The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1905-04-07

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szy shirt sleeves, his battered silk
hat on the back part of his head. He
was tanning himself with a palm leaf
| fan and freely using his handkerchief
| 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!"
eNot that l know Of" laughed Alan.
Il 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 let him go. He
first said he could give me lien on
mule. but he finally admitted that it
wasn't his"
Hes not In trouble. Is hep ex-
claimed Alan, suddenly recalling Mrs.
Bakers uneasiness.
Trabue looked at Miller, who stood
leaning in the doorway. and laughed.
"Well, | 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 it
was stickin' out o. his hip pocket in
plain sight. Was you thar, Rayburn?
Well, 1t was better n a circus. Day
before yesterday thar was a sort o.
street temperance lecturer in front O.
the Johnston House. speakin' on a 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 a sort of a 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 Teller 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 Teller
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 1T 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 post. He kept GRIMM.
as cool as cucumber. an sayin: Now
know n. lVvin or iocf
a-lyin' to get a 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 Teller, 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 ID make Pole jump on
i'm. but he seemed to enjoy naggin
the Teller too much to Spite it by
fight. A niger boy had been carryin'
round bell an a sign advertiser
Webb's auction sale, an stopped to see
the fun. Pole heerd the tinkle of the
bell an tuck it an begun to ring 1t In
the lecturers face. The harder the fell
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
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 a halt,
but all the rest--the drinkin' men IAN
| 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 Il daredevil if he's a north
Georgian an white. The lecturer had
to stop without his collection, 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.
ITo RE Continued