The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-10-16
No better murderer ever ifved

No better murderer ever H5,ed
At the sight of this gravestone the
proprietor of the Hilltop House, whose
summer guest I was, chuckled rerninis-
Gently. Billy MacCheeck he sent word
around to Ball Simpson that if he didn't
keep them darned sheep out o. the Jail
he wasn't goin' to stay in there"
To bolt out in this wise a sentence
whose sequent position was near the
middle or toward the end of his parra-
tive, / had learned was INV landlords
individual way of opening story. After
such a start he usually covered in a
leap the space that lay between this
middle point and the logical beginning,
and then told the story straight through
to the end. | now expectantly awaited
the narratory bound, but he regarded
the monument silently, his lean face
gashed with the shallow wrinkles of a
grin,
/ tried to hasten the jump. Surely,
Mr.. Greer, Simpson didn't keep his
sheep in the JAIL
MIR. Greer gave me q look of pity.
Cheeks little Joke" he explained.
THAT was his way O sayin' anybody
could get in the Jail that wanted in. N
anybody could get out that wanted out.
He was a funny fellow, Billy Mac
Check"
Again I essayed to draw him to the
story's beginning. THE epitaph says he
was a murderer" remarked sugges-
lively.
Mr.. Greer seated himself on one end
of a PROSTATE tombstone and I took
the other end He kicked out first one
leg, then the other, trundled his quid
of tobacco with his tongue into his right
palm, tossed 1t to one side, spat settled
back, and | knew he had taken the leap
and was ready to begin.
"MacCheeck was a murderer, yes, he
commenced. He killed man. never
could sees there was anything partic, lar
wrong in his KILN Jim Hines. But
laws law. an though you're all right
If you kill a snake in snakes skin,
you've got to hang if you kill snake
in mans skin. That's SO.
BILLY was the queerest lot | ever
knew. He was wild devil, drank N
played cards, ant had been in all sorts
of trouble one way m another. But
everybodyt knew Billy MacCheeck
liked him. He lived here about a year,
an after the first month he come pur-
ty near KNOWN everybody. He was a
wiry chap. an good-lookin' in a devil
may-care sort o way; all the time he
was on trial there was the greatest lot
o. women folks out to see him. He'd
fight in minute, for he had temper !
like match; an he'd make up IN a
minute. for his temper'd go out like a
match does when you blow It Billy
was what | guess you'd call pagan
didn't seem to believe in nothln spe..
cial But | never understood him, an
no one else did either You'd think
that if a man in jail for murder got a
chance to get away he'd take it,
wouldn't you? Billy had two chances
the best sort. Why he didn't light out,
that's what / don't understand.
Him an Jim Hines met on the street
one mornin', had few words, an Billy
I'D N shot him dead. Billy never knew
Just why he killed Hines, for Hines
had never done him any harm, but he
said that at the minute he couldn't help
dom what he done.
90 course, a lot of people come run
min up at the shot an Billy stood with
'ern lookin' down on Jim Hines bleedin
there on the stones, till he seen Ball
Simpson comm in lope, an he walked
away to meet Ball.
Hello, Ball. he said, when they
come together. I guess I'll have to be
your boarder for while, an he handed
his pistol over to the sheriff. :,
".Whv. what you been doin. Billy
the sheriff asked. He looked awful
but MacCheeck, though
purity white, was as steady as you please:
They was the best sort o friends, Ball
m Billy: BLVD helped Ball lectioneer.
:" KILN lin Hines. Billy said.
"The sheriff looked like he wanted to
cry. oh. Billy. What'd you do that
for?' he said.
But Billy said nothin' an walked
with Ball back to where Jim Hines was
lawn. They tried TO rouse him, but
Jim was as dead as Moses; and Billy
walked with Ball down to the jail. /
"The trial was one o the biggest
things there'd ever been in the Strlnger
County courthouse. an the COURTROOM
wouldn't hold half the people. ne
KEEP sendin' Billy flowers
till his cell looked all the time like the
NJ. E. church on Childurn's Day Billy
didn't seem worried a bit: looked ike
the trial was ANYBODY else's but hlsn.
A friend o. his that was lawyer de.
tended him, but la Billy never mad
any sort of chance He ought to've
had a gold medal N vote O. thanks
from the Judge n jury for KILN Jim
Hines. but instead he was found guilty
o. murder in the first degree, an sem
fenced TO be hung.
Billy was purity pale when ne $1,000
I'D an Judge Ellis sentenced INN, put
he was srniIin' all right again when the
sheriff come no for him. Ball Simpson
was whole lot worse cut up than Billy
was. Ball was a tall ganglin' fellow,
with slopir'. stopped shoulders. big