Iditarod pioneer., 1918-05-25

cn HoQubav Etol HiIS. may y, IoiA Taylor walked into the Flat City hotel and inquired if the judge was un yet
 said: II don't know; just got up myself You nay go up and look in his roOm.'
 This being about 1920 1 He asked the nuiuber.
 ] said; "Nuuher 2, at head oi the stairs.'
 saw he was excited, and I could tell ! by the Qnick conversation up there 1 that something unusual had happened. When Mr. Taylor came down I said:
 Tom, what's up?"
 He said; "George Riley was shot
 said: Not ki}!ed?' 1 He said; "l guess SO" It was about my usual breakfast time.
 As I stepped out saw the people in front of the business places and on the corners in sorrowful conversation, and of & gloomy appearance. 1 went into the restaurant, men were talking ahout | ] could be. One man said:
 He was Montenegrin, and he had been lodging few nights at the Flat City hotel.'
 said: 1T don't think that man done that killing. He sleeps in that corner room over there," pointing to the win dow of the room. l said: II met tn at man three or four times last week, and he spoke in mild way with pleasant smile"
 One man spoke, and said; "That's the man."
 When I returned to the hotel I told the landlady 1t was thought that the fellow who shot Riley is the man who sleeps in No. l. I went upstairs 10 see if lie was up, and the door was locked. I told her, and she went upstairs with a bunch of keys in her hand. When she came down she said he had not stayed there last night. Then l be- 1 lieyed he might be the man that did the shooting which was hard for me to believe at the time.
 Now, no living man can see where there was anything to be gained by milling man for debt. If there were, one half the people might kill the other half. It don't pay the debt, or give the debtor chance to pay it. Besides, this is world of credit and indebted ness. If tn s WAS not the case there would be several hundred thousand bookkeepers out of employment. George Riley was leader among la boring men. 1 heard men inquire about him who had just come in over the trail this winter-who had never m ct him-and they said they heard al! along the trail he was a good man to work for, and I know they wanted 10 work for him. He was always pleasant when you met him. And defeat he knew not what it was. The harder anything came, the harder he met it, 1 He never gave way to foolish sorrow, but always kept in good cheer. He never let little trifles worry him. 1 I met him down the river by Slip pern's mill one morning, He had lot l of tanks of oil landed there. He asked me if I saw anybody take tank of oil from there.
 1 I said no.
 l He said: "There seems to be one short; perhaps the high water carried it into the river"
 said: No, George; the water never was this high since the town was To- cated."
 "Well," he said, 'perhaps some oi the boys rolled it into the river"
 That was all he said-he spoke of it as though it didn't amount to anything anyway.
 I have heard men say that worked for him that if anything broke around tho claim, he would say, II expected it would break two weeks ago."
 I spoke to him once about that tank of oil and of other things that he made so trifling of, as if it were nothing. He said:
 ''It did not help things, Uncle Dan for man to get on his high horse anc curse and swear; that didn't get any thing for a man." Coorro Ri)av liked to see fun and he