River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-03-08
hurt aim. becauss he got Il where and

hurt him, because he got It where and
when he wasn't looking for It, and then
got the jolt of my life. Toms seconds
hoped into the ring and claimed the
foul, and | was laughing at the way
they were going to get fooled, when this
lad carp stood up and handed me mine
He allowed the foul and gave the fight
to Sharkey. I'm not quick mover, as
far as the brain is concerned, and per
haps didn't think it was as bad as 1t
was. Anyhow, by the time got it into
my head that I'd been trimmed, there
was gang in the ring and all around
it putting up the biggest kind of a howl
The police broke in, too, and then the
fur began to fly in good shape. carp
pulled a gun and backed his say-so
against anything that the rest could
put up, and the police chased the mob
out of the building.
The rest of the story is history
Everyone knows how | brought suit to
get that money back, but they also know
how it was decided against me. want
to say right here that was robbed just
as much as if that gang had broken into
my house, plugged me with Al and
taken the dough out of the safe. They
call me an old man whole lot, but those
that do would have figured me pretty
small kid if they could have seen me
that night. l don't know for sure if
cried or not but know | felt like it.
It's pretty rough for man to be
trimmed out of small fortune by one
measley gang of crooks, and that's a
fact. OF course Mound out all about
it, but the worst of all was the charge
that I'd deliberately sold the fight
I've been misquoted whole lot, and
I've been roasted whole lot, and some
of the newspaper boys showed it to me
good and hard before / got a chance to
show up my side. AS rule, the boys
are good boys, and they made 1t right
when they found they had got it wrong;
but it didn't cure the hurt. There was
an organized gang that put up that job
l don't know what they cleaned up, but
I've been told since that they cinched
close to half a million, all told. They
put Wyatt carp there for that purpose,
because they knew there'd be scream,
and they knew that the average man
would weaken when the roar came, and
they also knew he wouldn't
The thing was fixed a week after the
match was made, and the job came from
the. east; / want to say that OF course
a good bunch of the west was in on the
play, but the job came from the east
When | get it handed to me | want to
know how it was done, and went
around asking questions when it was
all over. l wanted to know about this
fellow, Wyatt carp, and when heard
his history, didn't wonder he was able
to bluff that gang that night.
Maybe some of you haven't heard
about the carp boys, SO I'm going to tell
you what learned about them. There
were three of them originally, and they
were born in Illinois. They went west
and took up with any good steady job
There was Wyatt-my friend-Virgil
and Morgan. Wyatt was town marshal
down in New Mexico once-Albuquerqu
think it was, and his brothers were
handy around. A gang of COW punchers
had been holding up stages around there
a whole lot, and they did the job Just
once too often. They showed up in AL
buquerque, and were having a whole lot
of fun, when Wyatt collected his two
brothers and a chap named Doc HolIi-
day, and went after them. The outlaws
got the worst of 1t, but one of them
got away, and two weeks later he shot
Virgil carp at a railroad station, and
Doc Holiday got him later, and come
near getting lynched for it. Morgan
was, think, shuffled off some time later,
but our good Wyatt is still living in Cali
fornia and taking life easy. l don't
know what he got for his job but it was
enough to make him pull the trick. AS
far as I could find out, there was never
anything illegal about the carp gang,
but they were looked on as handy men
to have around and worth watching
when the game was going round
don't mean they were dishonest, but
few people turned their backs when they
played poker with them.
AS far as Sharkey himself is con-
cerned, I don't believe he was in on it
to any extent. Maybe he knew there
was something coming off, but what he
got out of it was cigarette money to the
big haul; and, besides, Tom isn't big
enough in the brain pan to dope out .
hot one like that. / got mine, and I
know it, but you can make little easy
money if anyone thinks they get me
again with a crooked referee.
Nomore Wyatt Earps in mine. I'll take
a second-rate fighter before 1 accept any
more. bad men" or "terrors of the
plains" for the job of referee. Now
have that out of my system. feel bet
ter; but if any of the youngsters who
read this ever figure on going into the
fighting game, it's good plan to tuck
away gun in your tights when you
pull it off in Frisco, if they have ref
cree with mustach and steely eye.