Crittenden record=press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1907-1909, 1907-03-21
Years afterward Sidney Blair. head


looking yet. for u coast outlet.
He took only Il flying camp with
him.. travelling in the lightest kind of
order. camping often with the cattle
men lie ran across.
One night away down in the Pan
handle they fell in with an outfit driv
ing bunch of steers up the Yellow
Grass trail. Blair noted that the fore
mas was chaTacter-a man Of few
words. but of great muscular strength.
and. moreover. frightfully SCARED.
lie was silent and inclined to he mo-
rose Mt first. but after he learned Blair
was from McCloud he unbent a bit
and after Il time began asking queS.
tons which indicated Il surprising IA
milarity with the northern country
and with our road. In particular, this
man asked what had become of Buc'is
and, when told what big railroad
man lie had grown. asserted, with Il
sudden bitterness and without in any
way leading up to it. that with Bucks
on the West End there never would
have been Il strike.
Sitting at their camptir, while their
crews mingled. Blair noticed in the
flicker Of the blaze how scanned the
throat and breast of the cattleman
were. Even his sinewy forearms were
drawn out of shape. He asked. too.
whether Blair rccollected the night the
barracks burned. but Blair at that time
was east of the river and SO explained.
though he related To the cowboy Incl
dents of the fire which he had heard
among Others the story of Fitzpatrick
and Siclone Clark
And Fitzpatrick is alive. and ST.
clone IS dead" said Blair in conclu-
sion. But the cowboy disputed him
You mean Clark is alive and Fitz.
patrick is dead" said he.
No" contended Sidney, "FitZpat
rick is running an engine up there
now saw him within three months"
But the cowboy was loath to convir.
ton.
Next morning their trails forked.
The foreman seemed disinclined e
part from the surveyors, and while the
bunch was starting he rode long way
with Blair. talking in random way.
Then. suddenly wheeling. he waved Il
goodby with his heavy Stetson and,
galloping hard. was soon lost to the
north in the ruts Of the Yellow Grass.
When Blair came in he told Neighbor
and me about il. Blair had never seen
Siclone Clark and so was no judge rs
to his identity. but Neighbor believes
yet that Blair camped that night way
down in the Panhandle with no other
than the cowboy engineer.
Once again. that Ouly two years ago,
something came back to us.
Holmes Kay, one of our staff Of sur.
geonS. the man. in fact. who took care
of Fitzpatrick. enlisted in Illinois and
went with the First 10 Cuba. They
got in front Of Santiago just after the
hard fighting of July /, and Holmes
was detailed for hospital work amorg
Roosevelt's men, who had suffered Sc
yerely the day before.
One of the wounded. Il sergeant. HAD
sustained a gunshot wound in the jea
aud iu the confusion had recelN e.
scant attention. Kay took hold Of
him. He was cowboy. like most oi
the rough riders. and after his ia"
was dressed Kay made some remark
about the hot tire they had been
through before the blockhouSe.
I'D been through hotter before !
ever saw Cuba answered the rough
rider as well as he could through his
bandages The remark directed Kay
attention To the condition Of his
breast and neck, which were a mass
of scars.
where are you fromY asked
Holmes.
"Everywhere.'
where did you get burned that
wayY"
"Out on the plains"
How"
But the poor fellow went off into II
delirium and to the surgeons amaze
ment began repeating train orders.
Kay was paralyZed III the way he
talked our lngo-and u cowboy. When
he left tue wounded man for the night
he resolved to question him more
closely the next day, but the next day
orders came to rejoin his regiment III
the trenches. The surrender shifted
things about, and Kay. though he
made repeated inquiry, never saw the
man again.
Neghbor when he heard the story
was only confirmed in his belief that
the rough rider was Siclone Clark. l
give you the tales as they came to M
and for what you may make of them.
. l myself believe that if Siclone Clart
is still alive he will one day yet come
back to where he was best known AMI.
in spite Of his faults, best liked. They
talk of him out there as they do %
old man Sankey.
l say l believe if he lives he will one
day come back. The day he does Will
be a great day in McCloud. On that
day Fitzpatrick will have to take down
the little tablet which he placed in
the brick facade of the hotel which
now stands on the site of the old bar