The daily tribune., 1908-12-23
The Passing
of Br1cn.yne
tcopyrlsh.. BY short.,ory Pub. CO
By Joseph NJ Quail

4 c1ood whom Pikey McGtnn'S chimney
caught dre, and in, that fame tho
Brickviilian hope of . metropolis in
the heart Of the Bad Lands went w
In smoke
Briokvills didn't realize 1t at the
moment. because, paradoxical as 1t may
seem. the little blaze which destroyed
the town was easily got under con-
troll. The place hadn't progressed A.
far - . IRE department. and 1t would
not have helped matters II 1t had. A
upsy cowboy who had been sampling
Pfkey's hardware yaulted to the back
Of q wolfsh-looking cayuse. yelled =
few times in hearty Montana fashion.
and then swung his riata at the chin
nay. AZ the moose fell fair about the
stack Of bricks he dug spurs into the
siAss Of his mount and made q run
upoa the rope.
The chimney eame down with .
crash; the nre was out; the fate of
Brickvills was written.
That u why the town does not ap-
| pear upon any map But II ever you
have ridden over the Northern Pa
cihe you can probably recall = long
and narrow valley to the north ~ you
passed out Of the Bad Lands of Dako-
u into the Bad Lands of Montana
That 10 whore Brickvills stood. The
soil all about is hard and dry and red
| and there II no verdure Not any
where In sight IL there tree. The
side hills are scanned with black stra-
b, and the rains have carried stains
from these and streaked the valley
with them on both sides OF the muddy
little stream which winds away to the
south.
The black strata are seams of btu
| ninous coal. and 1t was in mining this
eoal that the Brickvillians made their
living. There IL still pay in these
streaks. but the people who worked
them have drifteA away. and ON the
site Of the town prairie dogs and coy,
otes and rattlesnakes hold annual con-
ventions which never adjourn.
II any place ever fully justified ita
nAms. that place was Brickville. At
the height of its prosperity 1t had, ex-
elusive Of sheds and stables, 81 one
story buildings, including the railroad
station, the saloon and the tonsorial
parlor. and every one of them was of
briok-svsn the sheds. There were
| optimists who looked forward to .
brick courthouse and q brick Jail,
and but for the nre in Pikey McGinn's
chimney these aspirations might have
been realized.
| Pierre Succotash played perhaps the
| most prominent part In Brickville's
destruction. Pierre was a French Ca
madam. whose rear name had come in,
TO collision with Brickvilles sense Of
propriety. and some Of Its letters were
dislocatsd by the shock. He had
been gold mining in British Column
bia, and no one had inquired very
closely into the reason Of his coming
from q gold to = coal camp; 1t would
have established An uncomfortable
precedent But he went nosing about
the wreck Of that chimney. as he went
Aosing into everything that happened
II town; and Fred Richie. who con-
dustsd "ths tonsorial parlor." which
was across the street from McGinn's. }.
saw him suddenly dart in and pick up
. broken brick.
Now Fred and succotash had said
souss unpleasant things to each other
once upon . time. and Fred. believ-
ing that Pierre was counting trouble,
promptly ran In for his gun; but
| whom hs came out Succotash was no.
vhsrs TO be seen.
Next morning Pikey found that
some one had carried of nearly half
Of his chimney bricks. and he prompt
eye McCanerty. his hated rival In the
hardware business. Mac denied this
In vigorous language. and a gunplay
was imminent when the whisky
agent happened along and announced
. reduction In rates by the barrel:
and then they had a drink. and or.
dsred half 4 barrel each. and the
hatchst was buried
But war was on hotter than ever
next day. for the remainder of Pikey's
loose bricks had disappeared In the
night. Pikey swore that Slanteye was
planning . cheap extension to his GIN
mill. and Mac retorted that he would
b . fool indeed to 90 around picking
up hoodoos that had fallen from his
Y1vals leaky roof.
Then each got . shotgun and stood
out In front Of his saloon waiting for
the other to come along. And the
result Of this was that trade fell on
in both places. for Brickvillians knew
that shotguns scattered their charges
and they refused 10 slake their thirst
when there was a chance that a stray
buckshot might next moment spring
them Aleak. So II was that business
interests induced the rivals for n sec.
ond time TO declare truce. and then
the town breathed easier and drank
oftensr.
A week later Succotash was pas
4 senger on = west.bound express with
. ticket TO 0lendive In his hat band
And the next eastbound freight;
brought In 4 very scarce article
some lumber-and n heavy Iron roll.
Or marked with his name. On his re.
turn ha inataIled tha rOller In tha