Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-11-21
THE RuSTLER'S
CONVERSION
Kindness Subdues a One Time
Border Ruffian.

Some years ago ] visited the far
west. passing through a region that
had been infested by the worst ele-
ment Of society.
put up one night at the house Of
John Murphy. a sheep raiser His
ranch house was not large. but CON-
Portable, and its decorations showed
evidence Of refinement. His wife was
Il 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
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 Of the men that
have been made by woman. When !
came to this country 1t was from an
eastern city. and my education was
derived from 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 on
wrong principle. AS 1t was ad-
mired them. and almost before l he
came man l scraped up enough
money to bring me ont here to live the
life of my heroes Of the dime novel.
Il soon got to be head man among
them and for eight years lived life
that l would give anything ! have to
forget. have to he thankful for only
one thing. During that friChtful pc
Rod ! never took life. didn't ac
cumulate any money. and if had l
should later on have got rid of it.
Zone evening stepped Mt house
and knocked ut 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
combining my operations to stage
coaches. army paymasters and the
like. but man is always going either
uphill or downhill. and as l was ueces-
sarily going down ] wasn't above TAX
ing 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 In
the room where was with no fire.
knew a chimney was favorite place
to hide money. and. going to the fire.
place. stopped and looked up. On a
projecting brick l saw small box.
which I appropriated and. lifting the
cover. saw a lot Of bills and loose
change. 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 all and when had finished
took out one 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 ill., and felt sorry for you. So
I have given you the best In the house.
'"That was the first lesson in kindli
ness I ever received. At any rate. it
was the first that ever took hold Of
me. When | thought of the contents
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
II was thinking how could ret 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
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 a
few days and left me alone with the
children. They say that Murphy's
gang is operating in the neighhorhood.
and | wouldn't mind having Il man in
the house
"'In that case l said 1 think I'll
sleep on that lounge. and I'll guarantee
that no man gets upstairs unless he
goes over my dead body
II knew two of my men would be
along there that night. and I 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. l didn't go 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 were. and
they concluded there must be whole
vigilance committee inside. When they
had gone heard q soft voice call down
the stairs:
THANK you
"Just you go to sleep. I'm in COM
mand here
And I've been in command here
ever since. l married the girl. didn't
confess till shortly before the wedding
and have been living here ever since.
My wife owned the property. and after
| On mo II, hnr hrofhov.sc "a milo rcout m