Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1917-08-10


agreed that il his life We're TO be saved
the arm must come Off at the shoulder
n gloom fell on the community,
In lifetime of years there can come
to the greater part of us but u few
days, few hours, sometimes no more
than single moment, to show of what
stuff we are really made. Such crisis
came that day TO Nan. Already she
had been wheeled more than once into
De Spal.s room, to sit where she
could help WOO him back TO life. The
chief surgeon, in the morning, told
Nan Of the decision. In her hospital
bed she rose bolt upright. mo-" she
declared soemnly. You shant take
his arm off
The surgeon met her rebellion tact
fully. But he told Nan, at last, that
De Spain must lose either his arm or
his life. mo she repeated without
hesitation and without blanchng you
shant take off his arm. lie shant lose
his life
The blood surged into her checks
better blood and redder than the doc
tors had been able to bring there-such
blood as De Spnin alone could call into
them. Nan, with her nurses help,
dressed, joined De Spain. and talked
long and earnestly. The doctors, too,
laid the situation before him. When
they asked him for his decision he
nodded toward MN. "She will tell
you, gentlemen, what we'll do"
And Nan did tell them what the two
who had most at stake in the decision
would do Any man could have done
MS much as that. But Nan did more.
She SET herself out to save the arm
and patient both. and, lest the doctors
should change their tactics and move
together on the arm surreptitiously
Nan stayed night and day with De
Spain, until he was able TO make such
active use of either arm as TO convince
her that he and not the surgeons would
soon need the most watching
Afterward when Nan. In some doubt,
asked the chaplain whether she was
married or single he obIigingly offered
to ratify and confirm the desert cere-
mony
This affair was the occasion for an
extraordinary roundup at Sleepy Cat.
Two long-hostile elements-the stage
and railroad men and the Calahasas-
Morgan gap contingent of mountain
men, for once al least, frnterniZed.
Warrants were plgeonholed. suspicion
suspended, sidearms neglected in their
scabbards. The fighting men of both
camps, in the presence of ceremony
that united De Spain and Nan Morgan,
could not but feel a generous citation.
Each party considered that it was con-
tributlng to the 9estivity in the bride
and groom and the very best each
could boast, and no false note dis
turbed the harmony Of the notable
day.
Gale Morgan, having given up the
fight had left the country. Satterlee
Morgan danced till all the platforms in
town gave way. John Lefever attend.
ed the groom, and Duke Morgan stern
ly but without conjunction, gave the
bride. From Medicine Bend, Farrell
Kennedy brought notable company
of De SPANS early associates for the
event. It included Whispering Smith,
whose visit to Sleepy Cat on this oc-
casion was the first in years George
MeCloud, who had come all the way
from Omaha to Join his early comrades
in arms; Wlckwire, who had lost none
of his taclturn bluntness-and so many
train dispatchers that the service on
the division was crippled for the entire
day.
A great company Of self-appointed |
retalners gathered together from over
all the country, rode behind the gayly
decorated bridal coach in procession
from the church to Jeffrles' house,
where the feasts had been prepared.
During the reception a modest man,
dragged from an obscure corner among |
the guests, was made TO take his place |
next Lefeyer on the receiving line. II |
was Bob Scott, and he looked most un.
comfortable until he found a chance !
to slip unobserved back to the side
of the room where the distinguished /
Medicine Bend contingent, together
with McAlpin, Pardaloe, Elpaso and
Bull Page, slightly unsteady but ex-
tremely serious for the grave occasion,
vastly uncomfortable to-
gether.
The railroad has not yet been built
across the sinks to Thief River. But
only those who lived In Sleepy Cat In
Its really wild stage days are entitled /
to call themselves early settlers, or to /
tell stories more or less authentic
about what then happened. The great
er number Of the Old Guard of that /
day, as cankering peace gradually re-
asserted itself along the sinks, turned
from the stage coach to the railroad
coach; some Of them may yet be met
on the trains In the mountain country.
Wherever you happen to find such
one, he will tell you Of the days when
Superintendent de Spain of the West
ern division wore q gun in the noun
tains and used 1t, when necessary, on
bis wife's relations.