The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-01-21
Showing Characteristic Love of
a Fight and ExaIting the
Brutality Of Strength.

Brutality Of Strength.
T. Jenkins Haines has won some
reputation as a writer Of sea stories.
HIS tales are vivid. displaying a
knowledge Of the subjects he treats.
but they are prone to be more than
rugged. for in them crulety Is exalted
n often crime become heroic. A re-
cent volume of his is Bahama Bill.
Mate Of the Wrecking sloop Sea
nsrrsi,vea This af M Is a s ssIaes Of Bin, sh the
central figure. is given the status OF
hero, his various misdeeds crowned
with triumph. Bill is a repulsive and
brutalized negro. Of gigantic frame, of
terrible potency in a fight, and holding
all human life. including his own, at
A characteristic tale of this volume
is "Snanghaing the Tong" Captain
Smart and Bill have saved some car
tridges from u sunken vessel. They
received an offer for the cartridges
at a good price, but this entailed
eager to hurry, not only for the money.
hut SO as to get away before The ar
rival Of his fierce Amazon Of a wife.
Fighting julie" The captain an
ounces that he must go to a Chi
nese laundry to get his linen, and is
oOIlll1llSSlOl1CA II w So AhS pam
age belonging to Bill. The CHM" OBJ
serves the captains approach, n an
his intention to skim alice
same bunk" This introduces the sort
Of shindy that seems to be the authors
strong point, the account continuing:
Smart stepped into the shanty with
brisk step.
Get the clothes up, John. Get 'em
tied fast right aMay-all, Bahama
Bills and mine both-hurry, you saw
Wy? Hurry" And the sailor handed
over his slip.
active Lee, scurrying around behind
his ant and trying to match the
slip Of paper with Its strange char
acters to OF the many bundles tied
East with white Irvine, and laid care
fully upon the shelves along the walls.
Yes; sail an q minute--hurry up.
Got to get to sea before the steamer
gets in -"
"Ah; Alice same good you take
him. Two dolla' fftee cent"
What. For just three shirts and
two ducks? You're a robber."
1.-Two dolla' fiftee cent, alice right
you pay him-no shirt, no pay him"
said the usnrieus Lee, lowering true
ulently at the skipper. One of his
brothers sniggeled.
When "a Celestial singers at a white
man it is bad. Especially if the white
tl.dIt 1HptIl 10 ne IL JILL -7dii III a
hurry. Just what makes the Fastener
an Inferior is not quite definite, not
quite clear to the Socialistic mind, but
hat lac is inferior is generally conced-
.d-ansong white men. Among the
Orientals there is a quite different
opinion based upon their point of view,
which, when discussed from it's ethical
standpoint, is not illogical or unreas-
nabIe. Sailors seldom are analytical,
seldom go into the reason OF things;
hey are content to accept them as
hey are, or as they appear to be.
me staggering chink. the more so be-
,ause he knew he was being cheated
BY Wah Lee in his wash bill.
But Wah Lee vas q hatchetman. He
vas a leader OF the Hip Song Tong,
ard a very bad Chinese to fool with.
He was. in FLORIDA only for his health,
lot for gain; n the fact that gain
came his way was incidental. He took
advantage of 1t. His little Eatlikc eyes
slinted strangely as he spoke his soft
S.ng-song speech.
Two dolla' fftee cent-no shirt, no
pay-ypu savvy?" he drawled.
"Cosae, come, John. be quick about
1t, and dom put up any feolishnessEI
haven't time to play this morning.
said Smart quickly. Get the clothes
Or I'll wade In and take charge of some
Of those on the shelves"
You pay two dolla' tiftee cent--you
no. pay right off Nou pay tlee dolla'
Sixty cent" said MI. Wah Lee. his eyes
still narrowing, and his hands feeling
softly in alnon his sleeves, where he
MANS"
You're OH the bunk them" said
Smart; lis that it?"
'Two dolla' fiftee cent, Or
His answer was quickly, given:
Smart swmng for his jaw, and landed
s,11 ,,--, Alo n~lo,%,N al,;,, WI, -s
went to the floor with a crash, bringing
down an ironing board with hi1n; the
1atirons, clothes and other gear rolling
iii a mess. He drew a huge, blue har-
relied gun from his sleeve, and, while
he lay supine. leyeled it at the sailor.
Smart missed getting the shot by a
hair, and managed to land a kick upon
Lees pistol arm before the furious
chink could fire, Whereupon not less
than four powerful hatchetmen, trained
athletes from the Orient, sprang upon
him at once.
The seaman was dumbfounded at the
assault. A Chink WAS beneath con-
tempt, and to find oneself beset by sew
eral powerful orfentals, who We're more
than his match, was simply heart
breaking. understanding. He swung
right and left, f%uriously clinched, and
the five OF them rolled with a surging
smash against the counter. breaking it
down in a mass OF splinters, sending
clothes, boards and other laundry
paraphernalia in all directions.
One of them let out a shrill yell, and
the two not fighting sprang to tn.
doors and slammed them fast. It would
not do to let the populace of the town
e the fracas. A Chinaman never ad-
Nertises the fact that he is a fighter.
and is never glad to have it found
out, especially among Americans. Be
sides, had not the foreign pig struck
down their leader, the most high Wall
Lee, and lad not the august Lee cs-
sayed 70 kill the pig-was he not
doomed7
Yet none of them wished to act as
executioner without direct and explicit
orders from the chief. This was a poor
country to kill a man in, his friends
always made such a fuss; and the
police with clubs always made it bad.
Impossible to hid for q very long
time. A rope and a neighboring tree
were the usual finishing touches ii
they failed to find the lost one.
Smart fought with a fury born of
broken pride, lost self-esteem. He was
degraded, lowered to the level Of COM
mon Cninks, and he gave short-ar1n
Jolts with amazing lifting power be-
gotten of many years hard hauling
upon lines.
With both hands and feet he strove
wildly to free himself from the tangle