The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1903-09-21

think the only way a stranger can get
along in the small towns and boom
camps of the west is to make a gun
play" said Elmer d. Frank, who has
seen nearly all phases of life in the
restless section west of the Missouri
river. II believe eastern magazine
writer's, who take a cursory survey Of
the country, are responsible for this
false impression. The real passport
among the old-time westerners was
pluck, whether it was backed up by a
.six-shooters or not. OF course, a good
game of bluff went a long way, but the
time came when a man had to make
good, and a coward, even If he had a
Calling gun, might as we'll 'vamoose
the ranch
In the early COS / was inter-
ested in a mining prospect up near
the head of Wood river, south of the
Yellowstone forest reserve. My part
ners and | decided to send a Scotch
miner named Graham to do the as
sessment work on the claims. Ora
ham took his wife along and built
a cabin a few hundred feet below tim
Der line and performed the necessary
assessment work singlehanded. He
was up there several months and pat
ronized a store in Meeteetse, about
thirty miles away. He received good
wages and an ample allowance for sup
plies, but he was improvident and soon
a into debt. He received several
duns from Horn, Thomas & Butler,
three old-timers who ran the combina-
ton grocery and saloon in Meeteetse,
but paid no attention to the demands.
When his bill al up to $50 he re-
ceived a call from all three members
of the firm. They had no idea they
would be able to collect the account.
but they were determined to take it
out of his hide They did. Graham
was about as badly battered as a man
could be and still hold together. More
than that, he and his wife spent a
night of terror inside their cabin. The
enraged creditors, not satisfied with
the %drubbing they had given the de-
linquent, shot up the house from the
outside. Graham and his wife over
turned their bed and utilized it as a
barricade. Every minute or two n
of their tormentors would appear at
a window and shoot wildly into the
room. About dawn they rode away
down the mountain.
Graham came to me at my ranch In
the Big Horn basin and told me his
troubles. One of my partners in the
mining venture was there when he ar
rived.
Didn't you fight back, Graham
my partner asked.
'Hoot, an what could | do?' ex-
claimed Graham, helplessly. They
knocked me down an broke my ribs.
When 1 gut oop an looked around
'"S ""o mt "hiohciS lylH III the
mood
We'll, that's enough interrupted
my partner. If that's all the nerve
you have we'll send somebody else
to work the claims
W. decided to go up to Meeteetse
and settle with the men who had
beaten Graham and afterward to pay
our bill. But when the time came my
partner could not GO, and l had to
make the trip alone. So one morning
| arrived in Meeteetse and registered
my name boldly on a little dog-eared
cash-book in the only hotel in the
place. Hoor. Thomas & Butler must
have been expecting me, for / barely
had gone outside to look at the village
from the front of the hotel when I
received a slap on the shoulder that
nearly knocked me down. | turned
and saw a r~aw-boned giant more than
six feet tall grinning down at me. 1t
was Horn. He had a habit Of smiling
at people even when he expected to
shoot the next moment.
Hello. thar he bawled. 'Ain'1
.ore name Frank
= Yes I replied.