Los Angeles herald., 1906-04-01
! JAMES JEFFRIEs AND HIS DOGS


ming to force Its way through the
ground.
That's all good stuff in there" said
Jeff. 'I'm just raisin' it for fun. Gee
1 believe I could eat all the stuff in
there at one meal.'
I was about to ask him If he ever
ate little boys but l refrained.
II reckon I'll chase over and see
about them potatoes" said Jeff, and he
stalked away to where two long lines
of green things showed through the
ground.
The big farmer stopped and plucked
out a bush and examined it.
Purity good" he said and threw the
tiny shrub away.
"There goes about the two hun
dredth," said Jack. "He had a fair
bunch of plants in there but he digs
up two or three day to see that they
are growing all right and forgets to
stick them back in the ground. He'll
probably get crop of about one potato
at the rate he is going now"
Respects to ST. Louis
Then we started to talk about ST.
Louis and Jack Jeffries was sorry to
hear of the death of his old friend,
bad jack Williams.
"St. Louis is all right" said Jim.
"The morning papers roasted me there
but I got kind of used to that"
"How about that fight of yours with
Jim Butler, son of the big politician?" 1
said.
jeff hitched up one leg of his trousers
and rubbed his hand on his nose.
ooh, that wasn't no fight" he said.
"I was to play at Buffers Standard
theater in st. Louis and when 1 got
there 1 saw 1 couldn't put no melo-
flY-af tn 1nf cIn nd
wouldn't play there. I met Jim Butler
in Kansas City later, and he was drunk
and threw a stein at me. Fight him;
hell, I'd just as soon hit a overgrown
calf as to hit that fat head. 1t didn't
hurt my reputation none because 1
didn't swipe him one"
Mrs. Jeffries was i'll and Jacks wife
called the hungry farmers to dinner.
Don't eat much at noon because I
makes q fellow feel better to get up
early but might as well take life easy"
Fools With Pump
After dinner the big man strolled
over to the engine house and by sundry
explosions and great wheeZes and
gasps from the shed it was evident that
Jeff was starting the water pumping
machine.
"That's his hobby" said Jack. "He
spends more time tinkering with that
engine than he does with anything else.
He would rather monkey with that
than go to the show. 1t is twenty-five
horsepower machine but it don't suit
him; don't make enough racket I
reckon, for he is going to get a forty
horsepower machine"
"Got to go down the shaft and see
about that WELL" said full-sized voice
from the engine house, and the big
form of the champion loomed up like
lighthouse in a fog as he walked out
Of the door and made a sudden dive
into a cave at the bottom of the en-
gine.
It'll yell when its time to turn off
the engine he said, and then I saw
that he was going down the ladder to
the we'll pit, sixty feet below the sur
! face.
"The farmers go down there about
once a year." said the farmland, 'but
Jim chases down about three times a
day just for exercise" We were lean
ing over the mouth of the dark, mar
row pit and watching the form of the
big man as it filled up the lower part
of the well, when suddenly we saw
him look toward us and then it hap
pened.
[ picked myself up from where had
landed in the soft sand, fifteen feet dis
tant, and noticed that the other mem
bers of the party were doing likewise.
Jacks hat had been blown off but
he was shutting down the engine.
"Does that happen often??" re-
marked one of Jeff's friends who had
arrived in an automobile.
"Oh, that was only Jeff yelling Tor
me to shut down the engine" said
Jack. "He miscalculated the distance
and yelled too hard"
Old Cronies There
Among the new arrivals at the ranch
were Doc Harbin, Bill Spires and
George Miller, Jeffs old cronies OF
Hardin Springs, where he did all his
training for his big fights.
Spires, old and grizzled. moved a
heavy revolver to a more comfortable
position as he sat down.
"Oh, lust kinda don't feel dressed un-
less I got it on" said Spires, veteran
coach driver of the hills. II broke bott
INV hands throwin' couple of fellers
out the window OF the hotel and now
got to carry a gun all the time"
Then they went at it telling storie:
of the old days in training quarters
when everyone was teasing everybody
else and life was miserable.
"Remember that big log on the trailT
said Spires, and Jeff growled assent al
he doubled up and sat down in thu
shade of his engine house and rubbed
the perspiration from his forehead. In
cidentally he put on a couple of Ions
streaks of grease from the engine, bu
it didn't matter.
"Well, you see, that log was % called
the lunch log" continued Spires. "The1
always held up the stage at that los
and the people lined UP and put dowI
ali their valuables, including the money
watches and things on the lunch los
i while the men took 1t.
sWelI, there was a holdup there on'