Carbon County news., 1937-10-29
''Part. what else?,'


"Part. What else2'
''It was fred from in front of hin
a little to his right-hand side, by 6
man on a horse"
''What else?" ..-....:.
'"The shell was hon1e-loaded. Anc
that's all I know, YET.
Old Man Coffee was regarding
Wheeler with a peculiar fixed ex
preston. "Son," he said at last
II back down; Pm free to admit
had you wrong. You're further
along the trail than most of 'em.
You got the shotgun right, at least.
I suppose you seen that one shot
pellet begged into the seam of the
leather on Lon Magoon's saddle
horn?"
eyes; I saw it."
'"That little pellet is pretty well
hid. I guess nobody saw it but you
and me. But the rest Of your dope's
wrong. For one thing - Magoon
wasn't killed by no man on a
horse!"
''How do you know that?"
''How did you know the shell was
home-loaded?"
Because the charge was weak.
The sign showed the horses was
close together when the shot was
fred. II the charge hadn't been
weak that pellet Of lead would have
plowed a whole lot deeper than it
did," -:
Old Man Coffee nodded approval.
"a good catch, !" he said. But I
think you got it wrong. If the charge
had been fred from close like you
say, the killer could have rammed
the long shotgun barrel plumb
against Magoon there wouldn't
have been no shot in the saddle
horn. It was distance slowed that
pellet. Lon Magoon was shot by a
third man, from up on the fat
ground above the cutl"
Seems like. :" Wheeler objected,
''the trail of the third man should
have showed up, somewhere about"
"Maybe; if it had been read prop
er before the cattle paved out the
sign. But-there'ss one man mixed
into this that knows too much about
trails to have left one himself-even
il he'd been there. " They fell si-
lent, while the hard-Working engine
threw the rack of the sroad behind
them in big spasms and gouts of
dust; and far ahead presently
showed the faint disturbance on the
plain which was Inspiration.
Inspiration consisted principally
Of q main street, backed By a few
score houses, some of them neatly
painted. with a tree or two; many
simply unpainted shacks.
. To stranger the town would not
have seemed so full of people as
Tulare Callahan's report perhaps
suggested. But Billy Wheeler at
once recognized a dozen or, more
cars which would not ordinarily
have been there, and about an equal
of doing COW ponies And
--as the "a cars pulled UP. in front
of the little frame building that
housed the county Office Wheeler
noticed small inconspicuous stir in
aoorways, too casual moving to-
gether Of spur-heeled Ioungers at
two or three places along the street. .
Billy Wheeler caught Horse
Dunn's signal as he slid his roadster
10 a stop. He stepped down from
The wheel and walked forward to
Dunn's car. *>:.=~ *>=S
1--WE want to all kind Of keep to-
gether, here, as we move into this"
Horse Dunn said casually. II don't
;hink there's going to be any trou-
ole Of any kind. Still wish Bob
Elagg had got here. There aren't
30 many Of us as there has been
some years"
The sheriff pulled up and stepped
% the sidewalk. T.
"Court won't open yet for a little |
,it," he said. ''You, Wheeler, park |
volrseH around here close. You're
ucAy not to be in the lookup, by |
Iod! You, Dunn, I'll speak to you |
inside. I've got couple Of ques-
ions / figure to ask"
.tAH right" Horse Dunn said. |
Come on, folks" s. IT,:
'The rest of you stay outside"
sheriff Amos said. You're the one
ni1,7 IN 4olLr IN nl1nn Ul~.,zt