Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-08-12

y
IM the door. Old Trabue stood
- in front of his Office in his
S shirt sleeves, his battered silk
hat on the back part of his head. He
was tanning himself with palm leaf
fan and freely using his. handkercn cnief
on his brow. He bowed cordially to
Alan and came toward him.
II want to ask you," he began, has
Pole Baker any way Of raisin' money"
"Not that l know Of" laughed Alan.
II don't know whether he's got clear
title to the shirt On his back. He owes
everybody out our way. My father Is
supplying him on time now"
"That was my impression" said Ira
bue. "He wanted me to defend him
the other day, but he couldn't satisfy
me about the fee, an I let him 60. He
first said he could give me lien Oh
mule, but he finally admitted that 1t
wasn't his"
"He's not in trouble, is he?" ex-
claimed Alan, suddenly recalling Mrs
Bakers uneasiness.
Trabue looked at Miller, who stood
leaning In the doorway, and laughed.
'Well, I reckon he might call 1t that.
That chap owned the town two days
ago. He got blind, stavin' drunk an
wanted to whip US from one end o the
place to the other. The marshals are
afraid Of i'm. for they know he'll shoot
at the drop of hat, an the butt Of 1t
was stickin' out O. his hip pocket In
plain sight. Was you thar, Rayburn?
Well, it was better n circus. Day
before yesterday thar was a sort o
street temperance lecturer in front o
the Johnston House. speakin' on dry
goods box. He had lot O. gaudy pic
lures illustratin' the appearance of
drinkin' mans stomach an liver COM
pared to one in healthy condition.
He was q sort Of snide faker out fer
what he could git dropped In hat, an
Pole was sober enough to git on to his
game. Pole stood thar with the rest,
Jest about able to STAN, an that was
ALL Finally, when the feller got
warmed up an got to screechin'. Pole
begun to deny what he was sayin'. AS
fast as he'd make statement Pole
would fatty give it the lie. The feller
on the box didn't know what tough
customer he had to handle or he'd a
gone slow. As it was, he p'inted fin
ger O. scorn at Pole an helt i'm up fer
q example.
"Pole wasn't sober by long shot, but
you'd "a thought he was, fer he was
as steady as a post. He kept GRIMM,
as cool as a cucumber, an sayin: Now
you know yo're a-lyin, stranger-jest
a-lyin' to get few dimes drapped In
yore hat. You know nobody's stomach
don't look like that durn chrome. You
never seed inside Of drinkin' man, an
yo're the biggest liar that ever walked
the earth This made the crowd laugh
at the little, dried up feller, an he got
as mad as old Nick. He begun to tell
Pole his liver was swelled from too
much whisky an that he'd bet he was
Jest the sort to beat his wife. Most OF
us thought that d make Pole jump op
i'm, but he seemed to enjoy naggiH
the feller too much to spile it by
fight A nigger boy had been carryin'
round q bell an q sign advertisin'
Webb's auction sale. an stopped to see
the fun. Pole heerd the tinkle Of the
bell an tuck it an begun to ring it in
the lecturers face. The harder the fel.
Ter spoke the harder Pole rang. 1t was
the biggest racket ever heerd on pub
lie square, Part of the crowd-the
good, church folks-began to say it was
q disgrace to the town to allow stran-
ger to be treated that away, sence thar
was no law agin public speakin' In the
streets. They was in fer calm halt,
but all the rest-the drinkin' men IAN
I frankly state | was one)-Secretly
hoped Pole would ring i'm down. When
the pore devil finally won, felt like
yellin' hooray, fer glory in the pluck
even of a daredevil, if he's north
Georgian an white. The lecturer had
to stop without his collectiCn, an went
off to the council chamber swearin'
agin the town fer allowin' him to be
treated that away. Thar wasn't any
thing fer the mayor to do but order
Poles arrest, but it took four men-two
regulars an two deputieS-tO accom-
plish it.
"The trial was the richest thing /
ever attended Pole had sobered up
Jest enough to he witty. an he had no
more respect fer Bill Barrett's court
than he had fer the lecturers platform.
Him an Barrett used to fish an hunt
together when they was boys. an Pole
kept callin' him Bill. 1t was Bill this
an Bill that. an as Barrett had only
been in office a month he hardly
knowed how to rise to his proper dig
nifty. especially when he saw the crowd
was laughin' at his predicament. When
I declined to defend i'm, Pole attempt
ed to read the law on the case to Bar
rett an show whar be was right. Bar
rett let i'm talk because lie didn't
know how to stop i'm, an Pole made
the best defense | ever heerd from q
unlettered man. 1t kept the crowd in
roar. For awhile | swear it looked
like Pole was goin' to cleer hisSe'f, but
Barrett had to do his duty. an so he
fined Pole thirty dollars, or in default
thereof to break rock Oh the streets fer
ten days. You ort to a heerd Pole
snort 'LoOky heer Bill lie said, you
know as we'll as yo're a-settin' cooked
up thar, maxim folks say ''yore honor
ever breath they draw, that | amt
a-goin' to break ITO rock in that br'ilin'
sun fer ten days case l beat that
skunk at his own game"
"You'll have to do it if you don't
nav ont Barrett told i'm.