The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-08-22
Dandy JIM
By ALICE CHEEvER

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Dandy Jim. as be was called from
the fact that he was occasionally seen
wearing a boiled shirt, was a very
good man, but he had very bad luck.
He was walking on a trail In the
Rocky mountains from a prospecting
tour to Denver and was feeling very
happy because he had dug up some
quartz that he believed to be valuable
and was going down to the city to
have 1t assayed.
Besides a pocketful OF nuggets. Jim
had considerable dust about him. and
be made up his mind that az Don as
be reached the stage road be would
look out for a coach and buy q ride.
But before he got there he met q man
on an iron gray horse, and the idea &C.
Cured to him that he would buy the
animal and ride to Denver.
Want to sell that critter?' he asked
the rider.
what you want to give for hin? I"
Twenty dollars in dust" Jim Of
fered that to start a trade. He
thought the horse worth three or four
times that amount.
"Done!" said the man. nimbly leap
ing or the horse.
Jim looked his beast over and could
not find anything the matter with him.
so he mounted and continued his jour
ney. He hadn't gone more than a
mile before he was surrounded by a
dozen men, each man pointing a re
volver at him and calling on him to
surrender.
cit on my horse!" said one Of the
men.
Well, to make a long story short, Jim
had paid for a stolen horse. But 1t
didn't avail anything for him to tell
how he came by 1t. for he was not
known to any Of the party, and what
he said was considered a very thin
story. he was taken down the noun.
tain to a town where the owner of the
horse and the rest of the party lived to
be dealt with, If not according to law,
at least to be tried before Judge Lynch
Dandy Jim was q good looking chap
and not owe twenty-five years old. He
was confined In a room in the house
Of the owner Of the stolen horse, and
a young girl hanging up clothes In the
garden saw him standing at the win
dow looking melancholy and hand
some, Either Of these features in a
man Is enough to win q girls heart.
and the two together are irresistible.
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the niece Of the owner Of the house
and al called Mag. made the ac-
quaintance Of Dandy Jim vas consid-
cred a mystery by the simple people
Of the town. though 1t Is easily ac-
counted for on the theory of "love
laughs at locksmiths." Be this as Il
may. she had a conference with him
unknown to any n and set her wits
to work to free him from his sad con-
dition. Jim was to be given a fair
trial before Judge Lynch the next
morning. which meant that he would
be swung OF by loon.
That night Mag made a second theft
Of the horse-though she put him back
in the stable before any one knew Of
his having been taken-and rode Ave
miles to the sheriff Of the county and
begged him to interfere In the illegal
trial and hanging that were to take
place the next morning. Mays mott,
6cation was not of1cial. and the sher-
if was not disposed to save the necks
Of horse thieves unless compelled to do
SO of1cially. When Mag failed in this
she begged the sheriff to give her an
order for the body Of Dandy Jim, and
the sheriff to get rid Of her granted her
request. The officer was not IN edu-
Gated man and asked Mag to write
the order. She wrote. "Give the body
Of the horse thief to the bearer" n
he signed his name as sheriff to 1t. with
has official seal.
Mag rode back with her paper and
the next morning knocked at the door
Of a young man who had recently come
to town from the east and had hung
out his single as an attorney. She
told him that she had been to the
sheriff to ask him to interfere. but
had failed. All she could get out u
him was an order for the horse thiefs
body that she might bury it decently
Couldn't the lawyer do something to
save the mans life?
The young man asked to 9 the or.
der for the horse thief's body. and as
soon as he had read It be sat up and
took notice.
This Is a habeas corpus" be said. !
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