The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 27, 1903, Page 14

CLEVER CROOHKS| GhHe Fifteenth ofi These Clever Articles. g0, ched by £ represented hins t f i and § £ Ind who had 3 He stat- brick up with Mex! he would have and he »ceeds of the gold bar plements for sampling He was requested to bring at bottle of cough medi- was suffer- suspicions. edicine was pro- expressed some > pcison their bar. To n the victim*® the bottle of as palatable in consequences, at stomach the reward and chisel the * h corner and departed with Diego Suspic ges then stated under the trust their entire the hands of the victim with- urity; that the bar was worth es, not tc that as evidence of '3 f personal responsibil- it t st pay over $10,000 on be believed that this mining who a man of ience and ordinary shrewd bout to tumble neck trap? He procured bank, but at the last wit to obtain a lot of to the dimensions of made them up into labeled $1000, with a $20 and bottom of each he wrapped in one the center of the dent pach age a ed i package a id the Indian chief this course was taken f n and not for the pur- pose g th 1 bar owners, and would come or send in tc ce in Diego the next day he f the bar was all right— pay over t ce of $9600, there be- ing $400 of ne money in the pack- age Thus equipped for buriness the even- San Diego carried the er to the appointed The dusky miners t met him a hundred feet too dark for the bar wrapped hurriedly trans- package received ny. Both parties a hurry—for rea- each others com- ans and their com- t they were in haste 1p near Oceanside and same train that had m to Delmar, and the was anxious to return to San by the south-bound train, which would be due in a few minutes at Del- So thev parted with words of vill on the part of the Caucasian i grunts from the red men, suppcsed to express aboriginal ap; ing train fro The twc 1 at San Diego the mining su- ont and his assistant lugged ried to the assayer’s shop on the Plaza. My office was in the same building and there they came first and the gold bar * was triumphantly exhibited. Then the ver was awakened, a bottle of nitr cid produced and a few drops poured upon the yellow treasure. Alas! and glas! the fiery liquid which would never have affected gold ate into that bar with a heartrending sizzle and a “It is ¢opper,” was it was. “We said the at discouraging smeil the verdict, and copper will catch those scoundrels victim. “They have never stopped Ocecanside and their train will not reach Los Angeles for an hour yet. Let us go to the office of the Chief of Police and have him telegranh to Los Angeles to arrest them. I did not believe that the Indians would stop at Oceanside, neith- er did I believe that they would g0 80 far as the Santa Fe depot in Los Ange- les. but I agreed to help my friend through, and we went to the office of e Chief and found it closed. I knew the Chief at Los Angeles and 1 wired him a circumstantial account of the transaction and a description of the ope Through I ne- gleébted to name the ard I 1ed my own name to the tel he reporters at Los Angeles were iligent and the Chief's office was d imagine my horror next day the Angeles papers 2 I had been “gold bricked De it? Of course 1 denied it in the ers de- ly and in private conversation But what was the Letters and tele- athy and congratula- 1 in upon me from all quar- weeks, d the substance of them all was exnressed in one letter 1 nger living in Gil- * he said, “'I always as the d——dest fool phrase. ing it? received frem a str roy “Until to- supposed that I v in the S alifornia. 1 was 1 koed in New York, shell-gamed in ( cago and badgered at Kansas City, but even I could not have been ‘gold- bricked.’ 1 feel relieved now. So long In the of many years' law prac- es I have had occa- transgres~ rito d a good many tice in sion to sors, but I have never yet known one who had not and I have never a coward some redeeming ‘raits, known one who was It was in the early eighties that T went from Tombstone to Bisbee, Arizona, to look over zome mining ground, ccncerning which litigation was expected. Our party consisted of the owner of the mine, his expert, my wife and myself. We were in a light two- seated vehlcle; the mining éxpert as driver. On our return the next day we found several vehicles near the bank of the arroyo, waiting for the flood— occasioned by a cloudburst—to pass by. 0 hersemen drew rein near our vehicle "atid 53¢ of thiem dismounted. My wife was anxious to get a view of the flood from a point about 200 yards away. It was not possible to drive the carriage there, so after the free and easy fashion commen to the wild and woolly West, she addressed the dis- mounted man and said, “Won't you lend me your horse for a few minutes so that I can ride down to the river bank and take a lock at the flood?” After hesitating an ingtant he replied, “ertainly, madam’: assisted her to a seat in the saddle, from the pommel of which hung a Winchester, rifle and a belt of cartridges. “The horses are not accustomed to being separated,” said he, “and my companion will ride with you.” The other horseman escorted my wife to a point of view several hundred yards away, and the dismbunted man approached the buggy in which I was seated and holding out his hand ex- claimed, “How do you do.” T returned his lutation and looking him' square- n the face I said, “Really, you have the advantage of me, but I do not r mémber that we have ever met before.” “Why, don’t you know me?” said he. “Indeed, I do not,” I replied. “Don’t you remembering appearing in court and trying a case for me at Prescott?” “It may be,” sgid I, “but somehow my memory fails me.” Nothing more was sail, and my wife having returned the two men rode off southward toward the Mexican Jine, which was a few miles away. An hour or two afterward we reached Charleston, where we were {o stop for the night. “It is strange you did not know that man,” said cne of my companions; “he seemed to know you so well.” “Oh, T knew him well enough,” was my reply, “and he knew that I knew him, the fearless devil. That was the outlaw, Curly Bill.” “Why,” said my companion, “there is $5000 reward offered by the Terrilorg and the Southern Pacific Company an ‘Wells-Fargo Company for the capture of that man. And we could have taken him just as well as not, for his horse and arms and comrade were gone.” ‘“Yes,” I answered. “and my wife was with them. Besides I am no thief taker and owe no duty to either Wells-Fargo Company or the Southern Pacific Com- pany.” » Mr. Hunt was accused of assault” with intert to murder, and being a very bad man, he hebbled into court with ankles encumbered with shackles. I démand- ed their remove The presiding Judge refused my request. Thereupon, I whis- pered t6 the defendant: “If you are convicted I will obtain a new trial, for it is vour absolute right to be tried I The jury disagreed and again set for trizl. *“You t next time,” the Judge will discover his order your ircus re- moved.” The stration of the maxim that dangerous thir priso: was an a little learning is a £ eek afterward called he came into when his tri court with b < below the knee in the clasp of a hsa st Oregon boot. you ask the Sheriff to take that off?” said 1. “He tried, but couldn’t,” eaid the prisoner. “I poured some shot into the keyhole so that the lock wouldn’t work. Oh, I've got 'em dead to rights.” “You are an idiot,” I remarked. Just then the Judge called me up to the bench: “You were right,” said he, “the other day, and I directed the Sheriff to remove the prisoner's irons. He tells me that the defendant has been tampering with them, and that the steelboot cannot be removed without cutting it off with a cold chisel and that will take a day. I do not feel justified in delaying the trial, and it you demand the removal of the irons I shall be compelled to state the reason why they were not , removed—maybe you had better : -+ call attention to the matter.” I thought so too and the pris- oner was again tried in irons. This time the jury acquitted him and he was free to go. He limped into the Sheriff's office and said, I suppose you want this . Oregon boot.” “Well,” drawled tlLe Sheriff, “it will have to be cut off. It will be destroyed in doing it. It will take a blacksmith a day to do the job. There are no county funds available to pay him and I don't feel inclined to contribute any funds myself. Besides, there is nothing mean about the county of Yavapai. It will make you a present’ of that steel boot. You can take it as a'souvenir. But you had bet ter not go in swimming with it on—it might trouble you.” . Clething himself with curses as with a garment the defendent departe He had no money with which to empioy a blacksmith, but h: was able .to borrow hard work A brace of “bad men’ ghot out the lights in rnight, stied the till, broncces and rode A BRACE OF "BAD MEN" IN PRESCOTT SHOT QUT THE ' LIGHTS IN A SALOON ONE NIGHT, — & cold chisel, a hammer, a flle and bottle of acid, and after three days’ the officers to take them. mou ted to their one their So with a He camp was P and met demar by red? Who was but a tion: “God be merc One o knew Yuma, Ari a prospectc that he was {rresponsible one of the officers, w S o k , of- fered h §500 for his hi st in a valua nining claim and t atened to_detain h tody unles: erced he executed money was cap- tried. The he reachec and soon fore tured afterward homicide was unprovoked and inexcus- the man deed at was as uncon- the of its uch unconsciousness biow on the head ed by whisky. able. Really scious of his commission as if were the result of a instead of bel pr But drunkenness is no excuse for crime, and he was adjudged guilty of murder in the second degree ced to imprisonment life. He MM been 1n prison ab a year o try to obtain The one-half inter- 1 conveyed had nd the circum- yance we such suggestion that ¢ give when he employed a pardon for him. est in the mine he h become very valua stances of the com as to give color to the deed had been made under d and could be set aside. I agreed to my services toward ob ng a pardon in exchange for a quitclaim deed to his equitable interest in the mine. He be-¥ ing civilly dead the deed was req to be made by his heir—his father - ing in Nebrask: All this was accom- plished by correspondence. The com- pany to whom the mine had been con- veyed being made a hat was going on sent an agent to Nebraska and offered the father first $3000 then $5000 for a quitclaim de But the old man replied that he h ac gned a deed to me and would not 3 other, unless his son requested/him to do so. Then the manager of company went to Yuma, and inter the tonvict and offered him 35000 and a free pardon for a letter to his father requesting the old & leman to sign a quitclaim deed to the company. The convict refused to do this. saying that he had alread ed to be made to me and that it would not be the square thing to sizn another. To this position he 'adhered, although threatened with all the infleunce of the company to defeat my ¢ fforts to secure a pardon. On being informed tled the case, maki irst condi- tion of the settlement that the influ of the company should I - exercisedqin aid of a pardon. By cur joint efforts we obtained the pardon and the man who would not go back on his word, though threatened with life imprison- ction I set- a mile below town, where they defled when the smoke cleared away one of ment for keeping it, was once more a The Sheriff the desperadoes was dead and the other free man.