstock with a motion as
quick as a cats, flashed heavy bowie
knife from his sleeve and drove 1t down
through the middle card, deep down
into the table.
".That's the ace,' he said coolly, and
with q second motion equally quick he
fiipped the other two cards face up.
"Of course neither Of them was the
ace, and the Mexican could not declare
that the middle one was not without
exposing the fact that the whole game
was a swindle, 80 he cursed little, but
made no remonstrance when Tipstock
picked up the money and put 1t in his
pocket.
HE did, however, lay his hand on the
middle card, so that Tipstock could get
his knife up without pulling the card
up with it, but again Tipstock out
witted him. Selling the knife with his
right hand he pretended to find diff
Guilty in withdrawing it, and put his
left hand down beside it as If to brace
himself for a strong pull.
"Then as he pulled the knife out with
one hand the other slipped, pushing the
greaser's fingers aside, and selling the
card he threw that face up on the ta-
BILE. It was trey, and every man In
the room-there were a dozen or so
looking on-saw what the game had
been.
What happened afterward I can't
say, for as I said, I don enjoy fight
ing, and the door was open, but half an
hour afterward Tipstock came into the
room where he and I slept, looking as
happy as a clam and as placid.
WAS it much of a fight? I asked