The Meeker herald., 1917-08-11


delicacy of the situation aud the pinn
bein' the nearest that could he sue
gested to a rattle, It was unanimously
approved. Blanks and ten prize slips
were placed In hat and ten mon were
selected. Every one Of the lucky ten
was ordered to black his boots. take
his trousers out Of them, wear coat
II he had one and report at the tavern
that evenin' for introduction by Miss
Bowers.
1.-THE next mornin' MIR. Parkhurst
called for Higgins.
"'WelI, Higgins he said when the
old man appeared. how did 1t turn out
last night?'
".At the courtin'? Tol'able. sir.
tolable. Three men proposed to gals
az TUX 'em, four men was too Urinary
to go down with any Of the gals. two
men wanted the same gal and was
killed in a shootln' match afterward.
One man got up on his ear with n gal
who wouldn't have him and said he
had wife already In Frisco and didn't
want no more of 'em. This leaves
seven gals for the next drawin' and
three men less to be provided for.
Seven names were next drawn and
presented the same evenin'. This was
Higgins report Of the second pair on:
"'Three paired of. One Teller was
drunk and wasn't let In to the courtin'.
Three men wanted the same gal. They
had triangular fight, the survivor to
win; little Teller with red hair winner.
Gal wouldn't have him. That leaves
four gals for prizes
I'm this way eleven Of the gals was
paired. leavin' one. the purtiest Of the
lot, to be disposed of. All the fellers
wanted her from the first. and most
of the men that got killed was fghtin'
for her. But she wouldn't have none
of 'em. She's mighty particular, seein'
she's had twenty men to pick from.
She's got snappin' black eyes. kind of
reddish hair and is purity and plump
as a robin.
Now. II you want to work out
scheme for furnishin' wives you don't
want nary of the women to be jim
dandy. One purity woman with the
old Nick In her will spoil any practical
plan that was ever got up. This gal,
Becky Riggs, bein' the only unmarried
woman left in the camp-Miss Bowers
had gone back for another load-and
every man left wantin' her. set up
confagration. Every day there was
fight about her, and some one was sure
to be killed. The wives begged her to
choose some one and stop the fightin'.
But she wouldn't. Shed make b'lieve
she was goin' to take one Of 'em and
then start in to encourage another.
II anything was needed to keep up the
list Of casualties this filed the bill.
"Well, 1t got 80 bad at last, 30 many
good men bein' killed, that Mr.. Park
hurst sent Miss Riggs word that he'd
be pleased to furnish her a ticket back
where she came from. She sent word
to him that she'd ruther be an old
maid in Colorado than bloomln' mar
ricd woman In the east. Then Mr..
Parkhurst went to see her to reason
with her. She jist set there listenin'
to him with her head on one side and
never a word.
Things KEEP goin' from bad to worse.
Some Of the men Miss Riggs had re-
fused TUX to drink, and most of 'em
wouldn't work. 1t was impossible to
git other hands. and the dirt taken out
was gittin' less and less every day. 1t
begun to seem that II Miss Riggs wasn't
married or didn't go away the mine
would have to shet down. The presi-
dent wrote to know what was up.
Mr.. Parkhurst wrote to send on car
load of women. The president wrote
that Miss Bowers had come back and
wouldn't advise no more gals to go
to SIGH benighted place. This looked
purity black. Mr.. Parkhurst called for
old Ben Higgins and axed him what
was best to be done.
"'When' 1 was Twin with my ole
woman, Mr.. Parkhurst,' Higgins said
knowingly, I found out that women
must have their way
"'What do you mean by thatr
"'WelI, sir. there's nothin' fur pur-
ty gal here but to git married Every
man here has axed Miss Riggs but
one
~ thought they had all asked her.
"'No, sir; there's one left, and the
KNOWN ones among the wives say
that's the one she wants
"'Who Is her
al think it's you. SIR
"IY
ayes, sir-you.'
| "'You must be mistaken
"'lf am the women amt.
HE didn't say no more about 1t,
but ! noticed that he was sprucin up
He'd been wearin' a flannel shirt. and
fust thing knowed he had put on q
boiled one. Then he went to the bar
Der and got shave. After supper
seen him lookin' at himself In a glass
that hung beside the roller towel al
the tavern. Next he headed for the
4 hT n