Glacier County chief., 1940-02-09
When Bromcho Charlie Got
His Man Near Pony i'm rs

why don't you say How to your
boSs?, he snarls. A body'd think you
warn't glad to see met And he laughs.
mean like, and slaps the boy across the
face.
Leslie jest drew back, and he looks
straight at Reilly.
u already ben a-talkin' to the
boss he says. That's him, over there.
Name of Broncho Charlie
With that, this Reilly hauls back
his foot and kicks the kid in the belly,
and knocks him across the campfire.
fellows runs to haul him out of the
flames. Reilly yells,
Any hombre that wants to say I'm
not boss of this outfit will get worse
than that
The older Leslie boy, his face as
gray as ashes, runs toward the chuck
wagon for his gun, and Reilly draws
he'd gone two yards. Then Reilly, his
little eyes red, spins around on me.
Betsy Rises to Occasion
There was only one thing to do
and I done it. I had my Betsy out be-
lore he'd lifted his hand the second
time, and I shot him through the
neck. He fell, and I could see him
twitchin' to get his siX-shooter in line
SO I let him have 1t a second time
Varney & Farrell outfit on the road
The tough miner he'd brought with
him to help put me away was on his
horse and off. before the Shootin' was
falr over The rest of the boys never
said a word"
Broncho Charlie knew he would have
to stand trial for the killing of Reilly.
though the case was clearly one Of
self-defenSe, so he rode into Pony and
surrendered to the sheriff The sheriff
understood the situation, also under
stood that the important thing was
getting the herd through. so he took
Broncho Charles word of honor that
could to stand trial. The herd was
taken into. the Gallatin, and Charlie
headed back for Pony. There had been
considerable time spent on the trail
and the fall of the year was coming
on. Charlie did not hurry. In his own
words:
Il reckon you think I was dawdlin'
along on purpose, to put off seem the
sheriff. But you're wrong. There amt
no use in tryin' to fool yourself that
away. If you're goin' to hang, you
might as well get 1t over with"
In the Madison valley Charlie ran
across big bunch of longhorns on the
trek. and hired out with them for a
week or two, to ride herd. Here he al
story is considerably lighter than the
one concerning Reilly.
with this outfit was a Mexican fell
low, name of Jesus Manuel, dark
skinned fellow. always sleepy-eyed and
surly. Him and me didn't cotton to
each other at all
"Ridin' herd at night, you know,
there's four punchers, one to each side
of the cattle, so that each man covers
no ~ s,+
still on his horse, watchin' the critters
chew their cud and careful to keep his
eyes and ears open, so that if any one
OF EN- gets to movin' too fast out of
the herd he can ride up on him and
turn him back.
Rode Both Sides OF Herd
well, began to notice that several
nights, when I was in charge, the
young fellow on the next post to mine
would do more ridin' than seemed
right. Looked as if he was handlin'
two sides of the herd instead of one.
So I rode up to him one night and
asks him what's the idea. And he says:
Jesus Manuel is supposed to take
care of the other corner, but he seems
Just to lean over his saddle all the
time. so Just ride over to see that the
herds quiet over that way
THE next night I watched and sure
enough the thing the kid said hap
pened. can't see the Mexican from
where I'm stationed, but I see the kid
ridin' his round for him again. So I
took a look and see that all's quiet
with my side of the herd, and then
rode around and come up soft behind
the Mexican. I'll be hogtied if he
wasn't sittin' there, sound asleep.
Jesus MANUEL yells, but not so
loud as to scare the cattle.
He Jumps so quick he like to fell off
Isl. Carlos he says, Que pasaP'
.Nothin's happened-yet!' I tells
him, What do you think you're dom?
Who in hell wants sleepin' night
herd rider?'
"I ride my own way, you blank
blank gringoI he says.
II was so mad that near brought
| Betsy out, and gave him what I gave
Reilly. You know, there's somethin
queer about that: when you've killed
man, it don't seem no trouble at all
| to kill another. in fact, it comes right
easy.
THAT greaser never knew how close
to death he was. If he had, he'd have
been crossin' himself so quick you'd
have thought he had st. Vitus dance!
But knew that shot Just then at
such close range would stampede the