The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-06-15
BY CHARLES NJ. HALL.
Special Correspondent for NEA Ser

Copyright. 1926, by NEA Service. Inc
Amarillt, Texas, June 15.-GOmOr
| rah was a nine o'clock town, anC
BabylOn's wickedness was overrated
the newest candidates for the rain
| Of blazing birthstone are the newly
born boom towns, SPRAYING under
the hot sun on the. broad plain OF
the Texas Panhandle.
These towns weren't in existence
six months ago. They grew up over
night when oil men discovered that
the Panhandle contained potentially
the greatest oil field in the world
And into it's short compass are jam
med all the vices Of the bad old
western frontier.
Let it be said at the start that sew
cral of the oil boom towns in the
Panhandle are highly respectable
pcoplcd by working men who came to
work. But in others the old west
lives again. Take the boom town OF
Berger, for example.
Old Time Dance Halls
In it you may see dance halls ex-
actly like those lawlcss things that
lowered in the California and Neva-
uSt NNhipS - "
mining camps that are now pictured
where else. You can find typica
lar old time wild west saloons, Zero.
cous bad men who go about with
six.shootcrs strapped to their hips.
IT, you 20 there to see the sights
you won't get hurt if you keep quiet
! and don't look for trouble; always
provided you remember one thing
You mustn't wear white hat.
The white hat is the symbol o.
the Texas Rangers. and the Texa:
Rangers are as popular there a!
Trotzky at a Chamber of Commerc'
convention. If you wear white ha
someone is apt to take a pot shot a
you from behind a hitching post. Blu
otherwise you'll be all right.
AS the sun goes down the big Dusi
ness starts. The workers start com
ing into town in droves, and soon tn,
thump of unskilled feet shuffling B,
rough planks to the tune Of wheel.
ragtimc mingles with the hum 0
voices, loud laughter, few curse
| nd-occasionally--a shot or two.
A Challenge to Dance
You can 60 to MAS" or to "Mat
ties" dance hall, where there are 20
ladies of the kind known, as "danc
hall girls" If you do the girls will
challenge you to dance, at 25 cents
dance. Of this sum each girl gets
dime.
Or you can go into any one of
dozen saloons and buy anything t
! drink except water. If your taste
| run that way you can risk you
money-though risk is hardly tn
| word--at anything from three-car
; monte to stud poker, played at
table that is surrounded by barbe
| wire to keep the kibitzers from peek
! ing over the shoulders of the play
f: crs.
There are fights in plenty of thes
places. Usually there are ordinar
fist fights, with feet and teeth use
| as a secondary line of defense; blu
gun fights are not infrequent. TIL
majority Of the bad men arc poo
shots, however, for in all the shoot
ings to date no one has been killed.
Three home made policemen wit
! pearl-handled pistols strut about tn
streets, but they see no evil an
hear no evil. They are decorative
but that's about all.
The whole thing is like nothin
SO much as rurid movie of the oil
west. 1t is true to type if not to life
Swaggercrs with rcvolvcrs, short
skirtcd dancing girls, cold-eycd gam
blcrs-thcy're all there.
Genuine bad men are scarce, how
, ever. There were few attempts a
highway robbery and the like, but tn
Texas plainsmen and cowboys ar
too well used to handling weapon
! themselves. Most Of the wOuld-b
holdup men got shot up rather badly
Life and limb aren't in any rea
danger if one doesn't look for trou