The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1915-06-11
A
CONVERSION
By DONALD CHANCE

| Arizona. where there were no hotel
asked man | met OH the street lf hc
could tell me where l could lind lod2
Ing in a private house.
Reckon kin, stranger" he said
"Come right along with me-"
He took me to his own house and
introduced me to his wife. woman
with as honest a countenance as ever
I saw I'm man or woman. Several pref
ty children were playing about who
evidently had the care Of good moth
er. was given a ane supper. and
when the wife took the children up
stairs to bed the husband and ! sat
smoking and chatting together.
81 believe" / remarked. that you
people out here have settled down and
become more like those In the east
than you used to be-"
Reckon we have. When drifted
into these parts we was all bad except
q sprinklin'. and they was mostly win.
men and children"
"Surely you were not one Of the bad
Ones" objected.
He took his pipe out Of his mouth
and looked at me. apparently wonder
ing II he had better trust me with
confession. knew his thoughts and
by my expression invited confidence.
Stranger" he said, II was one O.
the goldurnedest, meanest, snivelin',
low down critters In the territory.
was mean enough to rob q graveyard
Of old bones. But / wasn't afraid o
nothin', and when 1t come to fight
was thar. Fact is, l was regarded so
desp'rit that nobody dast interfere
with me. Two sheriffs tried 1t and
failed, and after that was let alone
till got 80 bad that the people couldn't
stand me, and the committee got after
me. That ended my career as q des-
perado."
Evidently" I put In, 'they didn't
hang you or You wouldn't be here tell
ing the story now"
my story hasn't begun. One day
when was about az bad as could git
! went into a house for a meal. which
/ intended to pay for by takin' any
thing valuable I could lay my hands
on run across a young woman and
asked her II she could give me a meal
q vittels. You just come right In
here she said, and make yerself at
home
"Waal. that gal cooked me as 1ne
meal a. / ever eat In my life Anyway.
II tasted as good, for I was hungry,
and there was somepin about the gal
~ cooked 1t THAI liked, and when
was eatin' II she WAS sittin' right op-
posite me and askin' me all sorts o
talkin' to a respectable party. When
I got through with the meal what do
you suppose l did7 Just told her
that was Bill Hathaway, the noted
desperado, and l wanted her to hand
out any valuable there might be In
the house without troublin' me to
find EN-
Somehow she didn't look frightened.
a. most wimmen would look under the
circumstances. She got up without
sayin' q word, went upstairs and come
down with a woolen sock with some
coins In the toe and put II on the table
before me. Then she looked at me, not
with that hateful look had been used
to from wimmen I'd robbed, but with
q sorryful look, as much as to say,
Poor feller, what an awful life you're
leadin' and how uncomfortable you'll
be some day danglin' from the end Of
roper
Somehow I couldn't stummick that
sort o. thing. jist opened the stockin',
and instead o. takin' anything out
put my hand In my pocket, TUX out q
nst full o. loose change and some bills,
manned 'em into the stockin' and
showed IL toward her. tellin' her that
she'd given me a bangup good meal
and deserved to be well paid for IT,
"She turned the stockin' over, dump
ed all the money In 1t on the table.
counted out what she'd had In II be-
fore put In anything and showed my
amount back to me.
1--WE don't take pay from strangers
here" she said, "and II We did we
wouldn't take money that had been
gained by robbery
"I'd had all sorts o. things said to
me, but somehow I'd never had any
thing like that. They was all either
afraid Of me and cringed or hated me
and spitfired ut me. got up from my
chair and went out o. that house like
q whipped cur.
-when the men folks come home
and found that Bill Hathaway had
been there they organized committee
TO run me down Ii was long chase,
but they finally cornered me. l was
full o. tricks, and since none o. those
that TUX me knowed me by sight !