The Ordway new era., 1909-07-23

sage'brush. gaZed at his inflamed
face in his S9-cent mirror. and
thought. for something like the thou
sandth time. what fine long neck he
had by which to hang. Sandwiched
In between the epithets OF opprobrium
which he was bestowing literally up
on MIR. McAdoo were disjointed SEN
tences from which one might have
gathered that the psychological mo-
ment in his life arrived.
"fll kill him. by ding!" said Stotts
through his shut teeth. THE NANCY
son of sheep herder! I've told him
once and I've told him twice. and II
he does 1t once more. I'll puncture
him. I'd rather be hung for KILN
McAdoo than any man In the Basin"
McAdoo. the chronic officeholder in
the town on the edge of which Stotts
had taken up his homestead. had
thwarted. antagoniZed. and enraged
him from the beginning. AS mayor.
McAdoo had ordered Stotts arrested
for allowing his cows to browse In the
main streets. Stotts went to jail
rather than pay his fine. saying he
h'NuNu a ieSt, AS CoHSliDle.
McAdoo put Stott's dogs in the pound
and enforced the two.dollar dog tax.
As water commissioner. he shut of
Stotts water supply. saying that
Stotts was watering more horses than
he paid for-all OF which Stotts en-
dured with what. for him. was meek
ness. Finally. McAdoo became post
master. and. in brilliant moment.
conceived the idea of answering sun
dry advertisements In Stotts' name.
1t was the custom OF the adult pop
ulation of the town to assemble in the
post office during the distribution of
the mail. where each box renter stood
by his box watching like a dog at a
rabbit-hole. Everybody took keen
interest in the mail of everybody else.
and II was not considered poor taste
to speculate. and comment freely. up
on the contents and appearance OF
each others letters. or to crane ones
neck to look into ones neighbor's
mail.box.
When Stotts received a postal card
urging him to send ten cents and
learn how to raise mushrooms in his
cellar. II was the occasion OF some
merriment-chiehy because Stotts had
no cellar. The next mail brought a
notification of the shipment. accord
ing to request, OF six-gallon bottle
OF catarrh cure-express charges.
$l.25. The outside of the envelope
was decorated with the wood cut of a
vulgar person snorting steam like a
Siegfried dragon. Stotts was dis
tinctly annoyed and refused to receive
the six-gallon bottle.
When McAdoo opened the office the
next morning at seven o'clock Stotts
was waiting for him.
III you put any more Of those
cussed things in my box" said Stotts
shaking with excitement. "therell be
trouble"
What things?" inquired McAdoo,
innocently.
Stotts gave him one lurid look and
turned on his heel. That night he
received frame and colored
worsteds to enable him to earn pin
money In his home. also a voluminous
pamphlet and printed slip for him
to fill out describing more fully than
he had in his letter the symptoms of
the painful disease which afflicted
him.
Stotts hurled the embroidery frame
and the pamphlet through the general
delivery window at McAdoo's head,
the veins standing out on his forehead
with the effort he made to control
himself.
IN N McAdoo." he suffered,
'I'm goin' to k-k-kill you II you
don't q-Q-quit maxim fool of mel"
McAdoo smiled at him tolerantly.
The news of Stotts' singular mail
had spread to such an extent that peo-
pie began to drive in from the country
to see what he would draw.
At last, when Stotts started for his
mail, he oiled his gun. His letter box
was full, as usual, and so was the
post office. the crowd pushing eagerly
forward to inspect the contents Of the
former.
With a smile which in itself would
have been sufficient provocation for
murder, McAdoo handed out box,
bottle. and several one-cent letters.
The box contained glass ball, not
unlike glass doorknob, and a note
from fortune teller in Chicago, apol-
ogizing for the delay In sending same,
and containing a request for a dollar
for the instructions which would en-.
able Stotts to tell fortunes by means
Of the glass globe and earn a COM
Portable income for himself and fam
lily.
! Stotts had no family. but the young
woman clerk in the general merchan-
disc store, standing at his elbow at
the time, had an attraction for Stotts
which always took him through the
dress-goods department on his way to
the groceries,