Glacier County chief., 1939-10-20
CHILD OF EVIL
''s:.:: ::s s:- By OCTAvUS ROY COHEN

pool-room gang lay unconscious.
Kay ran forward and dropped to her
knees beside the bleeding form Of the
old man-dabbing at the ugly
wound with q pitifully inadequate
handkerchief.
The Sheriff looked down at the
figure Of Doc Morrison. He asked,
who done this?"
| There was no answer. Sheriff
Griffin glared at the others. II
know ev'y last one of you. And
somebody's goin' to pay for this"
He bent over Doc Morrison. He
placed the gun beside him on the
concrete floor.
Hes bad hurt" announced the
Sheriff in a solemn voice. ''I'm hold
ing all of you. An if he dies ="
The hoodlums had lost their bel
ligerence. Even these young men
had known and loved Doc Morrison.
They were from households in which
the venerable Doc had done his
greatest charity. Somebody said, in
a hushed voice, "Godl. wouldn't
have hurt Doc for nothin'l"
The Sheriff said, ''This town has
stood for lot. But this is some
thin it won't stand for"
In the days which followed, the
citizens of Beverly did not gossip.
They talked. Talked soberiy and
sanely. Murder and violence and
drinking and gambling had not done
this, but a serious injury to Doc
Morrison was more than enough.
Even the young men who had
comprised the mob, the Bon Ton
hangers-on, were awed by the enor-
nifty of what they had done. Awed
and frightened. The pool-room itself
was suddenly deserted as though
because the raid upon Andy Forrest
had started from there-a sigma
had been put upon it. The young
men who chemically infested the
place lost their boisterousness. They
declared to one another that they
was sho' sorry; that there want no
one of them that would of hurt Doc
Morrison TO- nothin'. And they
meant it.
Contributing causes were forgot
ten in the actually of Docs in
jury. For the first time in a month
Kay Forrest was not the chief sub
ject Of conversation. They talked
about Doc and of the fight in which
he had been injured. The night of
the third day the citizens held a
mass-meeting. There was little ora
tory. Men of substance spoke grave
ly, quietly and seriously. The spirit
Of the town had changed. This i'm
pending tragedy stripped the town
of civic pretense and made it acute
ly aware of certain internal prob
lens.
On the morning of the fourth day
the physician In charge announced
publicly that Doc Morrison had re-
gained consciousness and would re-
cover. That morning the sun shone.
That morning citizens of Beverly
smiled again, and today they dared
talk of what they would have done
had Doc died. They had been afraid
to speak Of that before, lest-as
some of them expressed it-lest they
put bad mouth on him.
A new wave Of protest and indip-
nation swept the more distant sec
tons of Beauregard County, pene-
trating deep into Big and Little Moe
casin Swamps. Wel-meaning but
definitely illiterate preachers once
again impressed upon their tiny con-
gregations that this was the work
of the Devil; that the injury to Doc
had been the final warning of a
Providence reused to wrath. They
yelled hellfire and damnation. And
in Beverly itself, the same senti-
ments were expressed, though in diff
ferent and perhaps less violent lam
| guage.
Resolutions were passed. Petitions
were circulated. A special meeting
of the Town Council was called, aft
er which Mayor Alec Roberts held a
long and earnest discussion with So
hcitor Gabe Dixon and Sheriff Floyd
Griffin. The Sheriff found himself
fighting for right and justice: first,
because that promised the greatest
number OF votes in the not-too-dis-
tant primary; and, secondly. be-
cause he, too, had been deeply fond
of Doc Morrison.
Sheriff Griffin thereupon visited
Robbie Morse, owner and operator
of the White Star Hotel. He said,
Il amt happy to tell you, Robbie
but things has got to be diffent FUN
now on"
diff ent-how?"
mo mo- Ticker to be sold heah-
or drunk, either. TO- that matter"
Mr.. Morse shook his round head
sadly. II seen that comm the min
ute them crazy young bucks hurt
Doc Morrison" He tried to find
some solace. in the situation. "But
tourists amt concerned about this
thing. are they, Floyd?"
II reckon not. Yo' business should
1 LII =