The Caucasian., 1913-11-06
THE RUSTLER'S
CONVERSION
Kindness Subdues a One Time
Border Ruffian.

west. passing through a region that
had been infested by the worst slo-
ment Of society.
| put up one night at the house of
John Murphy. { sheep raiser. His
ranch house was noe large. but com
brtabIe, and its decorations showed
evidence o. refnen. IT. His wife was
woman who impressed me as one
having considerable equipoise and
character. After supper l went out
on the porch to have smoke with
Murphy and listened with interest to
his account of the building up of his
region. During our conversation I
stated the opinion that men were
what women made them. Then he
told me his story.
You're dead right. stranger he
said. land I'm one q the men that
have been made by a woman. When
came to this country 1t was from an
eastern city. and my education was
derived Dom the dime novel. | was
a waif. with no father or mother to
instill into me the fact that however
brave the road agents and others Of
whom read they were acting OH a
wrong principle. AS it was. ] ad-
mired them. and almost before l be-
came a man scraped up enough
money 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 to
forget have to be thankful for only
one thing During that frightful pc
riod ! never took a life. I didn't ac-
cumulate any money. and If had |
should later on have got rid of it.
''One evening stopped at Il house
and knocked Mt the door. intended
to ask for some supper. expecting once
inside to get my hearings for valua-
hles and take them away with me.
had started in with the intention Of
confining my operations to stage
coaches. army paymasters and the
like. hut man is always going either
uphill or downhill and as | was neces-
sarily going down I wasn't above TAX
ing anything could get my hands on.
even from a woman.
"A woman came to the door. She
was young and fairly good looking To
my request for some supper she gave
a smiling assent. asking me to come
in and make myself comfortable. She
went into the kitchen. and | looked
about me. There was chimney in
the room where | was with no fire. |
knew chimney was favorite place
to hide money. and. going to the fire.
place. stopped and looked up. On a
projecting brick ] saw small box.
which I appropriated and. lifting the
cover. saw a lot of bills and loose
change l slipped it all in my pocket
and put the box back in the chimney.
"By and By the young woman came
in and set a good supper on the table.
I ate my fill and when had finished
took out one of the coins had taken
from the box and handed 1t to her.
"'No.' she said: there's nothing to
pay. You're quite welcome to your
supper. hope it has done you good.
You looked tired and hungry when you
came in. and felt sorry for you. So
l have given you the best in the house.
THAT was the first lesson in kindli-
ness ever received. At any rate. 1t
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 it. my
despicable meanness seemed to shrivel
me all up. couldn't look her in the
face.
"'You don't need to go on she said.
we have spare bed upstairs
'tI was thinking how I could get the
money back in the box in the Chin
ney. and it occurred to me that If
stayed there all night could slip
down in the night and do the job. So
I said: Thank you. miss. II you
don't mind reckon / will. It'll be a
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 Murphy's
gang is operating In the peighborhood.
and wouldn't mind having man in
the house
In that case ! said. I think I'll
sleep on that lounge. and I'll guarantee
that no man gets upstairs unless he
goes over my dead body
Il knew two Of my men would be
along there that night, and 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 I'd done that felt the first of a
kind of comfort I'd never experienced
before didn't so to sleep. wanting
to be awake If any one called. In the
middle Of the night my two men. Pete
Barnickel and Colorado Bill. did call. |
I showered bullets everywhere about |
them except just where they we're. and |
they concluded there must be whole |
vigilance committee inside. When they
had gone / heard a soft voice call down |