The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1910-05-09
His Conversion
~
By EDGAR FALEs MOODY
Copyright. 1910, by American Press
Association.


had been infested by the worst ele-
nent OF society.
put up one night at the house OF
John Murphy. sheep raiser. His
ranch house was not large. but COM
Portable, and its decora tions showed
evidence OF refinement. His wife was
a woman who impressed me as one
having considerable equipoise and
character. After supper / went out
ON the porch TO have smoke with
Murphy and listened with interest 10
his account OF the building up OF his
region. During our conversation /
stated the opinion that men were
what women made them Then he
told me his story.
you're dead right. stranger" he
said "and I'm one Of the men that
has been made by woman. When |
came to this country ut was from an
eastern city. and my education was
derived from the dime novel, was
a waif, with no father or mother to
lnstill into me the fact that however
brave the road agents and others Of
whom read they were acting on
wrong principle. AS 1t was. ! ad-
inired them. and almost before be-
came a man / scraped up enough mon
ey to bring me out here to live the
life Of my heroes Of the dime novel
Il soon got to be a head man among
them and for eight years lived a life
that would give anything have 10
forget have to be thankful for only
one thing. During that frightful Pc
riod never took q life. n didn't ac-
cumulate any money and If | had
should later on have got rid OF IT,
One evening ] stopped at house
and knocked at the door. | intended
to ask for some supper. expecting once
inside to get my bearings for valua-
bles and take them away with me.
had started in with the intention of
confEing my operations to stage
coaches. army paymasters and the
like. but a man Is always going either
uphill or downhll. and as was
necessarily going down wasn't above
taking anything | could get my hands
on, even from woman
"a woman came to the door She
was Young and fairly good looking. TO
my request for some supper she gave
smiling assent. asking me to come
In and make myself comfortable She
went into the kitchen. and | looked
about me. There was a chimney Ia
the room where | was with no tire.
knew q chimney was a favorite place
to hide money. and. going to the fire.
place. | stopped and looked up. On q
projecting brick | saw a small box.
which / appropriated and. lifting the
cover, saw lot Of bills and loose
change. / slipped it all in my pocket
and put the hox back in the chimney.
by and by the young woman came
10 and set good supper on the table.
ate my filI and when l had finished
took outNOne OF the coins / had taken
from the box and handed It to her.
emo she said. there's nothing to
pay. You're quite welcome to your
supper. / hope 1t has done you good.
You looked tired and hungry when you
came in. and felt sorry for you. SO
have given you the best in the
house.
"That WAS the first lesson in kindli-
ness l ever received At any rate. it
was the first that ever took hold Of
me- When | thought OF the contents
Of the box In my pocket and my offer
Ing one Of her own coins in payment
for her Kindness. not the least part Of
which was the way she offered 1t. my
despcable meanness seemed to shrivei
me all up. couldn't look her in the
face.
"'You don't need to go on she said.
we have a spare bed upstairs
u was thinking how would get the
money back III She box ii the chim-
ney, ana 1t occurred to me that II
stayed there all night could slip
down in the night aud do the job SO
said: Thank you. miss II you
don't mind | reckon I will. ltll be !
great accommodation to me-
No more than to me- My brother
and his wife have gone away for
FEW days and left me alone with the
children They say that Aiurphy's
gang is operating in the neighbor-
hood and / wouldn't mind hRvng a
man in tile house
"1n that case | said. 4 think I'll
sleep on that lounge, and III guaran-
tee that no man gets upstairs unless
he goes over my dead body
81 knew two OF my men would be 1
along there that night. and l reckoned (
they'd take in anything by the way.
The first thing did before turning
IN was to put the money back IN the
box. When Id done that l felt the
1rst OF kind OF comfort I'd never
experienced before. / didn't 90 70 4
sleep. wanting to be awake II any one
called. ia the middle OF the night my 4
two men. Pete BarnIckel and coIora
do Bill. did call / showered bullets
everywhere about them except just /
where they we're, and they concluded
there must be whole vigilance com
mittee inside When they had gone T
heard a soft voice cali down the
stairs: