Evening star., 1925-11-22


pouring from the doors of nearby Sa-
looms and gambling houses. They hur-
ried up the sidewalks under the
wooden awnings. eager to gain places
of vantage in front of the Wells Fargo
office. For the coach had been held
up on the Benson road that afternoon.
The robbery itself was nothing un-
usual. In fact, the case-hardened
Young town of Tombstone was begin
ming to take it for granted that a few
thousand dollars of Wells Fargo
money should go into circulation
across it's bars and faro layoutS at
least once every week. II il was not
the Benson stage which yielded the
loot, it WAS the one which ran over
he divide to Bisbee. But today the
road agents had been unsuccessful
nd that was news. Moreover, one o.
their number was being unloaded from
he old Concord, feet first. and the
spectacle of a slain sage rObber was
remarkable enough to draw even the
hlase dealers from the Crystal Palace
md the Oriental.
II was n typical Tombstone crowd
Miners off shift. some of them with
rhe blue scars of powder burns on
their faces. made UP its bulk. There
were a few cowboys from the San
Pedro Valley. with their tieht jean
I'''f'etnSS lIctSI INTO illeh Hi-i-ilt'Iet
h""ts: 4 .prinklirg of pallid, well
dressed gambler: several girls from
Nc hurdy-curdy nd the Eirdcage
Opera House. with the rouge thick on
their cheeks: = pair of Young Cavalry
lieutenants from Fort Huachuca: dust .
stained freichters. MeEicans and "a
sprinklinc of CoId-eyed. quiet speaking
ronecades who had drifted over from
Silver City and the Pecos to get what
in a
Comment WAS going around. CON
slant buzz of undertones.
cot him right between the eyes.
It's Bill Lower Who killed him.
anyhow"
The questions grew more frequent
as the identity of the slain outlaw he
come generally known. II was the
driver who answered il.
The messenger done it" he told
those nearest 10 him. He dropped
i;;Il the first shot and creased another
O. en- Young fell"r. too, and this
was only his second trip"
You could not cali his audience emo
ti"nal. Nor We're the sympathies of
II n%t of its members strong for the
Of law and orGar. But in the
uIl: II they liked fai, lighting. and the
moral quality which men called sand
hid an appeal To them. So when the
mex shotgun messenger came forth
from The companys office after giving
over the treasure box to the agents
k"epinS they proceeded to badger him
with questions and conGra tulations. to
shake his hand and to importune the
Z, vor Of his drinking with them.
Al of these things he met with q
good -natuTed di!'idencv which height
ened the popuI2r regard for him. He
stood there in tie Office doorway re-
plying to the queries which were shot
~ him. 81; foe. of lean. Young man
hood. hrouzed by the sun &ud wind.
r'ear-eyed and tirm-HDped. There vas
, grace in his attitude and in his
F: cry movement which made some Of
III" older h. nds nod to one another.
He can handle himself. all right,
they said.
EHOM the beginning there was Cne
among them whose gaze he held.
hut this one said no word TO any of
those about him. His names was
Whisky Bill. At least. that WAS his
| test name In his time he had gone
T." so many others that he had well
rj@h forgotten the one which he had
horne while still some sense of shame
manned to him. There had been a
roriod in his prime when he had
p wears behind him now. Once he
h'd dealt stud poker in Ogalallah.
with hold-out up his sleeves But
liquor had untitled his fingers for
handlTlG cards, and the nerve which
rustling demanded was no longer his.
The boldest venture he dared TO un
dertake now was robpin- the pockets
of sleeping Grunkard. Somehow or
o'her. he had managed to make his
way across the wide flats and the
~ gged mountain ranges of the South
western border. and tha inscrutable
Providence which allowed good men
20 die all along that hard road had
preserved him from thirst and sick
ness and the venomouS ApacheS. lie
had arrived two days before in Tomb
stone 10 eke out an existence by wash
ipS the cuspidoEs in Bob iiatCh'S sa-
loon. by doing errandS Tor the girls in
he Birdcage Opera House and the
dance halls. by cadGing drinks from
snendthrift cowboys.
This Whisky Bill stood in the fore
front of the crowd. and from the time
when the young messenger had ap-
pesred in the GoorIt"% ui The Wells
Fargo Office his eyes never lefi that
face. The" made Il curious contrast. q.
those two-the boy with his clean fea-
lures and his lean hard grace. the
man with his putty-coiored cheeks and
his bloated little body. They seemed
far apart as the ends of the world.
II any one had happened to notice this
icnoble creature Starring al the day 8
hero-whiCh no one Gid-he would
have wondered what there could have
been in the one to hold the others al
rention-what possible appeal could
fridge the gap which lay between
them.
What say his name is?' a new
conner to the camp Was asking.
Lee Barton" his neighbor an
swered. Il know him Well"
Where he was standing Whisky Bill
heard the reply. He made no move:
his putty features did not change; his
rat eyes never widened.
Lee Barton. More than 20 years
had gone by since that had been his
name. But from the moment when he
had first seen the boy standing in the
doorway of the express Office he had
been sure of this. He did not know
why, but there was something in that
face, some thread Of memory was
couiured up. by what his eyes met
there, which spanned.. the gap of ali
those years and brought him back 20
a well nigh forgotten episode. Still.
one could not be too sure. Whisky
Bill edged closer To the last speaker
and plucked him by the sleeve.
"Whered the kid come from" he
demanded huSkily.
kansas" said he. II remember
him back in Abilene 10 years ago.
when he was little boy. His mother
was doing washing. He used to come
and get my laundry every week.
Afterward. when he'd grown up. ran
across him in San Antonio. He was
with a trail herd then"
Whisky Bill edged away again. The
hero of the day had disappeared. The