The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-08-05
CALLAGHER'S RUN
VI OF HARD LUCK.
Beginning In Brownsville, It Lasts
Until He Gets to Ar
kansas City.

ttSb ~ BSAa w w 1Ne
| said old man Greenhut. 'Taint no use
hcldn' gin the face o. Providence. ANY
! fool ON find that out fr his ownself II he'll
on'y pay attention to what's goin' on all
round him, but there's q good many o
them same fools as n lay right down along
side of a mules hind legs a-waitin' fr the
nghtnin' to strike EN-. just cause they
reckon they're sure to be did, an faint no
use f'r 'em to try to get away.
that's on'y cause they 10 fools. A
right pelrt man under these circumstances
d be up an dom at Z other end o the
stall, swattin' the mule over the nose with
q scantlin'.
There's this man Gallagher't come to
town a couple o. weeks ago with a hard
luck story Z d fetch tears I'm a catfish.
But Gallagher's got grit. He's the kind
I don't know enough to give up when
they're tied land an foot, lying on their
backs on the bare ground. with q other
Teller poundin' Of EN- with q broadaxe'
# they can't do nothin' else heyu set
about diggin' a hole In the ground with their
elbows, SOS T. they ON crawl In an look
round f'r a ohanst o. gettin' out.
'He was tellin' me somepin' O. what'd
happened TO him since he left home, which
he lives in Brownsville when he's workin',
an be has q steady Job when he's there.
Pears like he'a q sort Of q foreman fr a
man as calls hisself Long Mike, that's a
p'tic'lar kind o. holy terror by spells, bein'
q decent man when he's sober
'There'seome in Arkansas City Z mought
be mentioned alongside OF him, y said Jake
Winterbottom.
This was distinctly an interruption, and as
such 1t was distasteful to old man Green
hut. When he looked around, however,
he saw that everybody in the o was
grinning. excepting Jake W~interbottom,
who looked unnaturally solemn, nj Joe
Bassett, who was getting red in the face.
So he allowed himself to smile family, as
he said: II don't call to mind no reference
to the Sheriff in this here story o. Gal
lagher's, n faint likely 7 him an Long
Mike is the on'y citizns O. the Mississippi
Valley t enjoys the same failin's.'
Then the old man made his way to his
favorite chair by the window and resumed
his story.
First I seen O. CALI CHER, he said, was
when he blewed in here early one mornin'
fore l was RELY ready fr business an tells
me he's got no money, but he has a thirst
, with him t would be worth a thousand
dcllsrs to a millionai ire. just naturally I
told him Z I wa mt no ways interested In
no such matters, bein' as they was purely
personal with him, an stepped over toward
the bung sta rter. bein' as he was some wild
lookin.'
But he speaks up quick an reasonable.
Says he hain't eat nothin' nor had a drink
| fr a day an a half an all he wants Is a
! cha nst o. earnin' a little red liquor. Says
he'll work for it first, bein' as he's been
! 'thout it 80 long he en- stand 1t some longer.
but if he don't have it he'll die.
well, my Niger was sick, an there was
nsid'a BILE clea min up to do, 40 I told him
I didn't favor people dyin' right round the
| pls &c, an II he'd s~traighten things up I'd
give him a reasonable amount o. liquor
an then IL his work was satisfactory I'd
put him in the way o. ca rnin' a squa re meal
later on. H r
He pitched in 'thouten a word, Akin
things up so we'll in a couple o. hours 7 I
seen my way clear to give him a full siDed
drink. Then l give him some outside work
fr the rest o. the mornin' so g Z he got his
breakfast by noon, IN 'peared to be cor
sid'able peeked up.
Il vi tched him some close, bein' as there
wa mt nothin' p'tiolar to do, an l seen
there was the makin's OF a man into him,
80 l asst him this an that, an 30 comes to
know his story.
Seems him an his boss had words, an
his boss, bein' some hasty. as I said afore,
sta rted in fr to kill him offhand. He didn't
kill nobody often 'thouten he was in liquor,
but Gall CHER, KNOWN there wa MT no three
men in Iowa cd stand agin Long Mike,
.aa, 10 xyoo ms IN hin, IN akSda ldla Iao.
Mike KEEP lookin' for him night an day,
but him bein' in liquor, Gala CHER KEEP
away firm him a spell, thinkin' it'd blow
over, but it didn't, an Ga LA CHER lit out after
Long Mike hsd busted into his house an
smashed everything there was inside.
-Gettin' on a boat he worked his way
to Memphis an got a job thsre that give
him about 81 clear at the end q the month.
Bein' ambitious, he seen that want no
way to get rich, n he set into a poker game
tn some O. the men be was worktn' With.
Right then and there; Gallagher said,
was where he struck hard luck. told him
it looked to me like he'd h,i sone afore
that, bein' as he'd been dove away I'm
home. but he lowed q longs twas Browns
vile he didn't reckon that counted.
at was that poker game broke his nerve,
he said, an I'm the way he old IL there
sure Was some s'nrisin' hands held. There
was a big, ugly chap I'm back In the
mountains somewheres t Gallagher run
up against most every time he got
anything. 1t was stud poker they was
playin', an this big felier's buried card
'peared to beat Gallagher's whenever 1t
come to a showdown.
90 course 'twan't no hell roarin' big
game. but Gallagher said there might h'a'
been a hundred dollars on the table, him
! bein' low mar in chips, with only Sl4 in the
world, and the other three havin' I'm $50
to $40 apiece. The way he reckonsd was
t the sl4 want nc c~onsequepce, but II he
cd manage to nip up that 500 It d look
like important money.
First of, 'peared like he mought do II.
! He catched a buried ace ag'i in three kings
when his other cards ran I'm the deuce to
| the FIVE, an 'tother Teller didn't believe the
ace. That helped som., an then he filed
a flush when he'd hung on, &C bras n,
ag'in heavy bettin' on three little ones,
80 he scooped q good pot that time, 'thoutoo
bein' called.