The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-11-09

the real thing and no mistake. He's {
cyclone on wheels and must be pattet
/ on the back ar ihere'Il be trouble
Then hunted up Kaw Valley Sam
l found him eating the raw meat or
steer just killed and trying to buy tive
! acres of ground for private graveyard
1 listened to his growls and roars
witnessed his hardness at drawing.
| looked into his bloodshot eyes. Then
comes away and says to some OF yot
| fellerS, says /:
Its the Simon pure thing. 1t hasn't
been whitewashed or gilded over. Lool
out for it. It's a real, oId-fashionee
holy terror of the brand of fifteen years
ago. If it turns loose the town vii
swim in blood
And the rest of you took my size-ul
as o. K. and the town of Sandy Benz
proceeded to tremble i'll its boots. We've
been purity tuff crowd yere, but We've
been losing our hold for the past hve
years. For three days them terrors held
the town. They divided it between 'en
and didn't meet. They told what they
would do to each other in case they die
meet, and their language made US shlv'
er. We was willing to put up with
sunspots and earthquakes and volcanoes
all summer, but we prayed that them
two terrors might not meet.
ION the fourth day some of US began
to wonder why one of 'em didn't seek
out the other and have the slaughter
II. "OAANOA ~
if one was afraid and the other dasn't.
They continued to promenade arounu
and whoop and yell and chank their
teeth but we went right ahead ana put
up a job to bring them together This
we're court, not as a court, but as an
individual was selected to work the
racket. I hunted up Sam and patted
him on the back and rubbed his bristles
down and invited him to take walk.
I walked him along to the Blue Moon
Saloon and into it, and there he came
face to face with Jim.
For one long mint the country Tor
forty miles around held it's breath.
FOR sixty seconds the mountains got
ready to tremble and the rivers to run
up hill.
each others faces we thought OF nils
composed of skeletons and lakes br1m-
ming over with blood. We breathed IN
gasps and stood on our tiptoes.
Then what happened? If l ask tns
question with a CULVER in my voice and
tears in my eyes don't blame me- R1gns
then and there the reputation OF Ola
wyoming was at stake for hunoreo
years to come. She was either TO take
a squat and declare the game on, or
stand up to her past record ana WIN
new medals of greatness.
Did Rocky Mountain Jim and raw
Valley Sam draw their guns ana Degln
shooting?
Did they stagger and fall and finish
ed the rest of the fight with their
Knives AS they lay there dying of
twenty wounds did they utter expires.
sions to be recorded on the tablets OF
mot a dying. Not an utter. Not
tablet Not history Not a ourh
thing!
AFTER a minute Jim reaches out
his hand to Sam, and Sam accepts 1t
and shakes.
az hian't mad says Jim.
"'Nor T. says Sam,
"'Have one on me-!
ct don't care If I do.
And then they took whisky to-
gether and never asked any other crit
ter in that place If he had mouth on
him! Yes, sir-nestllng rlgnt up 70
gether like two loving doves and pat
ted each other on the back and tolo
what awful fighters they was, ana we
stood there and looked on and reanZeo
what a blow had been struck at the
Of wyoming that would be
known in the farthest recesses OF Az
RIGA before another day had passed
awav. There was tears in my own
ewes. and I saw them in others.
"Then We tip-toed out and held
little meeting in the Red DOG saloon 1;
There were but few of us present, but
we knew what ought to be done, and
what must be done to prevent a
slump in real estate ana preVent tIiis
from becoming the laugh-
ng stock of the world. We marched
INF In a solid body. We hunted up
hose holy terrors. We took their
guns and knives away and run EN- IN
@ the lock up. Some or the boys was
willing and ready to shed their olooo
n doing it, but there was no call.
9ockv Mountain Jim laid down like
.aIf that has lost it's mother. and Kaw
IaI1ey sam wept and begged that he
night have the privilege OF gettlng
tut of town.
"There they are over there. Take q
-ood look at them, and If they don't
tide their heads in shame, which they
Ion't then we orter. Ine town oI
;andy Bend has been blurred by Two
men who hain't got the salu " iooo
"The town of Sandy Bend. which |
,as seen fourteen dead men lying |
long it's principal street as the sun
anne up in the morning, tremphng IN
ts boots before two yearlng iams;
.sThe town of Sandy Bend, which |
nee declared that the whale really |
id swaller joiner, and shot thirty |
nen to prove 1t, going down into its
oots before two critters who could
ave been stampeded at night by
ull calf
'I have hunted up the law in the
ase, and I have found that there
amt no law about it. 1t was a big
anne of bluff, and the law is silent
bout blun1ng. snail tHeIeloIc
1ake law. I declare them guilty
f the crime Of fooling with the feel
ngs of a community that has allus
TODD ready to back up its opinions
18th it's guns, and each one is fined
20 and costs. Their guns and
hives will be taken away and sold
Or the benefit of the orphans, and
ny one who wants to expedite their
aaving the town needn't stop to ask
ermission. I may be found in the
rowd of expediters myself If not,
will be because business at the Red
Jog demands my presence and I feel
hat the case can safely be left in