Omaha daily bee., 1905-09-16

page" he said sliding a photograph over
to the reporter. ia be willing TO pay for
the cut"
He offered to open wine" for the gang,
printers and all. IL they would Join him
at the Albany for . midnight feed
In the twilight OF the following day no
called again. He was not nearly 80 frisky.
The stuffing was gone from his trousers
and the twinkle from his eye. Pulling
chair up to the reporters desk he began 20
pour out the story Of his undoing.
Hartigan, seeing a smile beginning to
play about the smooth face Of the reporter,
went over to give Taber an assignment,
and Vaughn, the master mechanic (and
general manager in the editors absence)
came in from the back room.
Half an hour later the man went out.
Say" he called back from the door, you
don't need to mention names, but I'll stand
by the paper II you give the OUTFIT a good
roast"
Taber had written the heading for the ex-
pose in the presence of the Chalk Creeker
and he had cheered and applauded &C.
When he picked up the paper on the fol-
lowing morning he was delighted TO see
that It had not been changed or softened.
A few weeks later Soapy came in one
afternoon with two revolvers. a rife and a
shotgun.
"Fellah's jumped yo' claim" said he
leaning the shotgun against the editors
desk; Il Just brought these things along in
case you-all might be shy on fghtin' rons."
"How's that?" asked the editor.
why that fellah Streepys driv pilin' In
the riveh, built house on 'em an tuned
the riveh thu yo' lot"
Well what can we do about it7''
DO? Why make the houn' jump out tn
windeh an take the house"
''Streepyll fight, won't her
oh yes, he'll fight, but you-all must go
heeled or not go at all. II you want me
I'll go along Just for the excitement"
After consulting Vaughn, the foreman,
who had lived a great deal in the mines,
the editor concluded to let the lot CO. and
soapy' taking up his arsenal, went out.
The waning Days.
At the end of 1892 the historian added an
other stanza to the running record Of
Creede camp:
The he autumn winds blow bleak and chilli
The signing, quivering aspen waves
ABOUT the summit of the mill,
Above the unrecorded graves
Wnere haltt abandoned burros feed,
ana coyotes Call-and this is Creole.
Slanting Annie, Gambler Joe,
And Bad" Bob Ford are sleeping there,
But slippery, sly "Sapolio,
ME ne seems seems to shun the golden stair,
He's doing Denver politics
Strawberries were 30 cents a box in Dem
YER Hon. Lafe Pence, candidate for con-
gress, had brought a box home for his
FAMILY and himself. AS the future famous
congressman passed into his yard he
glanced over the low fence, and saw his
neighbours boys sitting on the scant lawn,
each with a box of berries between his
knees. When they had eaten all they could
hold, they played Indian by painting each
others faces with ripe berries, and gave
what was left to the poor children who
! lived in the block.
AS the coming congressman stood watch
! ing the boys, the gentleman who lived next
! door came home to luncheon
| The two men exchanged good morning, "
| and then the prospective legislator said
| that he had been asked to name a demo
crat in his ward for Judge Of election. II
his neighbor would be good enough to give
/ his name, the candidate would be pleased
/ to hand it in, and he made ready with
pencil and notebook. You're a democrat
| 1 presume, Minister"
20, yes. I'm democrat all right enough,
said the father of the strawberry boys
| <AilN "Stiu SON NC "AAihb Az SCI VIC
| Mister"
Smith" said the man, smilingly: JET
ferson Randolph Smith, jr., called 'soapy
| for short"
The man dropped his pencil and notebook
as Soapy went laughing across the lawr
leading his little children by the hand.
| Pence had not dreamed that the notorious
short-card, shell man, and all-round smooth
Eph was the head OF the quiet and appar
emily happy family next door.
| Later Soapy went travelling. and favored
the writer with some odd and interesting
| letters. The first came from South Am
erica, another from Havana, and still an
other from Juneau.
1t seemed to me that this thoughtfulnes
on the part OF man who had once stool
for me at a killing, and offered to do 1
again. deserved a reply. So 1 wrote hin
/ briefly. concluding:
Write me when there is anything tina
will make a story and be sure to wire MI
when they hang you. which will doubtless
occur during the coming summer"
This letter probably never reached him
as no wire came back.
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