People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1895 — PRETTY FAIR [ARTICLE]

PRETTY FAIR

At Stage Robbing, But No Good as Business Men. “Yes, ‘Buck’ English was always my friend,” remarked Judge Lawler when the Nana stage robbery and the wounded desperado were under discussion, says the Philadelphia Item. “He was a pretty fair robber, but no business man. I remember one of his first ventures in a business way. A couple of Germans were running a butcher shop in Lake county and making money hand over fist. ‘Buck’ English and ' his brother Charlie purchased the business and soOn the stock commenced to suffer. One day a rancher met ‘Buck’ on the road and inquired: “ ‘Have you seen anything of that cow of mine?’ “ ‘What kind of a cow?’ “ ‘Red, with a white blaize and one horn gone.’ “ ‘The one Sleeper raised and sold Faught, and he sold to that carpenter at Middletown? ! asked ‘Buck.’ “ ‘Yes, that’s the one.’ “ ‘Say, Jim, we butchered her about a week ago. She was the fattest beef I ever saw. If I’d a known she was yours I wouldn’t have killed her without lettin’ you know. Good-by, Jim.’ “That’s all Jim ever got for his cow. A few weeks later the English boys were closed out. They had lost every cent of their Capital. ‘Buck’ came to me and said: ‘I can’t understand this at all. Those Dutchmen bought all their stock and paid their bills when they came due and made money. We stole all our stock, never paid a bill, and still we lose. It’s too much for me. I guess I’m no business man.’ I suppose his failure in business enterprises drove him into questionable pursuits.”