St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-05-23
''Ca1bert'
slz7r- szs--=5rl s-ts--.s.-.zzs
D LOUIS v. JEFFERSON.
'V'VVSSW1VYS1@>S>INA<S
Nopyright, 1sos, by Daily Story Pub coA

~ the Clipper" The question wa,
ts sAea oy a rather plump, smooth
laced pleasant sort of fellow. as W.
W.. "unglng in the rotunda of the
fsaI,' house-a resort of the pro
sh between seasons.
upon my answering in the negative
nc pushed back his Panama. settled
Aisel1 down in his great armchair
put up his feet at convenient anole
VI another, displaying pair of pas.
.onate hose, and while his features
.ocK on an expression of Retrospective
amusement, he continued:
Well, / see Calbert is dead. Did
~" ever know him? Did stunt in
me continuous. Smoke pictures and
aslc and such stuff. Oh, he was
sooo' and I'm sorry to hear he's dead
was his side-partner once, and al
ways old like him. He was all right
every way yoa take him, and there'll
DC lots worse off for his funeral. j
never VIII forget the time was work
. Ing with him on the Empire circuit
mat was eight years ago. Oh, he was
top-lner when he died, l tell you!
he got his $500 week and never
played on Sundays.
he was as brave as a lion and as
quick On the. trigger as they make
'hern' and he never stood for anything
crooked nor underhand anywhere. He
was great shakes for helping the weak,
ana I've seen him give his last dollar
away to set up some woman whose hus-
oand or partner had deserted her. ]
remember once we were doing q
brother song and dance stunt down at
Memphis at, the Grand. On the bill
'0ere was the usual melange from
grand opera to prize fighting, and
among them was team doing fancy
shooting and knife throwing. They
were man and his woman-circus
people, l think-who were trying their
luck in vaudeville-and they stopped
at the same hotel as we did; in fact,
had, the very next room. He was one
of those little, wiry, black-haired
chaps with a temper like tiger, dis
sipated and cruel as they make them;
and she was one of those slender. deli
cate types of women with high voice
and yellow hair that you see every
once in awhile. She was a swell dress
er, and quiet and peaceful; but to look
in her face when she wasn't on exhfbi-
ton, blind man could have seen the
trouble there. First time Calbert saw
her, we were at band rehearsal Sun
day morning, and she came in, with
her hands full of her grips, and this
fellow following her, scolding and
swearing at her as if she was a slave.
She surprised US from the fact she
didn't answer back. Calbert was right
in the middle of solo, with the orches-
ira .strumming away, half asleep, when
they crossed behind him, and the fell
low-Athene, think he called himself
Jet out an unusually ugly oath. Cal
bert stopped short, wheeled about and
stared him coldly in the face. The
man half paused and his lips parted
over his ugly white teeth, as if he
dared any interference. Calbert eyed
him for moment, and then said:
What sort of a pup are you? Don't
yen know a woman from cat?'
"How did you get in this? Tend
TO your own business. She's my wife,
he answered. 4F4z5
"'Well, / don't care if she's your
mother. Ny business is to attend to
any man that swears at a woman in
my presence, and if you speak once
more like that while I'm around, one
or the other Of us will have to cancel
for this bill. See?' and he eyed him
squarely in the, face.
The little man grew white for min
ute and looked like he'd liked to have
eaten Calbert whole, but he thought
better about it, and moved on to where
the woman was arranging her things
in the back of the stage, but 1 noticed
he changed his tune while we were
about. a SEEEEB r %aA Y
Their stunt was to do some fancy
shooting at swinging targets. hitting
each one alternately while the orches-
ira kept time to the shots by playing
the .Marsellaise,' breaking glass balls
on time limit and all that sort of
stuff, and ending with a display of
knife throwing that was really thrill
ing when one considered what might
have happened if ever there should be
= mistake. You've seen the act, haven't
YOU? No? Oh, every circus has it.
They stand woman up against
board and throw knives at her, try
ing to see how near they can come to
her without hitting. Al
"Well, I remember, one evening.
after the show was over, and we had
gotten back to our room, Calbert was
sitting on the end of his trunk unlacing
his shoes, and I was trying to make
up my mind whether I wanted drink
ar not, when we heard his squeaky
little voice, suddenly raised in the mex.
room. in most sickening oath. Oh,
I swear myself, lots more han ought
10. but 1 never could stand hearing a
man curse a woman. He let 'em fly
~ her in blue streak, and then there
was a rush of feet, struggling sound
and woman's voice in pleading tones
that ended in gurgle. It all hap
pened so quick that was still SILVER
mo in the shock when I looked up and
saw Calbert's face, set and white. In
a bout two shakes he had passed me,
dashed out into the hall and threw
against the other door. By
chance It was not locked, and reached
there Just in time to see him grab the
dirty villain by the throat as he bent
over the woman's form, lying across
The bureau, and whirl him backwards
a cross the room. It took just two ticks
- settle him, and when pulled Cal
.,or+ off the other was meek as lamb,