The copper era., 1911-03-10
HOW SILVER CITIAN
 SAVED FRIENDS LIFE.
Incident Of The Days Of The Dance Hall
 And Faro Bank.

written especially for the Independ- ent by W. A. Leonard, editor of the Ely (Neyada) Mining Record. MT. Leonard was proprietor of the Silver City Enterprise a number of years ago, and he has the reputation of be- ing one of the best writers of frontier "reminiscences in the southwest:
 "Give me a Texas toddy, please, sir," said the old sport. "Plenty of water, plenty of sugar and plenty of good liquor. Now disintegrate the atoms of sugar by that circular motion of the spoon. No, thank you, I always pour my own liquor. Why, yes, don't mind joining you in a fumer. Give me a Dos Naciones. They are made of genuine Mexican tobacco, and their fragrant aroma carries me back to the dear old south west, where in the early days life was one continual round of pleasure. This cigar somehow reminds me of Captain Jack Crawford, the poet part in G. A. R. reunions.
 "Captain Jack and secuted togeth- CT in the Victoria campaign in 1880, and were as thick as thieves, but there has been coolness between us since 1883. He was then just start ing out as a lecturer, along which lines he has since become quite fam ous. He was a little timid then, and engaged Colonel Will Vischer, a noted Kentucky journalist, to sort of sides him. as they say down in Texas. Vischer was known as the homeliest man in Colorado, but great lordy, how he could write, and talk, too, for that matter. He was also humorist, and that worried Bill Nye some, as he thought he ought to have a monop- oly on that line of business. It was Bill who christened Vischer the Wild, Untamed Beauty of the Rockies and it stuck to him.
 "Captain Jack was a famous dis ciple of the blue ribbon order, and as he was doing the putting up for the trip, he made Vischer sign contract before starting which bound him not to drink anything stronger than sar- saparilla, and there is said to be more effervescence than joy in that sort of dope. I never tried it myself.
 "They had been on the road about a month, and doing a splendid busi- ness, when they struck Silver City, where was trying to make an hon. est living acting as cashier for one tof Nose Mills banks in the Exchange. They arrived in town too late to de- liver their lecture that night, and so l undertook to show them the local sights.
 "I piloted them through the Gen. tennial, the Exchange, the White House, noted banking establishments of their time, and they saw the royal Bengal tiger in all his glory, and also Gentle Annie in her fresh young in nocence and kalsomined beauty. Gentle Annie wore corkscrew curls and clawed ivory at the Exchange, and it was said that the melody of her voice discounted the birds, though I was never a judge of classical music. The enchilada and tamale factories were also inspected. Dur ing the tour Vischer told me of his great sorrow over signing the con- tract, and also said that he was not feeling we'll and was afraid that he was going to die. My sympathetic heart went out to him in his great trouble, and I determined to save his life if possible, for 1 liked him.
 "I proposed little innocent amuse- ment in the way of pin pool. to which the poet scout consented. I then suggested to the celebrated mixolo- gist, with whom I happened to be slightly acquainted, that in case the handsome gentleman from Colorado called for sarsaparilla, to mix it some what literally with native wine.
 'tVischer proved to be an expert at pin pool, and if 1 remember correctly I was stuck for the games with pain ful regularity. The game waxed wild and furious as the hours passed, but as Vischer always ordered sar- saparilla the captain took little note of him until in attempting to make a 'rampse' he lost his footing and rolled under the table. The captain was furious and left the house in disgust I took Vischer over to the Fremont House, and as the bed swung around the room he grabbed for it and made a landing.
 "On the following morning the captain accused Vischer of breaking the contract, which he hotly denied, stating truthfully that he had ordered nothing but sarsaparilla the night before. He insinuated that it was the captain who had been drinking.
 "I was finally sent for, and as I Sd it was all off between them, I told the truth about it, as I always do, and then the poet scout tore up the con tract and left town On the next stage Captain Crawford never did forgive me, but Vischer told me several times that I had saved his life, and I guess I did"