Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-02-25

III
Never you mind what he done to
me, you tend 20 your own business
an I'll tend to mine holly answer
ed the other
"I'll make it my business to see
that you keep your hands off such
little fellows as Willie Twomy is,
retorted Jesse.
"Oh you will Ell. we'el see about
that" and Cobb aimed blow at the
face of Jesse, which if it had landed
fairly would have spoiled the coun-
tenance of that young gentleman for
the time being, at least. But he was
en- the lookout for just such an at
tempt on the part of Cobb, and be-
| ing, as already stated an alert young
man, he easily lodged the well-aim-
ed blow, much to his enemy's sur
prise and chagrin. Cobb next made
determined rush at him, but was
met with a clean hard smack on the
mouth which staggered him. This
was quickly followed by another
which brought the blood from his
nose and so angered him that he lost
all control of himself and rushed
blindly at his antagonist only to be
caught and thrown to the ground.
All this time the other boys crowd
ed around the warlike combatants,
cheering Jesse with such encourag-
ing remarks as
/ "Gin it to him Jess" You're
morne a match for him." Il guess
Jim Cobb don't bully Jess Badleigh,
not much; no I guess not"
, In falling Cobb dragged Jesse
, down with him, and for few min
utes it looked as if he was going to
> have the best of it. He had man
, aged in the scuffle to get Jesse un-
der him and was beginning to do him
: some hurt.
al Two or three of the boys made as
if to pull Cobb off but Jesse called
!, out to them to stand aside, at the
O same time by a skillful movement,
n deftly turned his antagonist over on
q his back and began to tattoo on his
v neck and face. This advantage soon
Z brought the fight to an end. Cobb
n was compelled to yield which he did
$ at discretion; to the joy of all who
had witnessed the encounter.
"Nough, 'nough!" he cried,-"lem
me up, lem me up, l tell yer, / gin
in"
OF course the entire village soon
: heard of the fracas together with the
cause and the result. And so it came
about that the stock of Jesse Bad
leigh went up and by the same token
the stock of James Cobb went down.
CHAPTER vi.
On the principal business street
: of the town described in the last
chapter as the home of Mrs. Bad
leigh and her son, Jesse, there stands
> at the present time an unpretentious
4 business building which calls for pas
sing mention.
The structure itself is not particu-
larly noticeable, for it SO nearly re-
sembles others in its immediate vi
cinity while it can lay claim to no
distinguishing feature by which the
attention OF any stranger whose bust
ness or inclination might cause him
to pass that way, could, by any rea-
sonable possibility be supposed to be
attracted by it. Solely therefore be-
cause it has more or less to do with
some of the events connected with
the career of Jesse Badleigh and HIS
friends, do we invite the attention of
the reader to a ief reference to this
very ordinary iifce.
In dimensions the building which
fronts to the 10th is perhaps tn. ty
feet In width Dy forty-five feet in
length and is one and half stories
in height. 1t is of stone cut into
blocks suitable for the purpose
which were evidently laid in the
walls with care. On thu eastern
side there is wooden stairway lead
ing up to the rooms above which are
occupied as residence.
On each side of the stairway a.
Virginia creeper has fastened it's
roots in the crevices of the wall
spreading out its branches and fixing
it's tendrils over considerable area
on that side of the building adding
to its appearance and giving to it adj
ditional interest in the eye of the
beholder.
The interior is at the present time
employed as a junk shop; sort OF
warehouse on a small scale, in which
many kinds of odds and ends find
place. Old rags, some of which are
done up in bundles, others lying loose
about the floor; scrap-iron in great
variety such as pieces Of broken ma
chinery, worn out sewing machines,
:. discarded stoves, found to be of no
n further use for cooking or heating
purposes; bits of railroad iron, old