Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-06
HOT DAY IN TUCSON

some warm in the sun. amt it?'' inquir-
ed Inc small man with the close-set eyes
ana the smedSe-liks stogie. as he pulled
Gown the shade OF the upc
Ills rat seatmate glared sulkily at him.
seems to me I've heard that somewheres
before today, IL amt Mistaken he said.
| cnoppily
I THAT so?" said the small man with the
| close-set eyes. Does sound kind o. famil-
lar. doesn't 1t? But that's way facts has
familiar sound about 'em. Ever happen to
| reel right smart sure enough hot day
down In Arizona, podner?'
| NOT so that 1 could notice It," was the
grumpy retort Of tho fat man. Il never
mace 1t any part of my business to go
| jumping about the world looking for hot
| places
NO. / reckon not" said the small man.
Win the air of one willing to be agreeable.
! never was much myself. on looking fer
not places. but I've been caught in 'em.
| podner - several - sort OF accidental-and-
| well. y ought to have been down In Tucson.
| Arizona. one day, when IT was honest-1ntun
and sure-enough hot The heat of Tucson
| that Day sure did cause some queer cOmplI-
cations. Remember. particularly. the run
| nin8 street fight between Cal Bailey the
| day marshal. and Jim Mulvey, a range
| foreman. who was a sure Navajo when he
| jumped the reservation
| Jim had been sort of personally
conducted fiesta in Tucson for three or four
weeks and by the end Of that time the
| req medicine and the heat had sure-enOugh
got Jim mighty loco. He shot up three
| greasers one afternoon because they side
| stepped when he demanded that they play
| tag and puSs-in- tIe-cOrner for him In the
! hot sum- land the next night he put ball
| In the shoulder OF the barkeep Of the Silver
| Jack saloon because the barkeep handed
MIN up glass of water as chaser for
| his liquor.
"On the night after that Jim made a
tenderfoot from New Jersey sing Annie
Laurie until the tenderfoot had lump in
his throat as big as a Swiss goitre. At this
! stage Cal Bailey. the marshal. got in. Cal
| was always willing to let the boys enjoy
themselves. but he didn't believe in this
| question. Said that that sort of thing was
| liable to give Tucson a sort Of onconven-
tional reputation. So he looked up Jim. and
| said he:
Jim, I don't want you to think that
| I'm trying to choke you of none when
| you're right in the middle of your stride;
| but you've got to let the tenderfeet and the
| jumpers alone. Those people all write let
tiers to the folks at home, and that cuss
| that put in half the night warbling for you
| had got a throat on him like a pulled ella,
and is out his head and yelling for his
nav. Just toy along with the natives, son,
| and let the new ones In our midst sweat In
| comfort
! Now that was square enough talk for
| anybody but. as / told you the mesquite
stuff had sort O got Jim stampeded around
| his upper works. and his cap-bells hao
| worked their way into his head
| Don't YOU give me no such converse
| ton as that-all.' said Jim TO the mafshai'
or I'll be smoking you out. L.,
! We'll. Cal knew the shape Jim was IN;
and he didn't want to have any Dotne.' anu
| so he walked away.
Now. this all happened on powe -i,u
hot day-hot even for Tucson Muivey
noked around after his little talk with the
| marshal. brooding over it, and hurting
high and broad one into his system every
| twelve minutes or So Just how ne s0t ,ne
idea into his fool head that hs aont Know
Int along Toward nightfall he gives three
| Jumps in the air. yanks out pom OF MS
| weapons, and announces that ne wants -
hull lot OF marSnai meat I" ~ '
| against hard winter. liz, ont ~
:Jim's friends tried to argue him our OF
| II and to lead him away to has ittle whl.s
bunk. but he wasn't seeing t !s,e .ne" said that
! the only thing that would reconcile MIN "
bic iot in This life or the life to come was
one marshal neatly packed away III
| barrel and decorated with rock SAT-.
| wen. seeing that they couldn't 90 any
| thing with jim they concluded that hne
nert hest thing was to notify Cal that Jim
was making war medi Saas.+s su'o
| like a Moiave weaving Daskets. >,
IAN right said Cal L sure don't want
to tatto that boy, up none put l. Ieel tne
need of bull lot Of breath n t onss k IN nv
|
| tran RI sure; have to do the best know
| to give him a nap
We'll. we all kept pretty close to cover
| tban for we knew that it was going to
| come Off and we didn't figure any on being
| tossed over by the stray ones from Cal VI
| Jim's guns.
! "It happened along toward 10 o'clock that
| night in Santa Anita saloon. Bailey was
! standing UP at the bar. alone. taking one
| for his stomach's sake. when he heard Jim
| a-coming down the street like busted cal
| lone Cal stood right quiet at the bar,
! but he cleared ship for action and the boys
| in the back room picked out healthier spots
| on the second floor The barkeep yanked
open the trap door and sought the GOODNESS
| of the cellar.
Jim pranced In with a whoop- Right
| at the same instant he and the marshal
| began to pump without a word
| .sYou never heard such a Fourth of July
r,mpus In your life as that was. The two
| men were only ten feet apart and yet the
| gang on the second floor were amazed 10
| hear every shot from both of their guns
| go Off ,, :.
!" 'Scandulous shootin',' they said. and 1t
really seemed as if they were justified.
| "Bailey was ordinarily able to push
dime through dobe at twenty PAGES ana
Jim had shown some gun-fannin'. even
| since he'd embarked on his toot. that
! earned the respect of everybody in Tucson.
! well, after they'd made all Of that
| noise we heard EN- talking, quiet like,
| and so we made our appearance upon the
scene.
| There was Jim, his two guns resting on
! the bar and the shells out of them In his
| hands Same with Cal. You never saw such
| a notwithstanding pair of men in your
| life as those two were for a minute. Then
| the marshal gave his knee whack.
| by blazesr he yelled, If the heat hasn't
| melted the balls out of our shells and we've
| been firing blanks at each otherT
! HE reached down into both of his boot
| legs. and burned If he didn't pull out a
| aueerly-twisted mass of lead out Of each Of
| them, Jim did likewise. and I'm pun
| adder If he didn't fetch up two punches of
| lead! The heat of the day had melted
! their bullets right out of their guns and
| the lead bored holes In their gun pockets
and trickled down their boot legs, and
neither man had known thing about it
| until they had got through popping away
| at each other OF course. 1t was all of
| then Mulvey and Bailey tipped glasses to
| each other and Jim took brace and went
back to the range. But that sure was one
| warm day at Tucson"
The Peach State.
| From the New York Sun.
| hoJl