The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-02-04

the Calabasas bunch. After that they
were laying for Dave. He know'd 1t.
He'd been up to see me In the spring
about a young fellow-this mining
partner Of his-that he said was In
the last stages of consumption. /
gave him some medicine and told him
TO tell the fellow to drink plenty Of
good whisky. Dave said that was the
trouble. he would't drink any kind of
whisky. 1 told Dave, Boyd and Sang
er was in town with their gang, and
warned him to keep away from Bar
toe's-that's all the good Ii did.
$50 Fourth of July night, when I
came down the stairs, l walked from
the bar out through the archway into
the barber shop TO get shaved-would
you believe 1t, the only barber shop
we've got in town Is down there In
Bartoe's den and there was Tracy
at the cigar stand paying for hair
cut. And there in the first chair was
slim young fellow getting lathered up
there was only one barber on duty.
l spoke TO Tracy again, friendly-like,
and told him to lay low. But he
wouldn't pay no attention to me. He
just stepped out like a fellow twenty
FIVE years old, into the saloon.
II wasn't in at the start. But they
said Tracy didn't see Frank Sanger.
He walked up to one of the Panhan-
die men and asked where Sanger was.
Sanger was right behind Tracy and
he drew. He meant to shoot Tracy
through the head, but Tracy saw the
move In the eyes Of the man he was
talking to. he swung round quick
and the bullet caught him in the neck
and partly paralyzed him.
Il was standing talking to the bar
Der. When the first shot was fred
he was lathering the man in the
chair. That man was out of the chair
well, you might say before the bar
Der actually heard the shot, or before
/ heard ii. The chair faced the sa-
loon, and the man must've jumped six
feet the first clip; he was through
that opening into the barroom fore
you could say 'Bingo!'
Tracy pulled when he was falling
or had pulled when he swung round
anyway, he pinched the trigger on
Sanger from the floor and the blamed
cartridge missed frei Tracy was up
on his elbow full of fight, but he was
going, and Sanger covered him again
TO finish him-and that shot was
never fired. l ran into the doorway
myself and there, three feet to one
side Of me, the man with the lather
on his face was cutting In. He had his
gun down on Sanger before Sanger
could pull the trigger the second
time, and he just naturally threw a
bullet right across the room into
Sanger's middle. More than that: be-
fore Sanger struck the floor, the slim
man in the. lather put another bullet
through Sanger's head-if l hadn't
seen it couldn't We believed 1t. No
man could ever told me two shots
could be fred so close together from
one gun
by this time the whole Calabasas
bunch was shooting at Slim and there
I was like a dummy, not three feet
away from him: one bullet glanced
of the jamb and nicked me right
here in the ribs" Doctor Carpy put
the forefnger OF his right hand dra-
matically into his right side to indi-
cate the exact spot.
Hang 1t, Wentworth" he resumed.
I'm sorry you didn't see it. There 1
was, and there was the man in the
lather dancing around like a happy
jack, shooting Eastern you could
think and actually for a minute tax
ing the fire Of five men; and every
time his gun went off the cuss
knocked one of 'em down. 1t was too
fast to watch just kind of saw 'em
Keeling around like tenpins and 1
watched the slim fellow, paralyzed.
He was shooting with his right side
turned to the bunch and his left arm
straight out behind him, crooked I'D
in the air-and dancing on his toes :"
Carpy laughed at the recollection.
81 heard him shout something, but of
course l couldn't get it; Dave Tracy
got 1t, though. The slim fellow
capered all the time nearer to Tracy.
and Tracy, all the time, had been
dragging himself toward the slim fell
low What he shouted was-so he
told me afterward-'Your gun, Dave,
your gun And, by hockey, when he'd
emptied his own gun, he dropped 1t
like hot potato and grabbed Tracy's
out of his hand. But there wasn't
any need of another gun-four men
were down-three of EN- never did
get up. Sanger-well, he was sem
fenced twice-once through the heart
and once through the head: 1t was
against the Law, for no mans life
ought to be put in jeopardy twice for
the same offense. Two of the bunch
were on their feet-one mans gun
was empty and his hands were up so
high he broke his fingers trying to
poke 'em through the ceiling: the
other fellow was Logging 1t for the
door, and shot from Tracy's gun
fired by his partner nicked the vel
low man in the leg-down he went.
Wentworth, the room was so full
Of smoke / couldn't see the middle
at all And there was the slim fellow
on one side-gun in hand and watch
ing the room with eyes as green as a
cat's-stooping and helping Dave with
his left hand to crawl behind a table
that was knocked over.
II stepped forward to the end of
the bar and put up my hand. Boys
1 says, I call this fight fit Whoever
you are, partner 1 calls out to the
slim fellow. put up your gun. You've