The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-02-22
FIRST PLUG HAT IN eALpvILLE.

| VIE. AT l44Gl TIME N-A1 OAA sdNiiC
trail went northeast clear through Baid's
| land, and he didn't know exactly where
| to plant his first house But when he
| stretched out his ten miles Of harhed
wire fence the cattle herds were Obliged
| to keep outside. and the first house in
| Baldville was built at the southeast cor
ner of Bald'S tract. Bald lived in il all
right. but most of its two stories was
given over TO a saloon, a gambling-rooIn'
and a restaurant.
The town sprung up as If by magic. II
was the first station beyond the line Of
the Indian reservations, the first place
TO get a drink of red liquor for Grovers
coming out 10 ship their herds, and the
last place 10 get drunk on the return 10
Texas and the southwest. In six months
there were more than 600 people in the
| town, and d town company was orga-
nized- \ general store was built, and
| Pete Crotty came down from Emporia
and started a blacksmith shop. Mrs Hal
| pin started & bakery in a tent, and IN
two months she made so much money
| that she built frame store, and the fu-
! ture of Baldville was assured Then II
! became the winter rendezvous of the sur
rounding claim owners and the scene OF
frequent ''shindigs'' between the visiting
I cowboys and the farmers of the vicinity
Up to the time when Bald opened his
! sporting-house Dave Mcdonald had man
aged to live comfortably, quietly and IN
/ known with his partner in their dug-out
| on Polecat creek. But when the snow
/ began to fly and the idle hours of winter
/ began to hang heavy on his hands he
! became a daily visitor in the growing
/ town. When Deacon Hampstead began
to get up a church Dave gave him s.
and, perhaps as a matter Of recreation,
attended all the meetings. He was d
! handsome chap, with the eyes and curls
! that women like. and way of sitting
| on his horse that won the men over TO
| him. Nobody knew where ne came from,
and nobody in those days cared. His
| skin was white like a woman's, but he
/ could shoot and ride and was a regis
] tered freebooter, so they made him first
! constable of Baldyille and began to ex-
/ pect great things of him. But Mcdonald
! got a bad start All that first winter the
| horse thieves laid low, and he had moth
ing TO do but drink and play faro or go
| to church. He did them all with radi-
ant good will, laughing always, till one
night Shawnee trader dropped in at
Balds place to sell some hides. Dave got
| to frolicking with the Indian. began to
shoot at his feet, and when he had made
the Indian jump as high as the ceiling,
amidst the encouraging laughter of the
crowd, babe the jumper change his ca
| pers.
THE other way now" roared Dave.
''see how low you can drop, I'm going
to take a crack at your top-knot."
The Indian, quite terrified, began to
squat lower and lower, but at last. his
aim unsteadied with laughing, Mcdonald
shot him through the head. When he
saw that the Indian was dead he got on
his horse and rode back to his dug-out,
and stayed there for a week. Nobody
went after him, and he might have lived
down that killing, for everybody liked
him, especially the women, and the vic
tim--was only an Indian. Perhaps Dave
was treasured by his partner, but, any
how, at the end of a week. he rode into
town very pale, very subdued-looking and
quite silent. II he had only stayed away
from the saloon that day there's no
telling whether he might not have lived
to become the mayor Of Baldville and
gone to congress at last. But Dave DID
go TO the saloon, and by noon was
laughing louder and oftener than any
body in the settlement.
He drifted over to Crotty's smithy and
swung sledge for half an hour. laugh
ing and joking with the blacksmith like
a boy on holiday. Then he drifted into
the bakery and bought some pies, distrib-
uting them among four or five small boys
who were peeking in at the window.
When he got out on the street he saw
stranger crossing over to the new general
store, and stopped 20 laugh The new
wore plug hat, a "stove-pipe." the first
that had been seen in Baldyille. The
loiterers along the street had not forgot
ten the killing Of the Shawnee; they had
come 20 mistrust Dave McDonalds
method of merry-making, and when they
saw him follow the stranger into the new
store they gathered outside in little
groups and watched through the win
dow.
The stranger with the hat had teamed
down from Wichita with wagon load
of merchandise, the first commercial trav-
eler that had struck Baldville. He didn't
see that Dave was following him, but
went into the rear of the new store TO
barter with Joe Gogfolk, the proprietor
He was bent on selling his prairie cargo.
and Dave, lettering in the fore part of the
store, was laughing at the ''stove-pipe'
as he leaned against the bare counter.
BY Jehosophat,' laughed Dave aloud
as he unshipped his gun, by Jerusalem,
I've got to take one shot at that hat.
Where did you get that hat?''
AS the stranger turned around he fired
point-blank at the hat, and the wearer
fell to the floor like a log. Gogfolk ran
out from behind the counter and picked
him up, and Dave. his smile fading into
a gray, scared stare, came up. They lift
ed the stranger and laid him on the pine
boards of the counter, but he never
SBO1c+ 4ALLpH&lQs cObcI now IuuIHlUTeQ-
Il didn't think 1 could miss that dice
COX"
But he didn't wait for the crowd that
came rushing in the front door He es-
capped through the corral at the rear and
was gailoping cut Of Baldville before the
town was sure that the man with the
hat was dead.
The posse Of men that left BaldviIle
that night had little 10 say. 1t struck
south across the prairie, and there were
women who hoped that their husbands
would never catch up with their quarry.
The men came back in the morning |
tired, silent, morose. The next day a
herd Of Texas cattle came struggling /
round Bald's harbed-wire fence corner. /
and in one Of the wagons Of the outfit /
was the body CT a pale-faced, curly /
haired man with nose at his neck and /
q wound over his closed eyes. They laid I
the body on Bald's warped porch and 4
there il stretched IL the sun ana shad-
ows TIL Gogfoik ard Pete CTotty and /
Perry Bald carried il out 10 the banks 4
OF Polecat creek and buried t. The herd (
passed on next morning 10 Wichita and l
two weeks later a pale. white-haired lady. /
dressed like the waning memories OF old i
days IN the East, came 10 Baldvilie and ]
asked where Dave Mcdonald lay buried.
Her hands were white and soft there I
were Jewels on her fingers. and her voice
diggers she had brought and the team 4
ster went with her to the unmarked grave I
by Poleeat creek. and AZ sunrise she left =
with a loaded coffin and a bowed and !
tear-stained face for Wichita Her
widows veil. whipped b. the prairie /
winds. Swallowed her pale face as she
rode past GogfoIk's store. ard CT eli TIE
watchers there was rot one who did not
sorrow with that mother Of a lost boy
John u. Rafterv