The daily tribune., 1909-02-18
The Passing
of BrickViUe
BY Joseph N. Quail.
Copyright. BY shortstory Pub. Co.,

| cided when Pikey McGinn's chimney
caught fire. and IN that fame the
Brickvillian hope Of metropolis in
the heart OF the Bad Lands went up
In smoke.
Brickville didn't realize 1t at the
moment, because, paradoxical as II may
seem, the little blaze which destroyed
the town was easily got under con-
troll. The place hadn't progressed as
Tar as fire department, and 1t would
| not have helped matters II 1t had A
| tpsy cowboy who had been sampling
Pikey's hardware vaultsd to the back
Of a wolfsh-looking cayuse. yelled =
few times in hearty Montana fashion.
and then swung his RATA at the chin
nsy. As the moose fell fair about the
stack of bricks he dug spurs into the
sides of his mount and made q run
upon the rope.
The chimney came down with
crash; the fre was out; the fate of
Brickville was written.
That is why the town does not ap-
pear upon any map. But II ever you
have ridden over the Northern Pa
cific you can probably recall a long
and narrow valley to the north as you
passed out OF the Bad Lands of Dako-
ia into the Bad Lands OF Montana.
That Is where Brickville stood. The
soil all about is hard and dry and red,
and there Is no verdure. Not any
where in sight Is there a tree. The
side hills are scanned with black stra-
/ ta1 ufo Ipo
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
minous coal, and 1t was in mining this
coal that the BriclIvillians made their
living. There is still pay in these
streaks, but the people who worked
them have drifted away, and on the
site of the town prairie dogs and coy
otes and rattlesnalyes hold annual con.
ventions which never adjourn.
II any place ever fully justified its
name, that place was Brickville. At
the height of its prosperity 1t had, ex.
elusive Of sheds and stables, 81 one
story buildings, ineluding the railroad
station, the saloon and the tonsorial
parlor, and ever one OF them was of
0rick-eyen the sheds. There were
optimists who looked forward to
brick courthouse and a brick Jail.
and but for the fiFe in Pikey McGinn's
chimney these aspirations might have
been realized.
Pierre SuccoteEh 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
d!slocated by the shock He had
been gold minilE in British Column
bia, and no one had inquired very
closely into the reason Of his coming
from gold to a coal camp; It would
have established an uncomfortable
precedent. But no went nosIng about
the wreck of thai chimney, as he went
nosing Into everything that happened
In town; and Fred Richie. who con-
Quoted "the 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
some unpleasant things to each other
once upon time, and Fred, believ-
ing that Pierre was courting trouble,
promptly ran In for his gun; but
when he came out Succotash was no
where to be seen.
Next morning Pikey found that
some one had carried OF nearly half
of his chimney bricks, and he prompt
ly declared 1t to be the work of Slant
eye McCafferty. his hated rival In the
hardware business. Mac denied this
In vigorous language, and 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
dered half barrel each. and the
hatchet 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 a cheap extension to his gin
mill. and Mac reiorted that he would
be fool indeed 10 go around picking
up hoodoos thai had fallen from his
rivals leaky roof
Then each got a 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. Tor Brlckvillians knew
that shotguns scattered their charges
and they refused to slake their thirst
when there was a chance that a stray
buckshot might next moment spring
them aleak. So II was that business
intorestn induced the rivals for sec
ond time to declare a truce, and then
the town brea led easier and drank
oitener.
A week later 5uccotash was pas
senger on a westbound express with
. ticket to Glcndlve In his hat band
And tho n1Vf cast hound freivht