The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-23
Something
Doing at
ArkansasCity

Arkansas City these times said Joe Bas-
sett In voice Of deep discomfort what
ever the trouble Is, u more'n know, but
there amt been a game nor fight IN town
for nigh a month, an I'm gettin' sick OF It.
A man might as well be dead as 70 be asleep
all the time
what yer goin' TO do about II, Joe2 asked
Jake WinterbottOm, half quizzical. we
can't 60 on the boats an yank the passen-
gers OF by the back o. the neck an make 'em
come In here an play. Leastways, you
could, faint noways likely they'd enter
into the spirit o. the Rnme noways hearty.
AN ye CANT very well put two white
men together like ye do two gamecooks
an make 'em fight whether there's anything
TO fight about or not. Ye mought do It
with two niggers, but a niger hght amt
no great fun, nohow.'
well, there's one thing en- do, reckon
said the Sheriff doggedly. i en- pull up
stakes an go some'res where they Is some
pin doih'. Arkansas City amt the onlest
town on the river. There has been times
when l thought twas, but pears like itaint
no mo-
Then he relapsed into a sullen silence
and the others in the room forebore to
ers did, that the big man was In earnest end
It was no time for raillery. At length old
man Greenhut gathered himself together.
There was a man writ a book oncet.'
he said, quite as II it had nothing to do
with ANYTHING that had been said before.
AN he made out in this here book, like the
hull b'ilin' o. mankind hadn' I on y two things
to live for. Didn't make no difference he
haA thaU alnEa
irwin to get more. An similar, 1t didn't
make no difference where a man was, he
was al'ays hell bent on goin' somewheres
else.
sNow. pears 10 me like this yere man
was like most everybody else. He we're
mixed up on what was good an what was
bad.
90 course there amt no fault to be found
with nobody for gettin' all he can. There
! amt no reel USE in bein' rich, on'y for the
! chanst it gives a man to git richer.
But this yere goin' to some other place
| Just because It il somewheres else is plumb
! foolish. II a man wants excitement the
beat way o. gettin' it is to set right where
things does happen, sometimes, an wait
20 course they is a good deal in picldn'
out a place. first of. A man has TO use boss
sense in dom that, same as he has about
other things, but faint no use foppin' an
suuiTmin round like a eel afterwards.
| Rollin' stones don't gather no moss.
yes, n I've heerd tell I settin' hens
don't lay no eggs, said the Sheriff, dryly.
Don't haf to, said Greenhut, sharply.
There's other fowl ready to undertake
the wear an tear o. that line O. work, an
! all a wise hen does Is to set still an hatch
out what's laid already.
There was a man named Tom Toothaker
! lived over in Green county years ago, afore
I come I'm Mississippi State, Z had fool
way o. pullin' up stakes an traipsin' over
the country every oncet in a while, leavin'
his wife an two chillun 10 look out for their
selves an comm back alter a few months
most gently broke, but maxim sure I he'd
find tn old cabin where he'd left IL, an
things pretty much the same as they was
when he left. Said Twin at home was
too dodgasted monnytonious f'r him,
an he had to stir round consid'able to
keep I'm gettin' blue moulded.
His wife, she was a peaked little woman,
I didn't pear to have no spunk, she says
to him, two or three times: You'd best TO
look out, Tom she says. You'll take one
o. these here travel in spells on TO you
once too often, one O. these days. ] amt
no saint she SAYS, nor no Methodist,
an I amt altogether stuck on no such
name az Toothaker, neither, she says.
sBut Tom, he says I reckon women Ia
like hens, anyway They has TO cackle,
aocordin' to natur' An he didn't pay
no more attention 10 what she says.
But one time, when he'd been away
some two months, he come back long
toward evenin an found strange dog
IN the front o. the cabin. II were a ugly
Ioolrin' brute. too. but didn't pay no ten
ton TO Tom till he made out to 60 into the
cabin. Then he did. an 'twasn't more'n
two minutes afore Tom we're up tree with
the dog lookin' at him an him a-hollerin'
for help.
well, there didn't no help come. but
ater a spell the door opened an Mis-
Toothaker looked out an asst who was
there. Tom told her, an she says:
I reckon you all has found out what
was tellin' you. Pears like faint 80
monnytonious like, round home. as II
used TO be Anyway, / don't find as tits,
| an / reckon you won't, = long as sam s
dog feels interested
uCsA An she laughed, an went inside, an
Tom heard one Of his neighbors sughin
with her, inside the cabin.
/ Inc Olu man bNORPNhy ahN aANNA WIG
others had waited a while for the rest Of
Inc story, the Sheriff asked
sWell. what did he do neXt7'
L don't know said Greenhut Il was
lust leavin' Greene county at that time, an
when ] came away Tom was still up the
two, an the dog was gettin hungry
I'VE / OF a the foo sto iesl" said the
She ~ Angiily, bit Greenh,t INTERRUPTED
him.
TO show Z there was some people dent
Lnow when they're vol OF. Now, II Tom
Toothaker d stayed home when he was
there, his wife'd ha' been workin' for him
vet. An II he'd stayed away when he
was away, the dog
sOh, damn Tom Toolhakerl' exclaimed
BasE, It angrily. aI'm Coin TO quit Arksn-
sas CITY inside o. four days II
Just then the olattCring noise Of a horso's
hoofs on the roadway came through the
omen door, as the animal came on a dead
Mn up toward the main street. As the
group sat listening another set Of hoOfs
/ sounded, not quito 80 plainly a. II one
horse wero in pursuit Of another. Then
! came a pistol shot, and a second one,
Before the second shot sounded Joe has
set, was outside the door with his own re-
volyer in his hand, and the Others in the