Weekly journal-miner., 1915-12-29

! hoy oAAl hlloOiS lO oNNldS nllOLAlSi
 the fact that he permitted the news paper men to run at large on such occasions was tribute to their pro, fession or to their lack of respecta. bility.
 He was a short, slender, soft-spok- cn, ferret-eyed individual of uncertain moods-temperamental, and therefore not accountable for his actions while under the stress of passion, suppose, if one who knew him could enter the mental aura, or is it vacuum of our modern extremists along humanitar- ian lines, and look upon his record as murderer and trickster from their ex- alted attitudes. Back in the turbulent times of which I write, however, we knew him to be bad ilombrc, net, and parlous companion under any and all circumstances.
 Bowers and Smith, unlike Ford, never interfered with the movements Of persons not inclined to be sporty" They threw all such into the discard, as it were Neither of them eve, sidestepped trouble, however, and SC the morgue, taken week in and week out, was pretty populous with per. sons of their ilk and habit of thought.
 Smith and Ford were sworn enc mics. It was freely predicted, yes, and ardently hoped by some, that they would engage in a gun-play i'll which both would be killed. Fate otherwise arranged their exit from this vale O tears, sometimes pro nounced, tarcs, and they never cA- changed shots. The following year 1 (l8o2) Ford was shot and killed in his dance hall by Ed. O'Kelly, a camp rounder. Shot and killed without warning or an opportunity to defend himself, in much the same manner as ne (Ford) had killed his friend ana fellow bandit, Jesse James. About a decade later, Smith was mortally wounded in a street duel in Skagway, Alaska.
 Christmas Day of the year 1891, dawncd clear and cold in the "Sil- very San Juan Country" The air was all a-sparkle with the champagne of Colorado's Winter ozone and was pregnant with stiffness which must have been akin to the solemn still resS of that glorious dawn when the shepherds grouped themselves ill. sil- cnt adoration about the manager in which the Child lay.
 The last ribald song had been sung md the last garish light had fiickered put as the Splendor of the morn spread above Creede ike a bcnedic- ton. Along the main street painted woman scurried with her face hidden n her shawl, as though shamed and humbled in the presence of perfect day. Down a side street a pandcrer slunk toward his hutch, crowding against the fronts of the buildings ill m unconscious effort to hide his un' cleanliness from tine purity of the dawn. A hop hend shamblcd by with every nerve a-twitch and the brand of the hopelessly damned stamped in delibly oil his pasty features.
 A child's face framed itself in the window over the way and pink palm waved a Christmas greeting to a newspaper man, spent and satiatcd by the sordid happenings of the night fife he had so recently cnronicled. A twelve-mulc team outfit went lum- bcring by. the breath of the toiling animals discharging from their dis tended nostrils like clouds of steam. From afar, where the six-horSc stage swung through Wagon Wheel Gap, came the murnur of chiminG bells welcome heralds of Christmas morn.
 Clearer and swectcr grew the notes, and presently above their rhythmic jingle could be heard the complaint of the snow beneath the swift-rolling wheels of the Concord coach. Horses a-gallop and coach body swaying 1 Grunkcnly in its lcathcrn straps, the outfit came lunGing and lurchins | along San Luis street; and To, occupy ! ing the seat of honor beside the driv- CT, was The ParSon.
 He was given a welcome as ardent as his own greeting was warm and Everybody in camp was proud to do him honor, and for time the rude lobby of the San Luis House was crowded with people anxious to shake his hand. The motley throng vas representative of Crcedc's best and worst; but in the eyes of The ParSon, illumincd by the spiritual light of close communion with God, one appeared neither better nor worse than the other. He viewed them all as brothers and friends and covered good and bad alike with the broad mantle of his charity.
 To ba candid CreSd was SO pnurOSS !