The sun., 1903-11-15

sound Like the ohirruplng Of q flock Of
bobolinkst dug his spurs into his T. cayuse ,,e
rode smack into the hall leading to the court
room. and q galloping, at that. 1t 'wat
Ben . idea, you sec. to rope the Judge Ugh,
of the bench, 80 as to make the thing a,
public as the Jud ge's disqualification OF
him as juror had been.
We'll. this, OF course. was carrying II
too far. Lander was with Ben and sym.
pathized with him keenly. but the boys
weren't willing to stand for anything &c
disrespectful us the roping Of judge
right of the bench. no matter how much
the Judge might have been In error.
+Ben's lasso sung through the air. but II
fell short, for before 1t had a chance tc
uncoil fully Ben was being dragged from
his cayuse. Ben was a powerful man, ano
an hour and then take him away and hobble
him and ride hard on him for a few hours
until he sobered up and some Of the first
keen anguish over the way the Judge had
disgraced him had worn of.
Some preteIt. was found to get Ben OUT
Of Lander for few days when he came to
and the Judge finished UP the case without
further disturbance or trouble.
1That WAS the affair that gave Wyoming
the worst jolting it ever had got as Terri.
tory. The story was all over the Territory
in no time.
Public sympathy was unanimously with
Ben. His friends knew him as dead
square man and citizen and plugger for
the Territory OF Wyoming, and that was
enough for them. That he should have
been set down as q juror In the trial Of a
murderous stock detective and ex-rustler
on account of his profession and pursuit
in life was more than Wyoming could
understand. Anyhow, II was more than
Wyoming intended to swallow.
when the next session Of the Territorial
Legislature OF Wyoming was convened, one
Of the first acts of the Legislature was to
remap. the three judicial DISTRICTS Of Wyom-
ing. 1t was simple work. The conscien-
tious man but misfit Judge from New York
got district embracing great many thou
sand square miles of sage brush country,
but including not single human habitation
much less single human being.
That was, OF course. equivalent to legis-
lating that Jud dge out Of Office. The Judge
couldn't have been expected to hold court
for jack rabbits and coyotes.
'The head Of the Territorial Government,
lature. So far as holding court in Wyoming
was concerned, the Judge was out. The
Federal Government mi ght keep him on the
payroll II It had mind to, but his Job was
theneeforth to be a sage brush sinecure.
THE Judge himself didn't make any
protest. He was too solid a man TO emit a
bleat. He took the game as 1t came.
But his Eastern friends rushed to Wash
ington on special trains, The ink of Gov.
Thayer's signature was hardly dry on the
redistricting act before the President OF
the United States decapitated Gov. Thayer
for having .signed the paper. He was
charged with having made farce OF bis
office.
'The redistrictfng act Of the Wyoming
Legislature was declared illegal by the
Attorney-Ge OF tho United States
the three judicial districts Of the Territory
stood as they had been before, and the Judge
who had been let out resumed the holding
Of court In this district
His term OF service as Judge expired
soon after. and, for q marvel, the President
did not reappoint him. The Judge settled
down to the practice OF law In Cheyenne
and did well.
"He was . respected man. Wyoming
could see him as a lawyer. but It couldn't
and wouldn't sec him as a Judge. until II
was forced to, under a protest that made
the Territory huge open air bedlam for
months.
sAnd yet, IN all probability, the thing might
never have come to a head had that Judge
been able to perceive that. in Wyoming
anyway. IL was and Is possible for q faro
bank man to render an impartial YER
dict in . murder trial.