The Newport plain talk. (Newport, Tenn.) 1909-1939, 1914-01-15
THE RUSTLER'S
CONVERSION
Kindness Subdues a One Time
Border Ruffian.

| put up one night at the house of
John Murphy. sheep raiser. His
ranch house was not large, but COM
Portable, and its decorations showed
evidence of refinement. His wife was
a woman who impressed me as one
having considerable equipoise and
character. After supper l went out
on the porch to have a 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 of the men that
have been made by woman. When l
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 I read they were acting on a
wrong principle. AS it was. ! adj
mired them. and almost before l be-
came Il man scraped up enough
money to bring me out here to live the
life of my heroes Of the dime novel
II soon got to be a head man among
them and for eight years lived life
that | would give anything have to
forget have to be thankful for only
one thing. During that frightful Pc
Rod never took life. didn't ac-
cumulate any money. and if had
should later on have got rid Of it.
Zone evening | stopped at u house
and knocked at 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 was neces-
sarily going down l 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
a 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 l 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 l saw a small box,
which I appropriated and lifting the
cover. saw 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 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 it to her.
emo 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-
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 a spare bed upstairs
II was thinking how could get the
money back in the box In the chin
ney. and it occurred to me that if I
stayed there all night | could slip
down in the night and do the job. So
I said: Thank you. miss. If 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 neighborhood.
ard | wouldn't mind having a man in
the house.
SIN that case said. 4 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 he
along there that night. and I reckoned
they'd take in anything by the way.
The first thing l did before turning in
was to put the money back in the box.
When I'd done that felt the first of
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
showered bullets everywhere about
them except just where they were. Snd
they concluded there must be a whole
vigilance committee inside. When they
had gone heard a 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
ovar since | married the girl I didn't