Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1906-03-08
A Case of Nerve
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lOriginal.l

"S'' ~ II ~ IA
those days, with sudden shiftings. and
it was hard to follow any story from
beginning to end without some breaks
and obscure places. We hear Of the
good old colony times. Nobody ever
had anything to say about the good old
Nevada days. There was a lot of shoot
Ing and precious little inquiry into
which of the shooters had the right.
For a real STARTER the fight between
Belcher and Hodges beats anything re-
membcred in those exciting days. AS |
was saying, only a bare outline Of the
story preceding it was learned. and
this, such as it is. I will give.
Justus Belcher, a Woodworking but
unlucky man in the east, finding it hard
to make a living for his wife and little
children, heard of what was going Oh
in the Silver State-the Comstock lode
had then recently been strickland re-
solved to go out there and hunt for ore.
He fell in with Philip Hodges, and the
two prospected together. Hodges was
a strong personality and was used to
taking every II by storm. but points
in this story 60 to indicate that he had
had one thing left out in his makeup, q
conscience. He and Belcher made a
strike and Belcher decided to send for
his family, but before they arrived
Hodges contrived to swindle Belcher
out Of his share in the mine. How he
did it is one Of the obscure points of the
story.
Then followed a hard time for the
Belchers. Belcher eve had any luck
or was too confding. AT any rate he
had nothing on which to support his
family, and they We're terribly run
down. The two children, one after the
other, sickened and died. and the moth
er was not long in following them. Bel
cher during all his troubles saw his for
mer partner growing prosperous out Of
the mine they had owned together. He
never said anything about what was on
his mind. Some people who knew how
he had been swindled wondered why he
bore with Hodges so patiently. But
Belcher knew that if he got into a
scrap with Hodges it meant war to the
death and dreaded leaving his family
or what was left of it to shift for them
selves. So he stood at his post and let
revenge alone.
Tho dow q ffar Nfrc pn1Ghor, WAC hI11.-
led we We're in the Empire saloon-the
saloon and the cabins were all the
places to be in in those days-and
Hodges was there too. He was a popu-
lar man in spite Of the general under
standing Of the way he had treated
Belcher. AS l have said, be was natu-
rally calculated to be prominent, and
his mine was doing better every day.
There's nothing like uccess to make a
man. outWardly at least, respected. At
any rate Hodges was surrounded by q
group of admirers, "settin' 'em up
when the door opened and Belcher
came in. Evidently Hodges had been
looking for something and must have
seen what he was looking for III Bel
cher's eyes. Besides. BeIcher had new
er been in the saloon before. Before
any of us knew what was up Hodges
had drawn and shot a hole through bis
former partner. Belcher fell, and 1t
was plain to all of us that he was dead.
We carried him into a back room and
laid him out on a table. There he was
to remain till action should be taken as
to his burial.
It turned out that Belcher's revolver
wouldn't work. Whether it was in the
hammer or the trigger or the revolving
apparatus wasn't known Just then,
though everybody knew all about it
afterward. At any rate. he never got
in a shot. He had snapped it once be-
fore Hodges fired, and if it hadn't been
for this cussed luck that had stuck to
him the other man would doubtless
have been the one to bite the dust.
But as l was saying, there's nothing
like success to make a man courted
even if it is a matter of luck, and
Hodges drop made him all the more
popular. Outwardly, at least, he was
as unrutiied as if he had shot a bird.
He asked us all up to drink by way of
celebrating his victory. l didn't like
him and declined. He gave me q look
out of the corner Of his eye which told
me that he considered my refusal as
sympathy with his enemy. and he was
right. l noticed that his hand shook
as he poured out his liquor. Perhaps
he had q presentment Of what vas in
store for him.
They were still drinking when sud
denly the door of the back room where
the corpse was laid out opened slowly.
and there stood the corpse itself.
Hodges looked at it and staggered
back. The corpse, or Belcher, raised
his pistol deliberately and drew a bead
on Hodges. There was a momentary
u~nsteadiness in Belcher's arm which
he conquered by an almost superhuman
effort of the will. Hodges was para
lyzed as if confronted by an %avenging
spirit. Belcher fired, and the man who
had ruined him fell on his face. Then
Belcher gave way all at once and
dropped dead. this time for certain.