Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1912-07-04

L
lily quiet enough during the hours OF
daylight. the town became a mad
saturnalia with the approach of dark
ness, its ceaseless orgies being noisily
continued until dawn. But at this
period all track work on the Kansas
Pacific being temporarily suspended
by Indian outbreaks, the graders made
both night and day alike hideous. and
the single dirty street which COM
posed Sheridan, lined with shacks.
crowded with saloons, the dull dead
prairie stretching away on every side
to the horizon. was congested with
humanity during every hour of the
twenty-four.
1t was grim picture of depravity
and desolation, the environment dull.
gloomy, forlorn; all that was worthy
the eye or thought being the pulsing
human element. All about extended
the barren plains, except where on
one side ravine cut through an over
hanging ridge. From the seething
street one could look up to the sum
NIT, and see there the graves of the
many who had died deaths of violence.
and been borne thither in their
boots Amid all this surrounding
desolation was Sheridan-the child of
few brief months of existence. and
destined to perish almost as quickly
the center of the grim picture, a mere
cluster of rude, implanted houses,
poorly erected shscks, grimy tents
tapping in the never ceasing wind
swirling across the treeless waste, the
ugly red station, the rough eowpens
filled With lowing cattle. the huge. un-
calmly stores, their false fronts deco
rated by amateur wielders OF the
paint brush. and the garish dens OF
vice tucked IN everywhere The pen
dulum of life never ceased swinging.
Society was mixed; no man cared who
his neishbor was, or dared to question.
OF women worthy the name there
were few, yet there were fitting fe,
male forms in plenty, the saloon lights
revealing powdered cheeks ana paint
ed eyebrows. II was a strange. rest
less populace, the majority here to-
day, disappearing tomorrow-cow-
boys, half-breeds, trackmen. graders
desperadoes. gamblers, saloon keepers,
merchants, generally Jewish. petty Of
ficials, and riff-raff no one could ac-
count for, mere floating debris. The
town was an eddy catching odd hits
of driftwood such as only the frontier
ever knew. Queer characters were
everywhere, wrecks OF dissipation. de-
relicts OF the East. seeking no.
save oblivion.
Everything was primitive-passion
and pleasure ruled. To spend easily
made money noisily. brazenly, was the
ideal. From dawn to dawn the search
after Joy continued The bagnios and
dance halls we're ab.aze: the bar
roc ~~IWi Il with hiar,ois or
quarrelsome humanity, the gambling
tables alive with excitement. Men
staggered along the streets looking
for trouble, and generally finding it;
cowboys rode into open saloon doors
and drank in the saddle; troops of
congenial spirits, frenzied with LIQUOR,
spurred recklessly through the street
firing Into the air,-or the crowd. as
their whim led "a bands played popular
airs on balconies, and innumerable
"barkers" added their honeyed invi-
tations to the perpetual din. From end
to end IL was a saturnalia OF vice, a
babel OF sound, a glimpse of tho In
feTno. Money flowed like water; every
man was his own law, and the gun
the arbiter OF destiny. The town
marshal, and a few cool-headed depu-
ties moved here and there amid the
chaos, patient, tireless, undaunted.
seeking merely TO exercise some
slight restraint. This was Sheridan.
Into the one long street just at dusk
rode Keith and Neb, the third horse
trailing behind. Already lights were
beginning to CLEAN In the crowded
saloons, and they were obliged to
proceed slowly. Leaving the negro at
the corral to find some purchaser for
the animals, and such accommoda.
lions for himself as he could achieve,
Keith shouldered his way On foot
through the heterogeneous mass to-
ward the only hotel, long two-storied
wooden structure, unpainted, fronting
the glitter of the Pinoeer Dance Hall
opposite. 4 noisy band was splitting
the air with discordant notes, a loud
voiced barker" yelling through the
uproar, but Keith, accustomed to SINH
lar scenes and sounds elsewhere,
strobe through the open door of the
hotel, and guided by the noisy, contin-
uous clatter of dishes, easily found his
way to the dining-room. 1t was crowd
ed with men, few women scattered
here and there, most of the former in
shirt-sleeves. all eating silently. A
few smaller tables at the back OF the
room were distinguished from the 9th
ers by white coverings in place of oil
cloth, evidently reserved for the more
guests Disdaining cere-
mony, the new conner wormed his way
through, finally discovering a vacant
seat where his back would be to the
wall, thus enabling him to survey the
entire apartment.
1t was not of great interest. save
for its constant change and the primi-
tive manner In which the majority at
lacked their food supply, which was
piled helter-skelter upon the long
tables, yet he ran his eyes searchingly