Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-06-09
The Man Who'll Laughed
lOriginal.l

/ the east IOr the west ana settled in Mis-
souri,. The morning after my arrival
a man perhaps ten years my senior
stepped up to me and addressed me.
He had the pleasantest smile on his
face had ever seen on the face of any
man.
"Howdy, stranger" he said. give
hearn you're goin' to settle in the town
I'm glad to know it. We want good
men, and we're bound to treat 'em right
and help 'em along. I'm Cy Paddock.
That's my shanty over thar Drop in
and see the folks. They'll be glad to
see you any time"
There was q contrast between this
warm western welcome and what
westerner would have received in the
east The words, the eyes and especial
~ the smile assured me that, though a
stranger, the man would stand by me
in trouble as long as he had cent in
his pocket or a gun to shoot with. l
thanked him for his kindly interest and
assured him that / would call at his
''shanty," tidy cottage hidden among
shrubbery and vines He passed on.
and ten minutes later heard a musical
laugh far down the street. 1t came up
through the quiet little town like the
song of bird over a field
"Who laughed?' 1 asked of one was
talking with.
That's Cy Paddock. We all know
his laugh here. It's the most valuable
thing we've got in the town. Cy keeps
up all in spirits. If it storms he laughs:
If the sun shines he laughs. If any one
is down on his luck Cy laughs at him.
and the man of misery laughs too. He
laughs with the well and with the sick,
with the poor and the rich You should
have seen him when Stokes store took
afire with forty school children on the
third floor. The teacher lost her head,
and the children were on the eve of
jumping to the ground. Just then Cy
walked up the stairs and, putting out
the fire at his coat tails, stood before
'em smiling. 1t quieted 'em at once,
and they waited patiently till ladders
were brought for 'em to climb down
and blankets for 'em to Jump into. No.
sir, we couldn't afford to lose Cy Pad.
dock from this here town.
I, too, Became used to Paddock's
laugh. I heard it in the morning as 1
was going to breakfast, heard it in
the Afternoon. when ghe the sun was food
ing the town with that yellow light pc
culiar to the west, aid when lying
awake at night it has come to me,
chasing away the gloom of darkness.
Often when depressed have gone to
Paddock's house, where I was always
sure Of q welcome from his pretty
black eyed wife and rosy children.
The latter were growing up merrily
under their fathers cheerfulness. |
wondered if any misfortune could spoil
that fathers laugh.
A time came when I saw Cy Paddock
under a terrible blight In the great
secession struggle Missouri, being
border state, had a divided people, 1t
was, besides, overrun by gangs of out
laws, who took adYantage of the times
to massacre and pillage. Paddock took
the Union side and became the leader
of an independent band to hunt down
these guerrillas, ! preferred this serY-
ice to enlisting in the United States
army and was one of Captain Pad
! docks lieutenants. I was curious to
see how his laugh would sound in
fight. But, while we chased many
guerrillas, we were a long while get
| ting a fight out of any of them.
One day while we were scouting
| band of cutthroats entered the town
we had left unprotected and took pos
session of it for three hours. When
they left the place was a wreck, and
every one in it who had not been able
to get away was murdered. Among
them were the wife and children of
Captain Paddock.
| When we returned to the scene of
desolation and our captain saw the
ruin Of his home an indescribable ex-
preston came over his face. Turning
| his horses head in the direction the
guerrillas had gone he dashed away,
followed by his troop. Like 'unmerci-
full disaster he followed fast and fol
lowed faster" picking up the trail, los
ing it, getting it again, till at last he
! cornered the retreating band, who had
thrown up some dirt and. fence rails at
the base of hill.
Scarcely stopping to form line Of bat
tie, melted by the fury of our leader,
we charged upon them. I had not
heard his laugh since our return to the
stricken town. Now, instead Of crying
'tCome onr' he laughed. But such
laugh. May I never hear it again. 1t
was the laugh of Satan as he consigns
q soul to hell. During the fight that
followed 1 heard it again and again.
Paddock, like the prince of darkness,
seemed to bear a charmed life. Either
this or the laugh he gave as he Glove
a skull or pierced heart paralyzed the
next man he attacked. / saw him kill
several, and after that whenever his
demcniacal laugh sounded knew that
one of the murderers of his wife and
children had gone down before him.
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