The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-06-17

erence to the $1,000 winning. They
went on to the station and said
Goodbye Just before the train
pulled out for Butte.
On the return up Main street, the
old cronies passed the vacant build
ing, the entrance Of which had Yield
ed up the nickel.
II told the boy the TRUTH" the old
man said to his old-time friend. 1T
that boy had picked up $1,000 in
stead Of the nickel, I would have felt
like q man just getting up from the
faro table nearly even with the game.
I lost at least that much in there"
pointing to the grimy front of the
once gay and lively gambling house
Of big George" Kendall, on the west
side Of Main street, between Com
mercial avenue and Front street. II
lost every month for years as regul-
arly as drew my check at the COM
pany. office across the creek.
But I'd do It all over again II
they'd bring back the good old days
Of wide-open Anaconda. have
worked ever since the lid went down,
and have no money. I never pass
by this way without feeling some
thing coming up into my breast-a
sort Of jostling Of old memories that
lie somewhere between my esopha-
gus and liver. Don't know what you
call it, but some darned thing hobs
up to remind me of a better day that
I will never see again.
''Those musty old walls, those
smoky windows, the crumbling paint
on the pillars, the dead silence of
the interior. the air Of desolation that
envelops the whole seem to come to
me out Of the past to crush the wan
ing spirit within me. I did not live
in these places along here-no,
worked at my trade and lived at
home, occasionally came down here
to chew the rag with the boys, take
q nip of the old stuff, and, If felt
like it, to invest in a stack. Some
times I went back home with a roll
of bills. OF course, in the long run,
I was loser. But in the long run,
how many winners are there? Who
doesn't take q chance? Why the
man who does not know what life is
he doesn't take a chance.
IT, would not ask for the return of
my dead parents. Who would? But
I would like to take another crack
at old King Faro, who has been dead
for years.
II would like to go into Tooey &
Hunts place and watch old Dave
Marler dealing bank. I would be
happy again IL could see Pretty
Tom deftly slipping the cards out
of the box with the Mormon Kid
keeping cases. The Mormon Kid, by
the way, was a fourth-rate prize
fighter, and one night he was getting
the worst of a bout in old Evans
hall when he embraced his antagon-
list and deliberately bit off his nose.
Gosh! can hear the crunching Of
that bite now.
Il was in Tooey & Hunts when
Nat Goodwin went broke against the
bank with Johnnie Tooey dealing. He
put up his $500 diamond ring and
Johnny wore that spark for a long
time after that. Nat had been play
ing theatrical engagement in the
new Margaret theater. After he went
broke, he didn't do thing but go
to the hotel and pull his wife out of
bed by her hair and otherwise make
himself disagreeable. I think it was
his fifth wife; maybe she was only
the fourth.
81 can see those old-time faro deal
ers now, Big Newt. Charlie Graham,
Jack Butler, Billy Laity, Black Jack.
"Old Rosey," Swede Ed. Big Brad,
Dave Marler, Pretty Tom. Lazy Tom,
Billy Mosby-a whole flock Of them.
Most Of them are dead, I guess. And
If they could look into these old
rooms now, they would tell the world
they'd rather stay dead than live
there now. I'm not kicking at the
law just feel sorry all over for
the fellers who don't know what q
bully old place Montana used to be-"
Come on. old dog, I know where
we can GET
''Not on your life. No moonshine
for me-"
'Where do you get that old moon
shine stuff? Who said moonshine?
Say, come along with me: know
where we can get three packs Of gum