The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 23, 1902, Page 10

THE SUNDAY CALL. Th e Qlients of Aaron Green. (Copsr 1902, by Robert Howard Ruesell.) >1 ND so there were no lawyers in 7{ Wolfvilie?” I said. The Old Cat- s | led his pipe, lighted it, - 1 puffed experimentally. There sy wus a handful of wordless mo- evoted to pipe. Then, as one sat- smoky success, he turned at- and my remark. n Wolfville?” he repeated. v; none whatever! It's my s ely though that some of ‘em’s ne come buttin® in by now. Them s a heap persistent, not to say soon or late, they shore cvery camp. Which we'd have ig us long ago; but nacher- s far as argyments goes, we Se’f preservation is a law r, an’ these yere maxims applies nmoonities as much as ever they nal. Wherefore, when- ¢ law wolf scoutin’ to get our wind, we em- nts for lyin’, fills him up teaches him that to to put down his des- 1, that a-way; an’ s whatever of plans plumb prompt, g'in us n' tharin before I leaves for the East e yere coyotes crosses 1 Old Man Enright in Tucson, an’ his professional in- of camp. W I in the Oriental at the ime," sa ght, when he relates abou s adventure, ‘an’ this yere mav- erick goes to jumpin’ sidew: at me in a friendly m Bein' I'm a easy-man- with strangers, he has no acquainted. At last he e sort o' aims to pitch his Wolfville, hang out a shinzle, e § joorisprudence. ‘I was s he, ‘of openin’ a joint for tice of law. As a condition prior by the barkeep, an' one which mmends itse’f to me as dictated commonest caution, 1 figgers on of these yere steps.” does well,” I replies, “to consult 1 p'ints. 1 sees you're shore of a lawyer; for you handles ge like a mule-skinner does a ke whip. But jest the same, don't moment think of breakin’ in on le. That outfit don’t practice law ractices facts. It offers no pur game. Comin’ to Wolf- any conditions is ever a move- ment of gravity, an’ onless a gent is out to chase cattle, or handle kyards, or pro- vour vie she | poses to array hims'f in the ranks of eommerce by foundin’ a s'loon, Wolfville w not guarantee ahy positive re- ward.” “Then I jest won't come a whole ¥'s this low sharp. Whereupon we s in mootual drinks an’ disperses i destinies.’ What you tells this sport,’ says as Thompsou, who's listenin’ to En- ‘echoes my sentiments exact. Any- to keep out law! It aint alone them jedgments for divorce which my wife grabs off over in Laredo, but it is the frootes of a experience which has been as wide as it has been plenty soon, that law is only another word for trouble in most egreegious forms.’ “"So 1 decides,’ retorts Enright. ‘Still, I'm proud to be endorsed by as good a jeGge of public disorder an’ its preven- tives Texas Thompson. Sech approvals tends to stiffen & gent's play. As s. I reverses this practitioner an’ him t'other way. Wolfville is to- day the home of friendly confidence; the throne of yoonity and fraternal peace. It must not be jeopardized. We-all don't want 1o incur no resks by abandonin’ ourse’fs to real shore-enough law. It wou debauch us; we'd get plumb lo- coed take to racin’ wild an’ cimmar- on up down the range, an’ no gent could forsee results. *It's twenty years ago,’ goes on En. right, ‘while I'm that season in Texas, that a sharp packs his blankets into Yel- low City an’ puts it up he’ll practice scme law. No: he ain’'t wanted, but he never does give no gent a chance to say s0. He comes trackin’ in onannounced, an’ the fist .we-all saveys, thar he is, sign a-swingin’ an’ assurin’ the sports of Yellow City of the presence of AARON GREEN, Esq., Attorney-at-Law. * ‘Nobody gets excited; for while we- all agrees to prevail on him to shift his camp a heap, the sitvooation don't call for nothin’ precipitate. In fact, the idee of him or any other besotted person turn- in’ loose that a-way in Yellow City strikes us plumb loodicrous. Thar's nothin’ for a law gent to do. I've met up with a heap of camps in my day: an' I've wit- nessed the work of many a vig'lance committee; but I'm yere to state that for pains ardor an’ a energy that never sleeps, the Stranglers of Yellow Clty is kin a even break with the best. They uses up 2 1 of half-inch rope a ar; an' as for law an’ order an’' a scene of fragrant peace, that outfit is compar'ble only with flower gyardens on a quiet, zy Aug afternoon ** “This yere Aaron Green who pounces thus on Yellow City, intendin’ to foment litigations an’ go ropin’ ‘round for fees, is piumb young; but he's that grave an’ is hilarious to him. he tackles us in a ff way, an’ saws his pro- d onto each, an' tells him 1ll-ued - to come a-runnin’ rights preserved. Shore! The s this law person half way. T! with him, drinks with him, an’ fill an’ altogether regyards yoomerous prop’sition. up with fictions him as a mighty * *Also, cbser how tender he an’ him in varfous lies like of holy writ, they names n asy Aaron." Which he don't look on ‘Easy Aaron’ none too well as a title, an’ in- sists on bein’ called *Jedge Green,’ or even quar’ Green.” But Yellow City won't have it; she sticks to ‘E: Xaron'; an’ as callin’ down the ent camp offes of fever an’ onc up the insuit an’ s no further heed. them weeks he harbors with a gen'ril taste deevelops to hear this ar's a s solemn as e he prospect gation w dogs, an Aaron to forth a whole lot an' make a speec su'gests that he can yootilize the Burnt Boot Saloon as auditorium, an" offers as a subject, * her Glorious Past, her Glitterin’ ent an’} her Transcen- dent Footure! “‘Thar's a topic!” says Shoéstring Griffith to Easy Aaron—Shoestring is the cha'rman of the committee—‘thar's a burnin’ topic for you! An’ if you-all will only come surgin’ over to the Burnt Boot you're warm two right now, while event, I offers Cicero look like ‘But Easy Aaron waves 'em arrogant- ly away. He's plumb haughty.” He d clines to go bark at a knot that a-way. He says it'll be soon enoug- t@ enbuckle an’ swamp Yellow City with a flood of eloquence when proper legal ofcasion on- folds. It's then the delegation puts up a innocent job on Easy Aaron. *“In the room to the rar of the apart- ments where thi: re Easy Aaron hol forth as a practitioner, thar's a faroban as is nacheral enough. It's about second drink time in the afternoon, bein’ a time for the you makes to on of day when the faro game is dead. A passel of conspirators, with Shoestring Griffith in the lead, goes to this room an’' relaxes into a game of draw. Ea Aaron can hear the flutter of the chips through the partition—the same bein’ plenty thin—where's he camped iike a spider in its web, waitin’ for some sport who needs law to show up. Easy Aaron listens casocoal an’ indifferent to Sho string an’ his fellow blacklaigs as they deals, an’ antes, an’ raises, an’ rakes in pots, an’ everybody mighty joobil is frequent over pok ‘Of a suddent, vells an’ r criminations usurps the place of merr ment. Then the gun An’ half the lead comes spittin’ an’ splittin’ through ths intervenin’ partition like she" kyard board. The bullets fly high enough to miss Easy Aaron, but low enough to in- voke a gloomy an’' forbodin' frame of mi; “‘This yere artillery practice don't continue long before Yellow City descends on Shoestring an’ his band of homicides; an’ when they've got 'em sorted out thar’s Billy Goodnight, too defunct to skin, an’ Shoestring Grifiith does it. time lost; exact on expectant tiptoe for its But Shoestring raises objections. prey. “*“Which before ever you-all reptiles takes my innecent life,’” " “I want’s a lJawyer. I swings off in style, or I don't swing. You hear me! Send across for Easy Aaron. You can gamble s Shoestring, I'm goin’ to interpose a defense.’” “**“That's but right,” derson, who's says Waco An- e chief of the Stranglers. we be to revenge the on- timely pluggin’ of the lafe Billy Good- night, still this Shoestring outcast may demand a even deal. If some gent will sort o' ramble over an’ round up Easy Aaron, as Shoestring desires, it will be regyarded by the committee, an' this Iynchin’ can then proceed.” 05 Aaron is’ onearthed from onder his desk, where he's still quiled up, pale an’ pantin’, by virchoo of them- bullets. Tim Wise, who goes for him, explains that the shower is over; an’ also that he’s in enormous demand to save Shoe- string for beefin’ Billy Goodnight. At this Easy Aaron gits up an' coughs ‘round for a moment or two, recoverin' his nerve; then he buttons his. surtoot, assooms airs of deep sagacity, tucks the Texas Statootes onder his arm, repairs to the Burnt Boot an’' allows he's reudy’ Brochman’s MDaverick Continued From Page Four. ever would return when she named her to kman. That made no difference to the cowboy. He charged down upon the woman the moment he caught sight of her. The parson was with her. “What is this reason Missus Jim seys you know of why she and I should not Ty?" he demanded of her. you love the woman?” Rose asked er turn. “D'ye s'pose I'd be asking you this question if I didn’t?”" was Brockman's in- dignant retort. “Then there i no reason,” sald Rose. “She is a free woman and the man who really loved her would ask no more.” She looked anxiously at the parson as she spoke as if in dread that he might dispute the statement, for she sighed with relief as he repeated her words: “The man who really loved her would ask no more.” Brockman had turned away to go to Missus Jim, when Rose called after him: “We thought there was a reason, but there is not. Tell her that it was I ‘who was deceived.” “Play with me, will she?’ Brockman muttered as he strode along. ““Well, sir, I'm as skittish a8 a young mule myself. Just watch my smoke.” Hurrying to the corral he threw the saddle on the big gray and then loped @own the road to the cabin which shel- tered the woman of his choice. He ais- mounted at the door, pulled & long face, and waited for Missus Jim to appear, “I'm a-going to light out,” he sald, and his voice was full of grief. “I've come to tell you good-by. If you won't have me, you just won't, and 1 can't help it. Thought I'd let you know I was leaving.” Tears came into her eyes. She hadn't thought of this—hadn’t thought of his going out of her life altogether. And so tiiis was the end! She could not part with him in this way. Why not tell him all and let him decide? No; that would be— She held her hand out to him, but her voice she dared not trust. She owed so much to him. There flashed iuto her mind a picture of that ride in the night with all those velling fiends in pursuit, of that dreadful wound, of the great gray ‘horse—this horse at his side. She turned to the gray, ran her fingers through his mane, then pulled the slender head down and held it against her heaving bosom. “I've seen Rose,” Brockman sald abruptly, Ah! This, then, was the reason of his going. He knew the truth! Well, she could not blame him—only— She turned suddenly, seized his out- stretched hand and kissed it, her tears falling on it the while, then turned again and groped blindly for the door. Next instant she was caught up in his arms and he was kissing her lips. “Did you think I'd let you go?’ he sald hoarsely. “Not if all the reasons in the world stood between us. But there is no reason. Rose has sald 1t.” She struggled in his arms. *“Did she say that?” she gasped, afraid to believe, yet unwilling to doubt. “Did she say that?"" ‘These were the words,” sald Ed. ‘Tell her that it was I who was de- ceived.” " Ah, this was rest—this was joy, indeed. She yielded herself to him freely now. Brockman still held her in his arms, and his face was hidden within the poke of her sunbonnet when Rose and the par- son and Muggins passed along the road. Muggins coughed loudly. Missus Jim shrank away and would have darted Into the house only that Brockman held her. “You have come to the end of the trouble,”” Rose sald to her. “It is as it should be. “Huh!" sald Muggins. *“Ye all juet might give Rose here a hint that there's other troubles that could be mended same way.” “Would you take her for your wife?" Parson Potter demanded, turning upon him. “I sure would,” Muggins replied. ‘“‘Here, then, is a chance for a better life,”” the parson sald to Rose. *“Will you accept it, or will you wait? “It would take & better man than Mug- gins to make a better woman of me,” Rose faltered, looking with moist eyes into the parson's face. “Then remain with me,” he sald, con- tinuing on his way. ‘The Lord may yet R o Toed hiy Bioaty: oW hish 5 7 /Ol as alr % ured as she fol- me,” the woman murm: lowed on after him. THE END. “EASY” AARON, THE LAWYER OF YELLOW CITY. 10 aefend Shoestring from said charges. ‘‘“But not onless my fees is pald in advance,” says this yvere Easy Aaron. ‘' ‘At that we-all passes the hat and each chucks in a white chip or two. an’ when Waco Anderson counts up the re- sults it shows well nigh eighty-five dol- lars. Easy Aaron shakes his head like it's plumb small; but he takes it an’ casts himse'f loose. An’' gents, he’s shore verbose! He pelts an’ pounds that com- mittee with a hailstorm of observations ontil all they can do is set thar an’ wag thelr y'ears an’ bat their eyes. Waco Anderson himse'f allows, when discussin’ sald oration later, that he ain’t beheld nothin' so muddy an’ so much since the last big flood on the Brazos. ‘ ‘Aftér Easy Aaron holds forth for two <fhours, Waco preevails on him with a six- shooter to pause for breath. Waco's tried twenty times to get Basy Aaron to stop long enough to let the Stranglers get down a verbal bet or so; but that advocate declines to be restrained. He treats Waco’s efforts with scorn an’ rides him down like he, Easy Aaron, is a bunch of cattle on a stampede. Thar's no headin' or holdin’ him ontil Waco, in des- peration, that-a-way takes to tyrannizin' at him with his gun. “*“It's this,” says Waco, when Easy Aaron’s subdooed. “If the eminent gent will quit howlin’ right here, an’ never an- other yelp, the committes is willin’ to throw this villain Shoestring-loose. Every one of us is a slave to dooty, but nach- erally we pauses before personal dee- struction in a awful form. Billy Good- night is gone; ondoubted his murderer should win the doom meted out for sech atrocities; but dooty or no dooty, this committee ain’t called on to be orated to death in its discharge. Yellow City makes no sech demands of its. servants; wherefore, I repeats, that if this yere Easy Aaron sits whar he {s, plumb mute, we agrees to cut Shoestring's bonds an’ restore him to that freedom whereof he makes sech vivid use.” ‘At this Easy Aaron stands up, puffs out his chest, bows to Waco an’ the oth- ers, an’ waves 'em & patronizin’ gesture signifyin’ that their bluff is called. Shoe- string Griffith is ed. i “* ‘Doorin’ the subsequent line-up at the bar which concloods the ceremonies, Easy Aaron waxes indignant an’ is a heap har- rowed to observe Billy Goodnight imbib- in’ with the rest. “‘“I thought you-all dead!” says Hasy Aaron, In tones of wrathful reproach. “*““Which I was dead,” says Billy, sort o' apologetio, “but them words of fire brings me to. You can gamble, sech elo- quence simply ralses the dead.” “‘Easy Aaron don't make no answer, \ but as he jingles the fee, the sour look relaxes, an' you-all can see that while he. contemns the jest, he shore does not despise its silver linin' none. ‘“ ‘But as I remarks, Basy Aaron ain't with us over long. Yellow City is that much worse off than Wolfville that she has a little old 'doby calaboose that's been built since the old Mexico days. Thar's no shore-enough jedge an’ jury ever comes to Yellow City; an’ if the kyards had so come that we has a captive or two which the Stranglers deems beneath ‘em, they would have to be drug 'way off yonder to some county seat. It's but fair to say that no sech contretemp presents itse’f up to the advent of Easy Aaron; an’ while thar's now an’ then a small Honeymoon. To his joy reetained to defend It's shore pleasant tc sees the sport who's tent. Easy Aa of his ev. he walks o you-all can’t the speech he gets them ¢ We-al down most far off to be view from th Boot, an’ we-all divertin’. *** “These yere c to me, for he's astic he's got on some gent: “tl bound to fix my Demosthenes. You knows how 1 am about Shoestring? That wo marker to the orations I'll frame up these miscrea in the ecalaboose. why? Shoestring’s time I ai ank also, 'm more or buliets buzzin’ an’ hummir of bloo bottle flies abe now Will be different. I'll be vy an' I'll be in frienzy, the bein® a mood which Is excellent, p a gent is out to break records for 1 shore reygards them m many rungs for my could to open fame as the shoo passel m But a’ cool clamberin ladder of fame.” w A Easy Aaron goes pirootin’ forth plains to resoome bal practice. ‘It's mebby a exulta- tion of Easy Aaron’'s, a Wac: nderson an’ the others is in from the gos. Yel- low City is onusual vivaclous a: lively. You-all may jedge of the happy pros- perity of local feelin® when I res you that the average chs in at faro bank each evenin than $20,000. As for I1Basy Aaron. I «bout in clouds ot personal and spe delight. It's now crowdin’ along toward the time when him and his clients will adjourn over to that county seat an’ give Aaron the op- portunity to write less rolls of fame “‘But black ¢ s name on the death- lot. appointment gets Easy Aaron ‘square in the door. One mornin’ he -reepairs to the calaboose to consult with the felons on whose interests he's ridin” herd. Horror seizes him; he finds the cells as vacant as a echo “Where's these yere clients” agks aron, while his face grows white. amogsed!” says the Mexican who carries the calaboose keys; an’ with that he turns In mighty composed to roll a + cigarette. *“* “Vamoosed whers at? pursoos Easy Aaron. *“*“Por el Inferno!" says the Mexica: he's got his cigarette lighted an’ is puffiin’ as contented as hossthieves. “See thar, goes on the greaser, indicatin’ E: Yy Aaron gazes where the Mexican an’ his heart turns to ice. Thar swayin' an’ swingin’ like tassels In the mornin’ breeze, an’ each as dead as Santa Anna, he beholds his entire docket hangin® to the windmill. Easy Aaron approaches an’ counts ‘em up. Which they’re all thar. The Stranglers shorely makes a house cleanin’. As Easy Aaron looks upen them late clients he wrings his hands. “‘*“Thar hangs fame,” says Easy Aaron; “thar hangs my chance of emi- nence. That eloquence, wherewith my keart is freighted, an’ which would have declar’d me the Erskine of the Brazos, is ed with my clients.” Then wheelin’ co. Anderson, who strolls over, Aaron demands plenty ferocious: ““Whoever does this yere dastard deed?” “*“Which this agitated sport,” ob- serves Waco coldly, to Shoestring Grit- fith, who comes loungin' up likewise, “asks whoever does these dastard deeds? Does you-all recall the fate, Shoestring, of the last misguided maverick who gives way to sech a query? My mem'ry is never ackerate as to trifles, an’ I'm con- foosed as to whether he's shot or hung, or simply burned alive.” “*“That prairie dog Is hung a whele lot,” says Shoestring. ““Which the boys was goin’ to burn him, but on its appear- in’ that he puts the question more In ig- norance than malice, they softens on sec- ond thought to that degree they merely gets a rope, adds him to the windmill with the others, an’ lets the matter drop.” * ‘Easy Aaron don’t pursoo his explors= tions further. He can see thar's whet you-all might call a substratum of serfe ousness to the observations of Waco an’ Shoestring, an’ his efforts to solve * mystery that disposes of every law accoomulation of felons aoorin’ sech sea- sons as the boys is off on the ranges or busy with the round-ups, thar never fails to come a clean-up in plenty of time. The Stranglers comes back: jestice resoomes her sway, an’ the calaboose is ag'in as empty as a church. “ ‘It befalls, however, that doorin’ the four or flve weeks to follow the acquittal of that homicide Shoestring, an’ while ‘Waco Anderson an’ a quorum of the com- ‘mittee is.away pesterin’ about in their own affairs, the calaboose gets filled up with two white men, and either four or five Mexicans—I can’t say the last for shore, as I ain’t got a good mem'ry for Mexicans, These parties is held for divers malefactions from shootin’ up a Greaser he has an’ leaves him to begin lifs snew comes to a halt. But it lets pore Andrew out. He borrys a hoss from the corral; packs the Texas statoots an’ his extra shirt in the war-bags; an’ with that, the only real law wolf who ever makes his lair in Yellow Cify p'ints sadly no’thward an’ is seen no more. As he's about to ride away, Easy Aaron turns to me to say ‘‘Adios.” He's sort o’ got the notion I ain’'t so plumb bad as Waco, Shoestring an’ the rest. “I shall never return,” says Easy Aaron, an’ he shakes his head plenty disconsglate. “‘Genfus has no show in Yellow City. The outfit that hangs a gent's clients as fast as ever . he's retained offers no inducemerts— opens no opportunities that a-way to a ambitious barrister.”* " - JBennett Like Continued From Page Six. have ever shown me. The cheek bones of this picture (No. 2) are not quite prom- inent enough and the eyes not quite deep set enough for Bennett's. Otherwise they have the same expression, minus, of course, the cast so conspicuous in Ben- nett’s right eye, “But If Beénnett hasn't shaved off his mustache any one who studies this face (No. 5) will be able to get a very good impression of the lower half of Bennett's face. The mustache is identical.” After being marked on the back, the six pictures selected by Krone were inter- mixed in the huge pile again before C. S. Lehanier, renting agent at Umbsen's, was asked to make his selection. He went through the group with less deliberation than Krone had done, but he was equally quick and sure in his selection. He picked out No. 2 first without comment, and then when he came to No. § he pushed the others away from him as he exclaimed: “This picture (No. 5) looks more Itke Bennett than any photograph I have ever seen, though this (No. 2) has the more general shape of Bennett's face. Of course, while Bennett was renting the Sutter-street house from me he wore his hat all the time, consequently I don’t know how his hair looked, but the resemblance in the mustache and chin of this picture (No. §) is remarkably strong.” He resumed his search through the pile and, picking out one or two others, went on: 2 ““The nose of this picture (No. 6 and the ’e’yes and brow of this (No. 2) com- bined with the whole lower face and mustache of this picture (No. 5) would show exactly the type of face Bennett has, so that he could be recognized any- where. -This (No. 3) is about the same as Bennett's figure.” To have two of the chief witnesses against Nora Fuller's slayer piek out pre- cigely the same pictures to illustrate the type of face Benmnett has, without either of them knowing what selections the other had made, was exciting to a de- gree and no less surprising to the men themselves when they found that their identfications were alike. It seemed hardly possible that the third man—E. B. Stengel of Noonan's Furniture Company —would do the same thing after the pile of photographs were all shuffled up again, but that is what he did. with even grea er certainty, if anything, than Krone and Lahanier had shown in their seiections. He went over more than half the group before he finally paused with the picture of No. 2in his hand. No. 5 he threw aside at first, as if it had not impressed him more than any of the others, but after making one or two selections at the bot- tom of the pile he said: “This picture (No. 2) shows almost ex- actly the same shape of face as the man T saw, whom the police tell me is Bep- nett, except that the cheeks are a little fuller, but this picture (No. 5) has the chin and mustache and the nose like Bennett's. The resemblance Is remark- ably strong. I don’t know exactly what it was_that impressed me, but I should know Bennett's face again (No. 3) is like Bennett's identify him.” Ya — NESSES Stengel was amazed when told that he had made the same seiections as Krene and Lahanier and pointed out almost same characteristics without knowing The tension of the identifications had e creased. tremendously. Would B. T. Schell make the same selections from the big pile of photographs? Once again they were shuffled together before they were shown to him at Cavanaugh's. He spread them out on the wide coun- ter and went over them slowly, studyin each plcture carefully. After he hi looked them all over he picked up No. 5 and said unhesitatingly: v “This picture looks most ltke Bennett of any in the bunch. In fact, it's mors like him than any I have ever seen. Why? Well, it's got the same shape of chin and the mustache—the mustache especially. This picture’s (No. 2) got more the shape of Bennett's face—the cheek bones and eyes—was there a cast in his eye? Well, I didn't notice any. This picture (No. f) shows the shape of Bennett's chin better and, yes, this (No. 3) is like Bennett's figure, and the nose in this picture No. 6) is Bennett's, but it's the mustache and the general ex- pression In this picture (No. 5) that makes Bennett most easily remembered. “The others have selected these same pictures. Great Scott! You don't say Well, they ought to catch him from these. And it is upon this suggestion that the big composite picturer on this page has been made, combining the leading fea- tures of the men who “look like Ben- nett,” to show just what type of face Bennett has. Of course none of the originals of these pictures know anything whatever about Bennett, and their tures are only useful in so far as show characteristics like his. Ot bave nothing to do with the case