The Washington times., 1932-05-12
CHAPTER Nv.
"Whither Thou GOest
T Will GnO

he was on his way. And he had |
gotten this far.
Twenty years old. A lawyer-of |
sorts. A citizen and county at
torney by grace of Texas dis
penSation and his own lively
tongue. But sti1l a. penhiless kid
-aS green as grass.
But he could fight. And he
could grin. And he knew a lot
about men
Fishing, fighting, fooling around
with country kids. EARNING in
bung houses. swinging laSSO
in round ups. sitting in poker
games back of the drug store.
playing semi-pro baseball. and
then those months of study in a
shabby law office, watching
shrewdly the Shenanigans of law
as-is. John Nance Garner had
learned about men from all that.
Wrangling cattle - Wrangling
humans-there wasn't such q
great difference. The main thing
was to know what you wanted
and get going.
Money No Object
Well, he knew what he wanted.
He wanted people. People and
power. They we're all that
counted. Money and fame and
the thrills they brought with
them-they didn't matter to him
then-they were never to matter.
People and power-that was
what he was after. And he'd
made his start. But he still had
plenty of scrap ahead
There was that cough. 1t had
bothered him for years. F)r two
more years, in the heavy atmo-
sphere of the lower country, he
stuck it out.
Then-when even his grit
couldn't conquer it-he pulled up
stakes and headed into the up
lands of Uvalde county-where
the air flowed, hot and bubble
bright, over endless acres OF sage
and chaparral.
There he hung out his shingle
and collected his first partner.
His partner was another Red
River youngster; Tully Fuller, not
quite as young, but fully as green
as himself. What they lacked in
experience, however, they. made
up in nerve.
Uvalde had 5000 citizens-not
counting the dawgs. To young
Jack Garner that meant practi-
cally 5000 prospective clients
every citizen being good for at
least one rumpuS, according to his
way of reasoning.
No one need Starve, human ma
ture being what it was. And, in
case human nature proved ornery
and refused to provide legal COM
plications, it could always be
poked up.
Newspaper Added
One way to poke 'em up was to
run a newspaper. There was
small weekly paper for sale-then
Uvalde Leader. In the month he
hung out his Shingle he also
accumulated that paper and be-
gan, as lawyer and editor, to get
them both coming and going.
And now are you seeing the
classical American picture of a
rising young lawyer shedding his
cowboy manneriSms, acquiring the
culture of a white collar auto
crat? Then you're seeing wrong.
He was rising all right. Like
sour dough-all over the place!
And he was, in his own, unique
manner, becoming an autocrat. |
But he was still the sun blistered,
sand beaten, tobacco chawin', |
poker playing, sunnuvagun, the
other coW-hands hailed as Cactus
Bill.
In fact, poker playing was one
of the best things he did. Some !
might call it pastime =. but it |
looked more like a technique. Ger
tain envious parties remarked that |
what he couldn't collect in q JUS
tice court or with a sideswiping
editorial, he managed to rake in |
with a royal flush: Or bluff |
through on a couple Of deuces.
POker-Face Wins
That poker-face grin of his.
he was cashing in on it now.
Cactus Bill"-and how! And look
out for those Stickers!
He was "a. He was 25. He
had left the cough behind. He
had left the empty pocket be-
hind. He was still living on four |
bits day-lnore or less.
But he had stock in a bank |
and his fist on. some likely real |
estate. There wasn't anything on |
earth, short of his own back |
teeth, that he couldn't or didn't |
trade for profit.
Then, to make the prospect |
more pleasing. they began to sug-
gest him for the county judgeship. |
Yes. he certainly was holding |
winning hands. But he still |
didn't have full house.
Was he thinking about that? |
No one knew what he was think
ing No one had ever known