Wallowa County chieftain. [volume] (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911, 1910-07-14

ance. sub. with yoh poh father when
he came aboard at New Orleans. He
confided TO every one that he had sold
his sugar crop fob ten thousand and
had the cash with him. and he was
in mighty high spirits because he was
ON his way back home to see his chill
dren. Poh gentleman! AS delicately
as | can | must state that lie was not
quite himself. and by that. sub. mean
that he had been imbibing u little too
freely. don't have to tell yoh. sub,
that there are certain characters on all
the big boats who keep a pretty sharp
lookout fOh gentlemen with money who
are in the condition yoh poh father.
sub was in tonight. and | expect there
was more than one river gambler on
board who would have liked TO get his
hands on Mr. Randall. But the one
who got him was the slickest and cley-
crest of the lot. the Cameo Kirby
whom ! have mentioned. This rascal,
sub. inveigled yoh poh father into a
private stateroom. piled him with mob
anu NOh liOl1l hAlL lOA OllA9
his money and personal effects-even
including n miniature of yoh dead
mother. suh-but also a deed to his en-
tire plantation and all his slaves, every
thing which he owned. was too late
to save Mr. Randall. bat | knew Kirby
by repute, and ! was so screamingly
outraged by the whole affair that de-
nounced him fob the low scoundrel
he was. ThereupOn he drew on me, bu,
| was the quicker and shot him down
like dog They carried him ashore,
sub. at the landing below this. and the
river is cleaner fob his death"
"You have taken vengeance out of
my hands" said young Randall un-
steadily. THE coward and villainl
For a stranger sir. the attitude which
sou have displayed toward my family
has been most conslderate. and | will
never forget it. The-the hospitality of
house in mourning
"No. no. my boy" interrupted Mo
reau, again employing his fatherly
hand. Il am sensible of the honor,
but couldn't think of it. This is a
time when yoh all must wish to be
alone, and business calls me north.
merely stepped ashore in yOh interests
as any gentleman would have done
There goes the bell. and | must run
for 1t. HOnOred, sub. to have made
yoh acquaintance, though of co'se |
deeply deplore the necessity which oc-
casioned 1t. will venture to pay my
respects TO yoh family when return
south. and pray command me in any
occasion yoh may have. YOh servant
sub" And with a magnificent bow
the colonel turned and raced for the
gangplank. boarding the Shotwell with
leap that shamed his fifty odd years.
Meanwhile Cameo Kirby, bullet
through his right lung. was making q
desperate battle against death, fight
ing for the life which he had consid.
cred little better than worthless. In
his efforts h0 was materially assisted
by the crude bur faithful Bunce. his
gambling partner. with whom he had
played up and down the Mississippi
for years. For two weeks this CON-
bat ragged, Kirby lowering between life
and death. but at the end be emerged
triumphant as. over the gaming table
when the odds were as heavily against
him, he had emerged from many a
hotly contested conflict.
To those who judged Kirby's charac.
ter from the evil reports which gossip
had spread concerning him and to 9th.
ers who. in their righteous ignorance,
considered all gamblers legitimate chill
dren of the devil his remarkable re-
covery would have been accepted mere.
ly as another proof that the evil one
favors his own, that the mills of the
gods grind slowly. that justice is blind
and that scoundrel is difficult to kill,
together with many similar ancient
and redoubtable maxims which igno-
rance and self righteousness love to