The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 17, 1903, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CALL. D = =74 (@) AN T2 =l VAN =T N\ CN Dt () (@) FOR. THE WOMANV WEHO DIDVY CARE OHNNIE KEEFER had both the nerve and the skill, and in eddition he was a strong example of the truth that you can't tell a bad man by his outward appearance. Johunie was plump, short, had a good natured face and one of the blandest expressions ever given to a man. , A stranger would never have suspecied Johnnie of anything tougher than glaying marbies, and would have readily believed that he would have Leen shocked at the idea of playing cven that game for keeps. Yet in the whole Southwest there probably wasn't a man who could deal a brace betier, had faced death oftener, or had a more utter disregard for human life when in a cor- not been for the treachery of a woman he probably would never ner Had n have been caught and might have retired with a big stake. although that was which generally awaited few of the old time professionals. well enough to talk ofmechanical devices for dealing brace, but to :sfully needs a mighty @lever man behind the little box. This was ‘rue se. Even after we understocd his methods it was a good deal how he had succeeded sc long without detection. In the back ef used was a little slit, or mcre exactly two of them. so small they perceptible even to persons who knew they were there and were 6o it succe s case. ystery scarcely v them. Then Johnnie had maGe minute marks on the cards, so that ese marks showed or ¢ two cacds Lelow the one exposed ou top of the ¢k. It must have taken persistent practice for him to be able to see these it all right. Then when he dealt® turn Johnnie by some make the shift that these two cards came the order which would be to the ad- but extrous sleig could do hand cou their natural order, but in antage of the house. When you appiciate that this shift must have been ie under the eycs of perhaps two score men who were watching ery it will be seen what skill was reguired by Johnnie's methods. of r'S€ less the bank was being hard bit or the pley was very big, Johnnie alt straight. But he must have made that little shift of the cards thousands imes when the least false move meant Instant death. Where Jolnnie came from no one Kiew or cared, it not being etiquette in se Gays to inguire into & man's past. He drifted into our camp In the boom mes and began dealing for Len Townss I don't know e viether Len knew he was crooked, but it wasn't long before Johnnie was drawing the nighest wages of any dealer in mp. After a little he started up a bank of his own. It was @ success from the firet, and Johunie was making biy ey when the entanglement with the Mexican girl that » his death came. The girl was one of the sort common in camps of that | ay. Occasionally she used to take a turn at -lealing bank in ne of the halls for the purpose of drawing trade. as she had all kinds of good looks Finally she tried deallug on her own accougt. having seved quite a iittle meney. But she had a run of bad juck and 1t was apparent her bank roll was | aimost gone when Johnnie came to the rescue “First he dealt a few times for her, and every time the sse won. Then he made the mistake ofj his career. He showed her his trick of dealing brace and put in all the time he cculd spare from his own game in teaching her how 1o make the shift. And that was simply signing his own deaih | warrant. He had delivered himseif over tv an unusually trescherous specimen of a treachercus class. Of course, after a little wnile sume uccasion for dispute arvse between them the girl, having tLe temper of a ul fiend, began to hate Johnnie more than she iiked ) him at first In the camp was a miner named Judson, who ad had two or three little disagreements with Johnnle, and, additi had gone broke try.ng to buat Johnme's bank he Mexican girl sent word for Jua to cowe to her place Iben she explaine him Johun.e's method of dealing, and Limseif -2 three & box similar to for & e one Johnnie used Ju d made tipped wo or ther men who had lost heavily at the game, and they laid r trap to catch Johnnie and put a permanent end (o his reer as a brace dealer ) it was arranged that iwo of the wen should play. and play high, while Jud- at one side, behind the lookout, as if he was just watching the Judson was to give the signal. Then al! three were to hegin shooting, for knew Johnnie Keefer and werc ceriain that when the time fc ere would be no talking. After the tirst word about brace 1gs would begin to happen migh.y was before the days of sl Kking revolvers, but a trained shoi oy snapping the hammer back with his m 1ld get about as quick action as a wan with the most modern gun. nearly an hour Judson stood atone side lookiang on, whi e his conf derates The bank had been hit pretty hard, but either Johnnie had dealt straignt e even the men who knew low hLe shitted the cards were unabie to feel cor hed turned a trick. Finally it came near the end of a deal. The ace and both cases and the ace bad won three times in a row, while the seven st correspondingly. When it came time to call the turn nearly everyboc a a wn & big bet, calling the ace to lose and the seven to win. Jud son & his partners exchanged glances. If the dealer was going to shift the uld come just at this turr e always pushed out the cards pretty fast, especially near the end of a t how the cards would have come out this time no one ever knew. John- ust begun pushing off the exposed one when Judeon called out: son was to stand game he action came aling was uttere sudden. It aling me: to say ‘brace’ but the sentence was never finished ble Johnnie, apparently without taking the time to look up, sen: oat pocket. Three or four shots rang out in the same insiant. . and Johnnle [eefer slipped to the ficor. He had four wound: L would have been mortal. When we picked him up it was p.ain is last deal at either straight or brace faro. ““When Judson spoke his first words Johnnie had fired through his coat at one of the men across the table, who was just drawing his gun. The .0t missed man’s heart, but by a decidedly small margin. Before Johnnie could fire again the bullets from the others took effect, Judson's first shot going through his head At just above the right eye. These men had been prepared, while the emergency came upon Johnnie without warning. If he had had haif a chance he m:ght have won out, even against such terrible odds. “And when we came to look at the faro box we could#'t tell whether Johnnia ant to deal a crooked turn or not. In the excitement the box had got knocke1 teble and the cards fell or were knocked out. Perbaps Johnnie Keefer was 1 the puint of making an honest deal when the end came.” L4 THE MAN WH HIS is the most fuscinating storiette imaginable, because it q % true and because the man who was “the law west of Pecos” has alroady been made the hero of more than cne romance and will ere long he the hero of many mora ! At 16 vears of age, which was a very long time ego. Roy Bean was tue most handsome youth in Independence, Miss., With 2 naiure as wild and untamable %s the Rreat uncon- Quering W.si (o which his thoughts ever turned. At 16 Roy Bean made ihe very important discovery :hat If you want onything in this world you must get it for yourself, or it will never be yours. The sudden acquisition of that kuowl- =Age was the kernote of his future. Roy Bean was in Santa ¥e hefore another year went by un his way to join General Donaphan in the early scrimmages of the Mexian War. The taste for fighting and the rema @ble discoveries he made about his own bravery, backed by his equally remark- able 2bility to shoot siraight and oft=n, laid the foundation of the character that made him the “law wost ¢f Pecos.” : When he grew a-weary of his life of wild advehture he tried to settle down to civil quiet in Chihuahua, which is about as tame as the jungle i famine times. He began bravely enough. He opened a store with his brother, but one night when he found a Mexican looting his establishment he was forced to renew wes and shoot the iifef to save his wares. While he was lan- guishing in jall be learned much of the mockery of so-called judicial trials in the West, and in Chibuahua In particular. With this knowledge added to much that he had learned before Roy Bean made the jall too small to hold him and once out into the cool night air he belook himself to parts unknown, vowing that thereaiter, while he had to deai with such denizens of the great Bouthwest as in- habited Chihuahua, he, himself, would “be the law west of Pecos” at any cost. He has kept his word, but others paid the cost. After he vanished 8o suddeniy inlo the night El Paso, Tombstone, Tucson and other frontier towns in the Apache country were the center of his activities until the man and his deeds were the wonder of the West. But soon he grew a-weary &galn of sdventuring, even of enforced adventuring, and determined to settle down and become *‘the law west of Pecos” in downright earpest. He had always fought a fair cpen fight. There was no talnt that could be honestly attached to his name. He had always stood for right and justice. Untfl Uncle S8am became big enough and strong enough te handle his own 1 affa'rs in the long. almost unbroken, stretch be.ween the Cuulornlnmeputtd the Mexican border scuth of the Texas frontier, why should he not personify within himeeif all of “the law west of Pecos”? His pisto] hand had lost none of its cumning. His sense of righteousncss was above dispute. The combination of A A B N S i NG S AP (S NS S, 54 l - LEEFPERS IASPPEAL FPOR THE LOVE TIGER TIM. FIGET ZIGHT IV A— WITH Z7HE CIRCIL “to settle it. — ———— Cleverest Storiettes ot the Day. WOMAN 7" LEYE O this day no one knows whence she came into the lives of such men as-these, but she did come, else this story never would have been written. And both of them loved her, but she loved only one in return. James McDonald, only a sneak thief by pro- fession, was that lucky man. James Darling, his pal, knew it, «nd though he loved her, too, he never let McDonald know it, or the woman, either. It was part of his fate—he had al- ways been made th: under dog—sc why rebel? The two partners in crime had been running in parallel lines for mény years—in fact, almost from the days of their boyhood, when they, by some evil. fate, chose to live in the night and keep In hiding when honest men ' toiled. They shared their good fortunes, which may be'taken to mean the ill fortunes of others who fell in their wa There were times when their paths would not cross for many months. For these lapses there was ample reason. The two old cronjes In crime found themseives snugly ensconced in the same prison recently and that was much to their liking, for they had a coveted chance to become reminiscent. They were even in the sama cell, which speaks volumes for the kindness of the Sheriff at Elmira, N. Y. Tt also signifies that the jail was full of guests and had out the sign “standing room only.” The Sherift might not have been overcome with kindness of heart if there had been any apartment to let in his commodious jail. It had always been easy for them to while away the hours of imprisonment before, but now time hung heavily. McDonaid had taken to gazing wistfully, hopelessly, through the barred window into the glad, free sunshine. Darling saw and understood. He, too, haa the same face ever before him, but McDon- ald was young and handsome. The realization of this had never caused him a pang before, but now—well, it was only right and natu that she should care for—for thé other fallow. And she didn't know what they were or where they were—and what they had both done. And McDonald had vowed over and over again that when once free again he would be a better man—for her. Darling knew what le meant, though McDonnld never added theses last two words, and 80 for dave and days he had been revolving a plan—a plan that should set one of them, at least, free—free to go to her. ““But how are we to decide who shall go free?” asked McDonald when Darling bad made the suggestion to him. “Qb, that's easy enough,” replied Darling. “There are any number of ways We might play a game of seven-up or pinochle, or cut the cards, or even try a flipino, like the girls do—in fact, just about any old way that we hap- pen to agree on.” And the veteran sneak thief looked deeply bored at the prospect of going to €0 much trouble over the mere question of a few years more or less of liberty— a privilege that he had not always becn on good terms with. Ces, L su e we can settle it in somé of these ways, but—" and McDonald, the younger, looked rather wistfully out of the grated window, as if he might be wishing to get out In the street beyond and have a romp with a group of noisy boys. “Well, ¢Id pal, I don’t care much which way it goes,” drawled Darling, “‘but I do want to get it over with and then the loser won't have anyihing to worry about. He will know that he just has to stand and take his medicine. Suppose we just fiip a coin for it and have it done with." And he drew from his pocket a greasy half dollar, which he spun carelessly above his head as he sat on the prison bunk. “All right, I'm agreed,” said McDonaid after he had left off gazing out at the bo. “Well, which do you take, head or tails the colf on the sione floor of the cell. “Head,” replied McDonald laconical'y and the coin spun up above them. Two pairs of interested eves foliowed it as it fell to the floor with a sharp ring, and ;htn hlhe two captives knelt down close together to see what fortune had decreed ‘or them. “It's a head.”” drawled Darling, as he srose to his feet, “and I congratulate you,”” he added as he extended his hand to his comrade. 0 there, in that cell, the compact was made that no law could unmake. The prisoners agreed that the winner should get his freedom by the perjury of the other, and to them it didn’t occur that in perjury there was aught of erime. They planned that McDonald should be the firsg to go to triai and that he should enter a plea of not guilcy. Then Dariing, the loser in the toss of the coin, shculd voluntarily go on the witness stand and swear that he alone was the cffender and tlLat the other had Lad nothing to do with the thefts witn which they were joiutly charged. This agreement was carried out to the letter. When McDonald was arraigned he pieaded not guilty and Darling swore that the nrisoner at the bar had had nothing whatever to do with the thefts. That lcft nothing for the Court to do but acquit him of the tharge. Darling was arraigned immediately afterward and he entered a plea of guiity without defense. He ook his sentcnce of four and a half years without a murmur—ier her. whose courage came back to him who were playing In the street. * asked Darling, preparing to pitch WA ZAW WPy~ PECOS the two within his limited sphere was as grcat and =s effective in hoiding law- lessness in check as the whole of the Deciaraiion of Independence and the Mony, roe doctrine rolléd into one is in restra‘ning ihe rest of the world. Tempered by his sense of humor and generosity, the constitution he set up was as broad and tar-reaching as the principles of American democracy ftself. When the Southern Pacific was b g btuilt across the plains he opened a tajoon and followed the camps. He first located near the Pecos, to which be gave the name Vinegerone. - Here he built rock walls, with a canvas awning for a roof, and sold whisky to the thirsty laborers. He followed this by manufac- turing law to order, rendered verdicts while vou waited. and enforced them with fines—and six-shooters, if necessary. (Gambiers flocked in and there was so much shedting and such a rapid Increase In the population of the little cemetery that the contractor in charge of the works wrcie to Governor Ireland and had Roy commissioned as a justice of the peac:and a company of rangers detailed to as- sist him. Roy Bean's judicia! career atonce became marked by those extraordi- nary decisions which have become hisiory. . His first demonstration of this power of reaching justice at a single sitting showed true American acumen, An army of Chinamen, building Mr. Huntington's Southern Pacific Rallroad, were sometimes difficult to manage. They were di- vided into gangs with a white boss in ckarge. One day a Chinaman assauitgd the foreman, who replled with a bullet and killed his man. A white rival pre- ferred charges, and the case came before Jusiice Bean. The boss was arrested. Then a squad of white men, armed to ihe teeth, demanded immediate trial for the prisoner, intending to release him if deciared guilty. Judge Bean told them to picket their horses and make themselves at home—he would try the case next day. There was wisdom in his action. They squandered money in the Judge's sa- loon, until he decided that the statutes ccntained nothing showing it a crime to kil a Chinaman. So the offender was diccharged. His next famous verdict was when the Pecos bridge in course of construction fell and killed a man. Acting as Cororer, the Judge impaneled a jury, which breught in a verdict of accidental death. ‘“But this is not all,” said Judge Bean. “I find on the body a revolver and $40. It is contrary to Texas law to carry con- cealed weapons. I therefore confiscate the pistol and fine the deceased $40 for this breach of law.” Then the Judge put the pistol into his belt and the $40 into his pocket. On his next display of judicial dispatch two Mexican couples whom he had married returned for readjustment. They sald they could not agree and they proposed to swap wives. After the evidence on both sides was heard the mar- riage s reversed, the wives changing liusbands, and the Judge collected $15 from each for his services. Then he remarried them, charging each an addl- tional $5. When the regular Judge of the judicial district heard of the affair he wro:fit"ltrl‘- all right this time, but don’'t do it again.” ‘avorite method of punishing offencers in ordinary cases was re to pay their fines by purchasing beer at the Jersey Lily saloon mmh;: | f “HE TO(;K THE TIGRESS BY THE EAR AND LXD HER INTO THE CAGE.” i @ e e e A e —— (@="~= : GlIO777~ HE animal keepers and several of the workingm from other departments of the winter quarters of the circus and menagerie were gathered about the big hot stove in the zo- ological section. All had partaken of a hearty dinner, and were now indulging in the olissful pleasure of disobedience. That is to say, they, to an individual, were pulling at fuming '®ipes In deflance of an imposing placard, “Smoking Strictly = Forbidden.” This frequently happened during the absence of & \\\:‘4 the proprietor—generally known as the “Main Guy.” and the N superintendent, entitied “His Knibs.” It chanced to be Satur- NS day, and the man with the envelopes” would be making his ’/‘1\ eircuit about § o'clock In the afternoon. And that fact being uppermost in the minds of a person called Windy (on account of his talkativeness), he began, be- tween puffs and pulls: “I tell you, fellers, it's a pretty good thing when a chap Is workin’ fer a guy that settles every week. Sometimes I hear some of you chinnin’ against the biz shows and sayin’ that Barnum, Forepaugh, Sells an’ all the up-in-the worlders are a lot of monoperliss. I reckon they did run a lot of just alive concerns off the road. Well, that was a small loss. The big guns do business accordin’ to a system, an’ they're jess as good as a railroad or bank for settlin’. Why. look at it! T've put in a hull winter with a measly trick an’ a small-potato manager, with just enough money doled out to me to pay fer shaves an’ washin’. There was Bryant—he was that kind. Not because he didn’t have the dough, but jess because he was drawin' intress on his deposits. I never seen his equal fer a per- son who hated to part with money. An’ it ain't ne lie that when he did sive up he almost lost his breath. One spring when I was goin’ on the road an' needed some decent togs, I called on him for the necessary and blamed if he didn’t well- “‘f faint, an’ he might have dropped dead on the spot if I hadn't weakened and sal * *Never mind, Mister Bryant, I guess I can get along until you get on the 2 road i ‘Bryant agreed with me on that point, and that was the way I kept his obit- tery out of the paper. Oh! all the boys thought a good deal of Bryant! time Tip. the elephant, belted him an' broke his arm, an' it was universally agreed that it was a dreadful pity that it hadn’t bin his neck. The press agent held the main guy in high estemation, an’ he put it in Just this way after the ac- cident: ‘If Tip had Improved his opportunity, an undertaker would have been benefited.” But it didn't turn out that way. What wou circus man's funeral be without a brass band® Cymbals, leader, lived in the town, an’ he said that he’d be willin® @ =) § 4 = to furnish the music free If Bryant'd only croak. Tell you, culls, it would take more than one elephant to lay out that feller His whole body was as tough as his heart. The older Bryant grew the worse an’ meaner he got, an’ about the only way to git anythin’ out of him, winter nor summer, was to sue him, git your blunt an’ quit, “Bryant got his goose cooked one season, all through Tiger Tim. When the show went on the road the Guv'nor was 'way behind the lighthouse in payin’ the people who'd win- tered with him and as the weather was pesky bad an’ busi- ness off, the lot of us were kep' down to—we called 1t-‘shaves and shirts” Even whene favorable weather and better biz came, the main guy said nothin’ 'bout walkin’ up to the red wagon, an’ the men took to growin' beards an' looked like a gang of tramps in a police court a Monday mornin’. This Tiger Tim he was a small sort of a chap, an’ the manager was owin' him quite a bundle, an’ he had abou’ as good a snap as any one around the show. It was a snap. Bu® it was. one of the kind that no one else wanted. Tim rode in the parade in a den with the largest an' worst pair o' tigers you ever seen or heard of. Big? The tiger was as heavy an’ tall as a gpod-sized horse, an’ as for the tigr I never seen a male 'fore or sense of her dyemensions. Fierce? Killed three or four keepers! Any other manager thaun him wouldn’t have risked a man's life In the den. Well—one day Tiger Tim invited the Guv'nor to plunk down, but he staved off the in- vitation with one of his ushal dodges of a dun. Tim didn't growl or talk back. He jess walked straight to the menagerie tep an’ let both the tigers loose, an’' then walked across the road an' settled hisself down to have a smoke a-settin’ on top of a fence. By ginger! you'd just oughter seen all the rest o’ the animal keepers skip out! An' to tell the truth, the boss animal man led the precession, an’' the Guv'nor, he was a gocd second, you bet. When the manager an’ the boss animal man halted the main guy an’ tried to induce some one to gu back and put the tigers in the cage, every one of us was laughin’ an’ recormendin’ nothin’ more easy than puttin’ sait on the beasts’ tails. All the while Tiger Tim was a-smokjn’ on top o the fence as cool as if he was drinkin’ red lemonade an’ settin’ on a cake of ice. The tigers were worth a pot of money, the most valluberest in the country, an’ then again how was a evenin’ performance to be given with two sanguinareous tigers loose in the tent? The manager thought of that, an' he thought of an escape from the tent, an’ the worst what could be imajined. Just think of that tiger and tigress a-tearin’ up the main street of that town! Bryant had to muster up a good deal 0’ nerve ta go back to where Tim was. But the tiger keeper didn’t meet him even halfway, if he did signal and sign. When the manager got within hailin’ distance, he called out: ‘Hells, Tim! Put the tigers back in the cage, an’ you can draw a month's wages!” “ ‘All or nothin'!" yelled back Tim, sassy an' sure. “Bryant had to come to terms, an’' Tim wouldn't move a step until the man- ager perduced in full, accordin’ to the tiger keeper, his memiorandum. The main guy halted at payment in advance. But it wasn’t no use. After Tim got his ready money, he went over to the menagerie top, an’ first off he took the tigress by the ear an’ led her into the cage, an’ the tiger he followed without a word or a snceze. When Bryant was dead sure that the man-eaters were caged, he comes into the menagerie top, an’' says he, kinder pateronisin’ like: “ “Fim, you'll get your money_every week after this." “Tim glared worse'n one of his tigers, an’ turned an’ said: “ “The tigers are in, Mr. Bryant, but if you don’t settle with all the boys up- terdate, right now. Il turn 'em loose again.’ “The maln guy 'most wilted at that, but he caved an’ went out an’ told the treasurer to square up with the boys in full. I tell you it made Bryant wi . but there was na help for it, At the end of the next week the manager didn't say nothin’ about settiin’, but Tiger Tim he did. It happened that Bryant was in the tigket wagon when Timothy calls an’ inquires: “ ‘Shall I let the tigers out, Mr. Bryant?" - “The main guy didn't answer, but he poked out the cash, which Tim collared, a-remarking’: ‘I'll send all the boys up.” An’he did. There was nothin’ for the main guy to do but to plunk down the samolians. But he didn't do it with no good grace neither. It all happened jess the way as I've beén relatin’. Bryant he reformed of his methods of doin’ business, an’ took to payin™ sals weekly all on account of Tiger Tum, who never failed to threaten to let the tigers loose on pay day. I'm serposin’ that if the truth was known Bryant uster pray that the tigers 'd make mince meat of Tim. But I don't b'lieve his supplicaticns got any nearer heaven than the top of the ceuter pole.”"—Collier's Weekly. crowd. Two dozen bottles of beer was a moderate fine and enabled the Judge to hold his own against the opposition salcon. A noted story of Judge Bean’s early career is thus narrated by Major Horace Bell in his *“Reminiscences of a Ranger.” It concerns California life in the 50 While the celebration was at Its height a smooth-faced young man of exc:ed- ingly polite and graceful demeanor rode up, dismounted and entered Roy Bean's saloon. The newcomer leaned against the bar and carelessly surveyed the sccne. While quietly looking -on he was roushly accosted by a ruffanly looking m who, taking a position direetly in front of the young fellow and surveying him fiom head to foot, said, with a coniemptuous grin: ““Well, where in hell did you come from?” “Why, 1 just arrived from Los Angeles.” The quiet demeanor of the young mau enraged the bully, and he became still more overbearing, declaring himseli the “Wild Wolf of the Arkansas.” I was the bloodiest man in the Cherokee Nation,” said he: “I am a half-breed Cherokee, I am, and I belong to the Ridge party. I killed three Mexicans'on my way out here. 1 killed a soldier at For Yuma, and I have been here three weeks and ain’t killed anybody yet. I'm goiug to give these Mexicans a chance to have a funeral, and if you open yout mouth I'll kill you.” Ray Bean was waiching the proceedings from behind the bar. His sympatbhi were with the young man, and he gquietiy slipped a small derringer into his hand. Thé youth secreted the weapon, and when the buily resumed his insuiting -e- marks and threats he coolly looked at him and said: ““You are not dangerous, and I dou't think you will hurt me.” Then the storm broke. The bully jumped up, and cracking his heels cifed to the crowd: “Get out of the way, I'm going to shoot!” A general rush was made for the doors, and as the desperado reached to draw his pistol the young man with a quick movement placed the barrel of the ler- ringer which he had been holding aga'nst the breast of the bully and sald: “My dear sir, hold up your hands or I will kill you!” The bully had found his master and mechanically obeyed the command. “Now,” said the young man, “unbuckle that belt and let your six-shooter fall."” The bully obeyed without a murmur. “Hold your hands behind your back; I'm going to hold the hot end of ihis cigar in your nose until it goes out. If you flinch or attempt to take it out I'll make a funeral for these Mexican: Stepping back to the bar the young hero said: “My name is Joe Stokes, and I can whip any man in California who don't like me. I like to lay for such soft snaps as ‘The Wild Wolf of the Arkansas.’ Then the hero mounted his horse and rode off amid wild cheers of the crowd. He was a brother of ¥ Stokes of New York. The denouement of this storlette of real life was reached the other day, when the man who was “‘the law west of Pecos™ died at a hoary age and was followed to the grave by a monster host of mourners, the most revered man of his age in the Southwest. Wo) ZZ e\ )N UURS