Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-07-23
CHAPTER l.

The slow-roIIing winters sun rose
4coldly, far to the south, riding up
nom behind the saw-toothed Sierras
of Mexico to throw a silvery halo on
.Sadsden, the border city. A hundred
miles of desert lay in its path-a waste
OF broken ridges, dry arroyos, and
SANDY plains-and then suddenly, as
'ff by magic. the city rose cleaning in
the sun.
It was a big city, for the West, and
swarming with traffic and men. Its
Broad main street, lined with brick
buildings and throbbing with automo-
ltbfies, ran from the railroad straight to
die south until, at a line, 1t stopped
short and was lost In the desert.
That line which marked the sudden
end Of growth and progress was the
border of the United States; the desert
WAS Mexico. And the difference was
not In the land, but in the government.
As the morning air grew warm and
the boar frost dripped down from the
roofs the idlers of the town crept
Gorth, leaving chill lodgings and stale
saloons for the street corners and the
sun.
Against the dead wall of a big store
the Mexicans gathered in shivering
groups, their blankets wrapped around
their necks and their brown ankles
bare to the wind. On another corner
a bunch Of cowboys stood ~clannishly
sn11nf aUjno the noccinD nrou,l Gov oth
Ners of their kind.
In this dun stream which flowed
under the morning sun there were min
Ing men, with high-laced boots and
bulging pockets; graybeards, with the
gossip of the town in their cheeks;
1fnboes, still wearing their eastern
caps and still r%ustling for a quarter to
eat on; sombereyed refugees and SOL
ediere Of fortune from Mexico-but
Ulcers all, and each seeking his class
and kind.
If any women passed that way they
walked fast, looking neither to the
right o to the left; for they, too, be-
ing so few, missed their class and
kind.
Gadsden had become a city of men,
'hugelimbed and powerful and with a
.qquesting look in their eyes; a city Of
adventures gathered from the ends Of
the world. A common calamity had
driven them from their mines and
ranches and glutted the town with
men, for the wal was on in Mexico
aud fro.a A1A 20 rfharNooCf nnrnare oP
Sonora they still came, hot from some
new scene of murder and pillage, to
add to the general discomfort.
AS the day wore on the crowd on
The bank corner, where the refugees
made their stand, changed its COM
plexion, grew big, and stretched far up
Ghe street. Men stood in shifting
groups, talking, arguing, gazing mood
l7ly at those who passed.
Here we're hawk-eyed Texas cattle
men, thinking Of their scattered herds
a Mababi or Ell Tigre; mining men,
with idle prospects and deserted mines
.cas far south as the Rio Yaqui; mill
sDerl, ranchers and men Of trades; all
gdriven in from below the line and all
chatting at the leash. While a hundred
petty chiefs stood out against Madero
and lived by ransom and loot, they
vznust cool their heels in Gadsden and
gWait for the end to come.
Into this seething mass of the dis
possessed, many of whom had lost a
fortune by the war, there came two
more, with their faces still drawn and
tred from hard riding through the cold.
They stepped forth from the marble
entrance of the big hotel and swung
Noff down the street to see the town.
They walked slowly, gazing into the
strange faces In the vague hope of
binding some friend; and Gadsden, not
ito be outdone, looked them over curl
-ousiy and wondered whence they had
come.
The bunch of cowboys, still lettering
on the corner, glanced scornfully at
gshe smaller man, who sported a pair
Sof puttees-and then at the big mans
feet. Finding them encased in pros.
pector's shoes they stared dumbly at
Alhi5 wind-burned face and muttered
fsamong themselves.
de was tall. and broad across the
shoulders. with f~arseeing blue yes
land a mop Of light hair; and he walked
Iicn his toes. s~tifflegged, swaying from
Nnfs hips like a man on horseback. The
FEznnhle of comment rose up again al
ne racked past and then d cowboy
voice observed:
VI 3. .-... N-
K iii bet We he's a cow-punch!"
III The big mar looked back at them
mockingiy out of the corner Of his eye
and went on without a word.
1T IS the boast Of cowboys that they
can tell another puncher at a glance
but they are not alone in this-there
".are other crafts that leave their mark
Hnd other men as shrewd. A group OF
mining men took one look at the
aI1ailer man, noting the candIe-grease
ON his cofduroys and the intelligence
&a his syes and to them the big mar
sxxs no more than a laborer--or .
ktiftboss at most-and the little mar
was q Of their kind. Every line ii
MS mobile face spoke OF intellect and
Nseciaion, and 40 they waIkedlit wan II
tuNV did the talking while the big mar
41zEly nodded and smiled.
.Thay took q turn or two up th,