The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-25

anything the Taliaferro boys ever done after l got 'em rounded up.
 "After while Jim comes back to the saloon and starts drinkin' and tellin'. the boys that he was going down into the valley to catch the gent that run off with his girl. First he allowed that he'd get fixed up. He was gon' to look his best when he went down there. Becaa.e he wanted to kill your dad and then let Bess see what she'd missed by not takin' Jim Martin.
 "Them was the days when I packed a star inside my vest and .44-old style on my hip; and hung around promiscuous, waitin' to land on Martin before he left town.
 He'd cashed in with his gold and was loaded with yaller-boys, and he spent the whole day throwin' money away. The sa- loon got lot of #, and his hand got so shaky that he couldn't handle his razor; so he hired a. gent to shave him end give him round hundred for the job. Then he went over to the store and got the best they had in the line of clothes. When he slickest thing we ever see here in Sierra Padre.
 "Next he comes down the street and buys a six-shooter. It was beauty, and in them days it was a treat to watch Martin handle gun.
 "After that he came back here to Olaf's. place, all lit up already, and starts sayin' good-by to the boys. It took him a long time, because all the boys was fond of Do+o po1o inb anJ ~; @o Jo Jim to stay quiet. But Jim Martin kept right on, and every time he said good-by he said it was the last drop of liquor that would pass down his gullet until he'd dropped Pete Raleigh in the dirt and stepped on his face. But every time he'd see some other friend of his and have to have one more drink.
 And every time he had another drink he set 'em up for the house and didn't ask for no change. Takir' all around, it was a pretty fair payin' afternoon for Olaf's place. And Jim's money kept goin' like water.
 Pretty soon, down the street we heard the train whistle, and that was the train that Jim wanted to catch to get down into the valley. So he lets out a holler for the engineer to stop for him-like he could "a been heard-and starts runnin'.
 But he was overbalanced with red-eye, and when he got outside the door he dou- bled up on the steps and put his head on the floor and went to sleep, peaceful as a kid.
 "The train pulled out, and Jim Martin wasn't in the coaches. The next mornin' bc ,yolo.1p h~oLo Coc,oboJ,,l ~olIoJ h;x~, for his wad, what he hadn't spent. All he. had was his fine clothes and his gun. We'll, he wasn't goin' to be able to walk down in them boots a three-day trip, and be- sides, his clothes was sort of messed up from lyin' on the steps of the saloon. And he wasn't goin' to go down and do that killin' without bein' able to show himself all dressed up fit to kill to Bess after ward.
 "The end was, Jim Martin traded his gun and clothes in, and borrowed stake, and started out prospectin' again. It was two years, pretty near, before he come back, and then he come back with, nice lot of stuff and cashed it in proper. We'd all forgot about Bess and Pete by that time, but Jim Martin hadn't. He'd been off there in the hills swinging.a pick and CUTS in Pete in time with the swing of it.
 "He started right in on the same program. He was jes burnin' up with hate for Pete. It was q sort of consumin' fire in him, like the sky-pilot says. He begun spend in money real liberal; he bought fine clothes again, got him a gun and then he bought him ticket for the valley.
 q wasn't sheriff no more then, so it wasn't no trouble of mine. Besides, didn't bay m hopl-ar;v, ,,,;x +h;rore with Dafo