The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-08-21

Dill for -four coming in just then
ed him to forget his errand.
"WEen the stranger left the table
be went into the barrooMi ant: took two
more Zig drinks. ana then. leaning on
the bar. he said to Jimmie Sweetzer
tnat Ee a come Il great many miles
to make a hero of himself. He
wouldn't say just exactly how he was
going to do it. but said thai the dis
trict attorney of the county couldn't
call him insane in one breath and then
prosecute him for a sane man In an
other.
He also displayed Il revolver and
boosted that he had killed seven men
with it. Only three of them had had
time to utter a prayer, and they were
mighty brief prayers at that.
when the stranger left the hotel he
inquired Of Joe darkness the way to
the Kicker Office. Joe is a sufferer, as
we all know, and he replied:
"'You-you ego right d-down this
s-street two b-blocks and then turn
t~urn-turn'-
H was going to tell the rest of it
II It took all the forenoon, but the
stranger said he'd be hanged IL he
would wait. He further observed that
II he had such a tongue on him he'd
go and play with the coyotes.
"Ten minutes later the shadow of
death crossed the threshold Of the
Kicker Office, holding a gun ready to
shoot.
1--WE sat in our sanctum writing a
yellow journal editorial as to why mice
loved cheese. It is really a scientific
question and one that the magazines
should pay more attention to, and we
had become deeply interested when the
shadow entered room and a hoarse
voice exclaimed:
A FusilIade Of Bullets.
"'Trepare to meet the devil.
"The words were followed by a fu-
sillade. Bullets tipped past and all
around us, and for a few seconds we
were dazed. Only half an hour before
that our horse editor had asked us to
raise his salary to So a week. and we
had refused because he couldn't tell
" why a mule always raised his tail
before he started 70 bray. We thought
the young man had come back for re-
venge.
"Thcn we got a line on the stranger
and reached for our gun, and two shots
dropped him. We had to fire through
a cloud Of smoke, but both bullets
went home. The stranger had emptied
his gun. but we were not even grazed.
1.-THE remains were removed to the
town hall at once, and a coroner's Jury
was impaneled. A verdict of justifa.
BILE homicide was reached in about ten
minutes. From a letter found in one
Of the pockets it would appear that
the mans name was Bill Taylor and
that he was q resident of the Oily
State, but there Is nothing certain
about it. Why he came here to kill us
will probably always remain a mys-
terry. We had never heard Of him in
our life and certainly had never re-
ferred to him in our paper. It may be
that he thought we had had enough
OF this cold world and needed a rest.
"The man, whoever he was, was
buried yesterday. AS usual. we per-
sonally bore the expense of the funeral
and rode at the head of the procession.
He was buried in our private grave
yard, and within a month the roses
will be climbing V his grave, and
on his tombstone people will be read
Ing that he was a just and upright
man. a little eccentric perhaps. but
preferring the narrow paths of virtue
to the broader highways Of vice. He
will be labeled NO. 49, and he will
sleep well. II he is not better of it is
not our fault" NJ. QUAD.