The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-09-10

VIZ lOOh AONEh BEhlND hkADSIONE
no. TO-"
neck and worked clear down to our
heels and back. We doubted If we had
the nerve to throw q rock at coyote.
We had been brought up I'm cheese
factory, where there Is nothing to en-
courage the latent ferocity in man.
kind.
Two weeks after our arrival at the
gulch we had to lay Rocky Mountain
Pete away. 1t was case of kill or be
killed. He heard that we were going
TO establish the Kicker, and he called
to pop us out of existence. With an
old revolver which we had found in
the grass we popped first, and Pete
was laid away. When the thing had
been done we sat down and wept
over It.
AS time went on and we prospered
other men came around TO pop or be
popped. We found that it was n great
deal more convenient to pop them. We
learned also that if we didn't take
care Of ourself no one else would. We
simply fell into line and adopted the
customs of the wild and woolly.s
After the third year we bought an
acre Of ground and laid out private
editorial graveyard, the only one ever
established in this or any other coun-
try. Our patients" then numbered
five. Fac one was given a grave and
a headstone. A year ago, when we
gave the list of the dead, 1t numbered
eighteen. ,.hc list had not been added
to for year or more, and It will he re-
membered that we expressed the ear
nest hope that the deal had been
closed and that no other galoot woul.
insist on occupying grave on our
land. On that occasion we further
stated that we had neglected at least
twenty chances to add to the popula-
ton OF the cemetery by lodging bul-
lets or running away. We never had
Il hankering for gore. We had much
rather sit down to a ham sandwich
and glass Of beer.
Three days ago we awoke at our
usual hour and We're glad that we
were alive. We were also glad that
everybody else was alive. We had no
bone to pick with any man on earth.
and we could not say that we had an
enemy. We had decided to spend the
day redecc"ating the eighteen graves
and feeling glad that we had stopped
at that number, and we felt more ten.
der hearted than usual. No Fremont.
tion OF what was about to occur en-
tered our mind. For moment we
even thought of leaving our guns be-
hind.
Surprised by a Stranger.
We were driven out to our cemetery
and had been at work trailing the ar
butus over the various mounds for an
hour or so when a bullet suddenly
whiZzed past our ear. A man who
has lived Within sight of the Rockies
for fourteen years makes no mistake
between the whiz of a bullet and the
whr Of stone. As we looked up in
surprise 1t was TO see a-strapger
crOuched down beside headstone No.
3. This stone marks the last resting
place of Wildcat Ned, He was one
)f the holy terrors of earlier days, and |
lfter successfully adding to the popu-
ation Of several new graveyards he
took the contract of gathering us TO
our fathers. His gun caught in his
pocket, and he went the long trail.
As we caught sight of the stranger
ne fired again, and his bullet pierced
he straw hat on our head We should
nave preferred to argue the case and
see If he was not firing under a mis-
apprehension, but there was no time
We took cover behind headstone No.
10, belonging to Grizzly Jim, and an,
)ther bullet grazeG our arm as we
fired our third shot and at our fifth
he unknown rolled over and was no
more when we reached him. There
were over score of spectators on the