Putnam patriot., 1910-05-13

them. wear a coat If he hsd one and report st the tavern that esenin' for introduction by M,ss Bowers.
 The next mornin' Mir, rsrShurSt called for HuSgins.
 ~sWeii. ungxins.' he said when the old man appesr-<i. how dld 1t turn slt last nlShty
 "sAt the eeurttn'; Tolahle. sir. tol'abie. Three men proposed te gals As tux 'em. four men was teo or'nary to go down with sny of the gals. two men wanted the same sal and wss killed in A shoetin' match afterwards. One man got up on his ear with gal who wouldn't have hlm and said he had s wife already in Frisco and didn't want no more of 'em. This leaves seven gals fer the next drawin' and three men less to be provided for,
 seven names were next drawn and presented the same eventns. This was Huggins' report of the second pair elr:
 " Three paired o6. One fcller was drunk and wasn't let in to the courtin'. Three men wanted the same gal. They had triangular light. the survivor te win. little feller with red hair win ner. Gal wouldn't have htm. That leaves four gals for prizes
 "ln this way eleven of the gals was paired. leavin' one. the purtiest of the lot. 10 be disposed of. All the fellers wanted her from the tirst. and most of the men that got killed wss tightin' for her. But she wouldn't have none of 'em. She's mighty particular, seetn' she's had twenty men to pick from. She's got snappin' black eyes. kind of reddish hair and Is purty and plump as robin"
 .Now. If you want to work out \ scheme for furnishin' wives you don't want nary of the women to be jim dandy. One purty woman with the cid Nick fin her will spoil any practical plan that was ever got up. This gal. Becky Riggs. bein' the only unmarried woman left in the camp-Miss Bowers had gone back for another ioad~and every wan left wantin' her. set ap a eoHfIagratien. Every day there was a fight about her. and some one was sure to be killed The wives begged her to choose some one and step the fightin' But she wouldn't. She'd make h,lfeve she was goin to take one of 'em and then start in to en- courage another. If anything was needed to keep up the list of casualties this filled the bill.
 Well. 1t got so bad Tt last, so many good men btVh killed. that Mir. Park hurst sent Miss Riggs word that he'd be pleased to furnish her ticket back where she came from. She sent word to him that shed ruther be an old maid in Colorado than bloomin mar ried woman in the east. Then Mir. Parkhurst went to see her to reason with her. She jist set there listenin' to him with her head on one side and her nose in the air and didn't answer never a word.
 Things kep' goin' from bad to worse. Some of the men Miss Riggs had re- fused tux to drink, and most of 'em wouldn't work. It was impossible to git other hands. and the dirt taken out was gittin. less an less every day. It begun to look as if Miss Riggs wasn't married or didn't go away the mine would have to shet down. The presi- dent wrote to know what was up. Mir. Parkhurst wrote to send on carload of women. The president wrote that Mss Bowers had come back and wouldn't advise no more gals to go to sich benighted place. This looked purty black. Mir. parkhurst called for old Ben Huggins and axed him what was best to be done.
 ".When l was Twin with my ole woman. Mir. Parkhurst.' Huggins said knowin'iy. I found out that women must have their way
 ".What do you mean by thatT
 "'Well. sir. there's nothin' fur pur- ty gal here but to git married. Every man here has axed Miss Riggs but one
 "l thought they had all asked her
 ".No, sir: there's one left. and tho knowin' ones among the wives say that's the one she wants
 "'Who Is her
 T think it's you, sir.'
 GIT
 "'Yes. sir-you.'
 INT. Parkhurst concluded to make call on Miss Riggs.
 The young woman was perfectly aware that the manager understood the situation Furthermore. she had brought with her some becomiD' cos tunes and had put one of them on for his reception When Mir. Parkhurst saw her, to have her for companion didn't seem to him such hardship. after all It had been more than year since he had seen q refined wom- an. He passed the evenin' with her in general conversation and found her intelligent He might spend years in h minin' country. and 1t occurred to him that Miss Riggs would take away from his loneliness. He thought the matter over that night and the next evenin' made another visit. durin' which he surrendered.
 .sThe visit of the girls to the minin' camp was lottery with one prize. Miss Riggs got 1t. But in her case there was more management than luck"
 MAITINc E0R A WIFE