The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 1, 1900, Page 5

dissatisfied been born a cowboy. ad been In the sad- teomings were e of the raw- was left to shift he took to er that : [ A . g Lariat P unrest. David s o after the ‘ a s 1l was left T as ere r £ ger.” called out Bill lust- way somehow 1 E ¢ from yway . w ? E 3 kled the big star ¥ cowhide boots and s feet. “Bos- gnifying indiffer- nd clumsily adjust- shaped boots. e. He was as he was about which upward suddenly her, ke a shot from never man fook so ex- so short naice. Bill ly. It was a com- r him to witness, ronco was noad from When the stranger th of his flight, how- transpired which awak- est. The stranger’s feet ard so that hi. &S Vere As he begax to d excitedly, “Hell es if he lights that ng dropped and ing him to extended feet er with all the is pair of thighs unit- g t effort, and the long points r their cruel length into e it was the bronco, as well as e riled gasp. The tail e head stuck out in the neck, and with nimal dashed madly ain and again those went outward and back g sides of the as- d the last view of hi ed to Lariat Bfll was tte against the southern sky as ppeared over the ridge, Boston's king out at right angles from dy, preparing for another san- guin onslaught of the spurs, went"slowly up to where the miser- © cream-colored cayuse was lazily gras. 4 etanding with his back toward the azimal's heels invitingly tickled him with & whip The cayuse was too tired nd to the suggestive azy to to k and Bill turned away Then all of a sudden he excitedly and began to the gray dreariness of the £ plain, startling the sluggish nt of the Stinking Water Creek, b kK from the mud-filled wails g shack, the profanity of juivered and throbbed and all the emotional vigor of isgust with himself and his ken French he saddle, a st leave with a and the seventh amped around moodily anger, pondering over t remained was a poor enough to save walk- had nét forgiven the < him that ‘well- d the deserved ifficlently clear idea of the realize that deserts in the 7 the tenderfoot had but the more rence the that he had Boston was no this. bec visitor with fon. 1 sharply . laconical- 0. a lengthy ex- und the shack for 1d to go down to d 1 leave his f comfortable. The apprc and calléd for fch he responded his clothes, he emerged Up went his d what it was all one who knew rey could not buy the one conclusion denly - wished n. He had al- r warker, although hristian teachings as he tried to expla d a trifle fishy, but one of the knowledged it would have been like one of Bill's pranks, though 't quite believe it. ‘However, this convinced that rmed and entirely at a , they sat down to 1y all agreed to wait six " days, that time. either Biil would show up or he wouldn't. If he put in an appearance and claimed the bronco the parson would have to swing. If he didn’t show up it would be proof that something was wrong and they’d hang the parson anyway. The parson was taken to Sheridan and the six days dragged along wearily for the accused. He read the little pocket Bible he had with him, but he aidn't make any ostentatious show of his re- ligious pursuit Sundown of the sixth day came and no BIll; then 7 o'clock, and it began to get dark, and finally through the streets, or rather the street, of the town there wound a motley procession of cowboys and gamblers and some of the better ele- ment to see a parson’s feet fan the breeze for snatching a bronco. A lone tree, none too tall for the grew- some purpose, stood just on the out- skirts of the town, and to this the crowd escorted its victim. Arriving at the tree, the spokesman told the preacher to say anything he had to A because they meant business, and the man who took Lariat Bill's bronco would have to swing. For once in his life the Rev. Minot Wait got down on his knees feeling that between him and his Maker there was only 2 dangling bit of rope. As he knelt the cowboys gathered around him in a semicircle, luridly lighted up by a blaz- ing fire of grass and branches which had Been hastily heaped together. That row of faces the parson never for- gt On the outskirts of the crowd a new arfyzl made his presence known just in the mick of time. Lariat Bill, astridg an crnety cream-colored cayuse, -called out to know what was up, and as he pressed forwatd, not waiting for the dozens of answe® that came to his query, he cried: “Why, thunder 'n’ lightnin’, boys, that's the gospel cove that rode my bronco. He's one of 1§, he is, and the man that dars say he’s & thief. answers to Lariat Bill Ye har m#&" and regardless of the kneel- ing posturé of the preacher he rushed forward amd jerked the man to his. feet, telling the aory in his own picturesque way to the yowd. Then there was a wild yelling atd shooting of gune and the Rev. Minot Wait sald afterward that the way he was borne around on theé shoul- dérs of that fraatic, hooting stream of hu- manity totally eclipsed the great furor over him the day at Harvard when he made the great Kick to goal that saved the 'Varsity elever) from defeat. Bill Conduéts JServic The parson was the hero of the hour; the only man in Wyeming who had ever bestrode Blll's bronco an hour at & stretch, and a tenderfoot to boot. The Big Horn Sentinel, over in Big Horn, less than twenty found disbelief {n the statement. This, of course, was-accounted for by the petty Jjealousy existing between the rival towns;. but when Mr. Wait preached several times in Sheridan, having in his congregation every ‘resident of the place, Lariat Blil rode with him over to Big Horn. In front of the little one-story rough board bullding where the Sentinel was la- boriously printed on a slow hand press, Bill refned in his. bronco and the editor came out. Bill remarked,. “Ther wuz a piece in yer paper abeut the parson’s not riding Bill's bronco. Did yer know that Lariat ‘Bill SED he rode 1t? Yer didn't? Wall, I thought.so. Ye har me: The par- son rode the-bronco, and—ye know the rest,” and Bill's hand worked nervously about his belt. Then he rode along, the parson following. The next day the Sen- tinel came out with its regular weekly budget of news, and in prominent type on the first page the editor mentioned the circumstance of the parson’s wonderful s ared .the preced- Gt e Gt il five miles distant, expressed a pro- ‘These who knew Bill best about the Big Horn soon began to ses a change in his actions, He seemed far mors quiet than was his wont, and only now and then {would he break loose in one of those blighting storms ©f profane utteranes Wwhich would rattle the paper on the walls of the barrooms. The town hall served as a schoolhouse and a church and a dance hall. When service was held there, and sometimes this was not oftener than once in three months, the bar was concealed by a cur- tain and the preacher stood on a little platform in front of it. The Rev. Mr. Wait held several meet- irgs in the little hall. The fourth night Bill attended. He sat back by the big cast-fron stove in the rear of the hall and every few minutes, as the preacher’s words went out to his listeners, a stream of tobacco juice was ejected from between Bill's lips and striking the red hot stove sent up dense clouds of steam, accom- panied by a hissing as of a hundred snakes let loose. Swish-sen-sss-sss, with unvarying mo- notony of degree and kind, Bill kept up his aqueoas fusillade until suddenly he was jolted out of his revery by these words: ‘‘There are chalrs in hell hotter than that stove, brother. Be warned in time that one of them is not for you.” Every one looked around, expecting to hear something hot from Blll, but instead of that, he.got_up slowly and walked forward four or'five rows of benches and sat down. Then, un: like, he rose again and waiked clear up to whers the par- son stood, His slouched hat covering his heavy brows and with his belt bristling with cartridges and a brace of Colt's re- volvers, he was as picturesque a brigand as ever interrupted a meeting. He slowly took off his hat and mopped his brow with his sleeve and, looking over the half- filled hall, he began slowly: *Boys, I'm fer the parson fust, an’ after him I'm fer Christ. I ain’t none of yer litery cusses like the parson har, to twist things ‘round so's they ‘sound like somethin’ else, but if anybody knows the parson's dead game, it's Lariat Bill. Did he go ‘whinin’ ‘round when Bill told him to jump the bronco? Naw. Ner .crawfish when the fellers had the larint over the tree? Naw. An’ he ain’t crawfishin’ now, he ain’t; an’ yer just've got to cum to Jesus if he ses =o. That's whar Larlat Bill stands.” And he pulled out his two big six-shooters and laid them on either side of the open Bible in front of the aston- ished preacher. “What d'I ever know 'bout relig’n er any of them fangles he calls souls? Not a — —— thing. Nobody ever told me ther wus any God that'd brand every maverick that didn’t stan’ up fer his boy, ‘n" how wus I ter know that anybody wus chasin’ 'round to fin'’ me when I never knowed I wus Jost? Who me that? W'y, the parson.” “He deait tne caras, he a14, an’ ses as how he'd give me a king what wud take all the tricks. 'N’ who ever heard of one king that'd beat a straight flush er a full hand, and he didn’t want any ante or any chips fer the kitty. He just wanted yer to straddle his biind and trust ter luc ¢?N' I never knowed any of the big fellers ‘like No and Sollum an’ Moses. W'y thar wus Moses—he was a cowboy. Didn't the gambler's kid find him whar the bull xushes and dldn't all the coves they write about herd cattle in Egypt and paint the doors with sheep blood. so the Lord iwuddent kill 'em wen he got hot about Faro. That's what I call len some- thing, an’ I got it all from the parson, an’ wot's good enough fer him is a full hand with Larfat Bill." There was a strange hush over the con- gregation as BEfll resumed his seat and when the preacher took him by the hand and offered up a prayer for the rude com- ing into the fold, there were several others who came forw: and the Rev. Mr. Wait feit a greater the penitents before the th than had ever come to him in the brief period of his ministry. After this Bill was almost constanfly with the parso ir by hour he listen- ed to the re the word" and puz- gled over the mysteries of the H ‘which than hia. At times when a portion y Writ, have puzzled many wiser heads under- standing break forth into streams of cuss words, before which hisy young preceptor bent as a tree in a gale, but never on A he try to stem the tide of Bill's profanity. 8o Bill cursed this one and commiserated that as his friend read thelr experiences from the Book and the parson pursued his task knowing the outcome was for good. Finally, when the h y snows threat- ened, the Rev. Minot Wait left Big Horn to return to his Eastern home. surprise Lariat Biil ansounced X* tion of preaching to the Big Horn con- gregation until the spring round up when necessarily his work would call him else- ‘where. s No congregation ever hung more atten- tively on the words of a teacher than this one in Big Horn awaited the teachungs of Lariat BiilL He taught them much they could have acquired in no dther way. In the past few weeks Bill had been an earnest and eagerly attentive listener, although his memory for dateg and events proved to ba at times unreliable. Still, ‘n the main, he did well. Beside the Bible on the rough pulpit he was wont to place his two six- shooters pointing over the heads of his hearers and on a nail at the side his lariat was cofled and hung. Now and then when a youth of the congregation forgot the sacredness of the place Bill's lariat flew out straight as an arrow and settled down over the head and shoulders of the offender, while Bill jerked him into si- lencs. Then the service would procead. he A Adam and Noah, Methusaleh and Solo- mon, Moses and the Apostles wero all hopelessly confused in Bill'’s recitals of the events which go to make up biblical history and with him the Feast of the Passover and the Lord's Supper were woe- fully entangled. But on one point Bill's mind was defin- itely fixed; he had long entertained the notion that the parson had only served bread and wine on the communion table because he was pressed for cash and couldn’t afford anything more elaborate. But Bill's purse was not yet emptied of his season’s earnings and he generously concluded that on communion Sunday there should be a'spread the people would remember for years to come. His first communion Sunday.was in truth the red letter day In the history of Big Horn, just as the lynching day was the event indelibly recorded in the annals of Sheridan. The congregation assembled as usual and Bill preached from the text, “It is I, be not afrald.” He dwelt for some time on the events attending the creation, and when he reached the flood he told how Bolomon gathered together two of every kind of living thing and with five hun- dred wives and a thousand conocubines lived in the whale's belly for forty days and forty nights, with nothing to eat but a parbile of loafers and fish (being evi- dently a confused recollection of the para- ble of the loaves and fishes). Then be pictured Savior descending I the ark with his people across butlding up pillars of fire by night se he could see the serpents in the wilderness, and thus by start grinations as to time and circu T b rrows to Gethse-! brought the Man of S mane. And sometimes as he twisted along fu. his devious development ~f the theme he brought in the Rev. Minot Wait's experi- ence with the stolen bronco until some of the denser minds of his congregation rson was the gTew to belleve that the pa hero of the big book whic at occaslonally as he talked. Thus this halt end blind one wemt on Bill looked g heights of exalted faith, to ately perhaps the crystal gates of that city “not bufl with hands,”™ reaching out tremblingly to part the cur- tain before the Holy of Holles and kneel- y and wor » before the un- speakable glories of harmony emanating from the e b4 ain of the divine. ‘When B drew aside the curta had finished his sermon he bar and to suditors there was on his inv wiches anc meats and drinks, withou Bill stood behin one who came first he reached for he thought of wi him—that salva he motioned draw r This the In: He was White Ho: . Montana Crows. White bungry, and as talked to him Lord’s supper, eat and all he co worst firewater an Indtan Nearly ever wonder if W when he did ratsed the aggered ou “White Hor lg’'n. He go Up at the t wokwos was which _con White Horse, w again, approached irreg @rop entrance of the te tn. He pu brought terrible force ‘When he had r v e fell into a dr One day In Bill lariated tinually fighting As the lariat sett shoulders Bill } and left his bronco to b While thus d v trom his por vast herd swerved in Biil's ~ing the bv soma distance ghtened the 000 cattle bearing own and tram- down upon him, he was ipled into an unrecognizable mass of hu~ man onal missionaries ter agency to work 4 gather then when they wers unaceom- firewa they turn away In disgust. And the ful effects of interprated by Uttle redskins to fes the fargets of their Christian workers were on the governmen$ ter for protectiom. which answers for Il that was lame he pat applied C Mewokwos, u the Bible at , D. D. & 1 to a wild bull, wed “tm. If yer d them not, fer children ar s uv sich is t achers p tilustrious t ssessed of @Gegree of T according to and when th 3 off the abstracts of ti less acreage of heaven, s Lariat Bill will be found w: Leather Made of Fish Skins Jhat Proves Durabls. The United States Fish Commission re- cently has been gettin gether a collec- tion of leathers made from the skine of: fishes and other aquatic animala It not only of Interest to the curiositys| séeker, but is intended to have & very practical value, showing Incidemtally what may be done with the outer coats of many creatures whose hides are com- esteemed worthless. Aiready the world's supply of leather derived from land animals does not equal the demand, the utmost efforts are being made cover or manufacture some sort of] available substitute, but hitherto nobody( seems have thought of utilizing the materfal afforded by creatures that live in the water. Several kinds of fishes have sking thay make excellent leather for some purposes, For example, salmon hide serves so well “in this way that the Esquimaux of Alaska make waterproof shirts and doots out of it—in fact, even whole suits of “clothes. They also cut jackets out of codfish skins, which are very serviceadle garments. Already frogskins are coming into use for the mounting of books where an exceptionally delicate material for fine bindings is required. Whaleskin would make an admivadble leather for some purposes, and it i o shame to think of the countiess thousands | of hides of these cetaceans that have been thrown away since the fishing for them began. Porpolse leather is even now eme! ployed for razor strops, belng considered’ & very superior material. Seal leather, dyed in a number of different colors, ig included in the Fish Commission's eel- lection. Hair seals are still enormousty in the North Atlantic and other seas, and. it is not difficult to kill them, so that they'! afford a very promising source of leather| supply. Wairus leatlier has come Inta the' market recently, but it will hardly mlg to much commereiall asmuch as the! animals are being rapldly exterminated. Another kind of leather now coming inte the market s that of the sea elephant. Up to within a few years ago a species of! sea elephant was found on the Pacifie . Coast, ranging as far north as Lowes' California, but it has been entirely ex.) terminated. A related species oocurs in' Antarctic seas, chiefly on Kerguelea Ig.| land, and it was driven likewise almoge to the point of extinction a dozen years' back. So few of them were left became unprofitable to go after them, i 50 they bad a chance to Increase .'.."‘.3 at was In him, g Angel shall draw tle to the measure- that ely