Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1885 — THE SHERIFF OF SHALLYHOE [ARTICLE]

THE SHERIFF OF SHALLYHOE

A Frontier Episode. PART L A sunburned man in the regulation uniform of the mountains sat on a bowlder in the shade at the top of the divide. His pony, tethered by a long lariat of raw-hide, cropped the grass among the stones and tree roots. The man, too, had just finished al fresco a repast of some sort, and was in the act of lighting a briarwood pipe. As he sheltered the match with his hand from the gentle breeze his ear caught a faroff sound as of a horse’s hoofs away down the mountain side in the direction opposite whence he had himself come. The pony heard it, too, for he raised his head, pricked his ears and gave a low whinny. The man finished lighting his pipe, glanced at the smoke and saw that it blew away from the approaching horseman, and then walked over to the brow of the declivity, which commanded a view of the road half a mile distant and 500 feet below. A horseman was passing over this visible section of the road, and the man watched him keenly until he disappeared where the trees cut off further opportunity for obsbrvation. “I don’t reckon it’s him,” he remarked, half to himself and half to the pony, who seemed to listen; “but I s’pose I mought as well halt him and find out for sure.” Accordingly he led the pony into the cedars and stationed himself behind a tree trunk which commanded the approach at short range. As the approaching horse’s hoofs sounded nearer he cocked his doublebarreled gun, and when the rider’s head came in sight threw it with light-ning-like quickness to his shoulder and call out in an authoritative voice, “Hands up, stranger 1” ; The rider started, reined in his horse, and for an instant seemed half inclined to take the chance either of flight or combat, but seeing that he was fairly covered by a double-muzzle suggestive of “buck and ball,” he complied, and held up his hands, the horse resuming his mechanical grit till the level summit was gained, when he stopped of his own accord, with the drooping head and heavy breathing of a hard-pushed animal. “What’s this for?” said the newcomer, eyeing the still leveled gun uncomfortably.

“Wai, stranger, I ax your parding if you ain’t the right feller, an’ I think you ain’t But I’m the Sheriff o’ ShalIvhoe County; an’ I’m looking for a man. No you ain’t him,” he added, lowering his gun, naif-cocking the hammers and throwing it into the hollow of his left arm. “He’s got a game eye and a slash across the nose, and you hain’t got nary one.” “All right, Sheriff," said the horseman cheerfully, as he dismounted. “I hain’t got thsm ear-marks, but my horse is pretty nigh played and I guess I’ve got far enough away from Bender City to rest a bit.” “Come up from Bender, have you? I expect the man I want is down to Bender. How long since you left there?” “About two hours. I got out in a hurry. I hain’t got no use for Bender just now." “That’s singular,” said the Sheriff; “I don’t reckon my man’ll have much use for Bender after to-night, if not sooner.” 0 Then after a pause, during which he thoughtfully regarded his companion: “Stranger, tain’t none o’ my business. I ain’t arter you, but you’ve been shove lately, hain’t you?” The stranger passed his hand over the lower part of his face, which was several shades lighter than the rest and comparatively smooth, from a recent acquaintance with a razor. “Yes,” he said, “I’d most forgot that, and it does kind o’ give me away, don’t it! As you say, Sheriff, it ain’t none o’ your business, but I’ve just had an almighty big scare along o’ that beard o’ mine, and I don’t mind tellin’ you about it You see, about two years ago I and a pard o* mine went up into the Blue Horse Range on * report of placer mining. There was a pileof men went up there, and things was pretty lively for a while. There was a hard lot, that jumped felaims when they, could and raised the devil generally, and there was a law and order party that wanted every feller to have a fair ■how. '.v'** “Well, just off the toughs had the upper hand, but after awhile mofe American men come in and we—me and my pard—was always on the law and order side—we began to feel strong enough to take a hand. So we called a meetin * anijl I was chose Cap’n, and

we gave out that there wa'n’t to be no more foolin’ like what we’d had so much of up to then. “Well, the toughs, they attended the meetin’ of course—every able man in camp, was to that meetin’ — and they tried ay they ,/knew to break it up, but we was too many for ’em and passed our resolutions all straight by a large majority. It’s wonderful the boys didn’t get to shootin’ while the meetin’ was goin’ on, but they didn’t, and after it was over they kinder stood round waitin’ to see what would happen. “They’s most always somethin’ happens when a crowd like that’s waitin’ for it, with shootin’ irons and knives in its belts, and pretty soon it come. There was three or four knots of the boys, some of ’em one party and some another, and some mixed, and Pike Murphy’s saloon was clost by, wide open and all lit up gorgeous.” “Who’d you say?” interrupted the Sheriff; “Pike Murphy ?” < ‘■‘That’s what I said, Sheriff. Know him?” “I’ve heerd on him—that’s all. Drive ahead!” “As I was sayin’, Pike Murphy was servin’ out his pizen pretty liberal, and his pard and him was ’round among the boys as much as they was behind the bar. Oh, they was capitalists, they was, and had their hired bartenders, they did! “Well, Pike’s pard, he was wus nor Pike for all sorts of pure cussedness. Barndollar was the name he went by, and we called him Dolly for short Fust I knowed Dolly come out of the saloon and a lot of others ’round, and he sings out: ‘Where’s the feller that said he’d run Pike Murphy an’ his gang out o’camp? Let me get a show at him oncet!’ “Like a dura fool he hadn’t draw’d before makin’ this speech, so I jus kivered him quietly and tole him to hold up his hands, and he, like any other dura fool, undertook to draw after I had the drop on him fair. Well, as a matter of course I just shot him right in his tracks, and he didn’t write home to his friends no more. j “The law and order party -they backed me up good. They was two or three more of tne crowd shot to once and some more lynched before we got through with ’em, but we ended by act’ly runnifi’ Pike and what was left of his gang out o’ camp. The law and order party naturally took possession of his stock of liquors and after takin’ toll all round, appinted a good steady feller executor of the estate, with power to continue the business for the benefit of the commonwealth. “Well, you see, Pike couldn’t in the natur of things, cherish much affection for me, and I got word from over the Divide that he was a laying for me and sweatin’ he’d kill me on sight. Now, I’ll say for Pike that he was a man that always kept his word—’specially in matters of this sort. It was a kind of a religion with him, and I knowed I’d have to be mighty spry when the time come. “I used .to shave them days, but, come winter, I let my beard grow long, and somehow 1 never shaved again till this forenoon down to Bender. I’ve been knockin’ about ever since, from one camp to another, and doin’ fairly well on the whole, and, finally, thinks I, I’ll go down to Frisco and see some folks again. So last week I lit out, intending to take the train somewheres down the range. “I got to Bender last night and seen the sights and slept late this mornin’ and thought I’d ride out and see an old pard o’ mine that’s got a ranch back in the foothills, when just as I was goin’ to start I seen a barber-pole, and thinks I, ‘l’ll have a shave and look kind o’ civilized like on account of Tom’s havin’ his family with him.” So in I goes —there wa’n’t nobody else in the shop —and sits down, not takin’ notice of the feller that tended the shop. “Well, he clipped off my beard with his shears and got me well lathered before I took a square look at him, and then, Great Scott! I seen it was Pike himself!

“He didn’t know me yet, that was plain, on account of the beard, but I knowed he would before he got all through; and then, stranger, I just felt myself turnin’ as pale as death inside. I don’t know whether I showed it in my face or not, for I was afraid to let Pike see my eyes. “Why didn’t I draw on him then and thar? Well, stranger, I don’t blame you for askin’ that question, not a bit. It’s perfectly natural, but I’m ashamed to say I had most carelessly took off my belt and hung it up out of reach. Of course, if I had a shooter handy there wouldn’t have been no difficulty at all in getting the drop on him. But here ( he was, with one hand holding my head stiddy and the other—Well, stranger, I never thought to object to a sharp razor for shavin’ before. PART 11. “Pike had his tools in prime order and awful convenient. He was always a quick, handy man with weapons of any kind. I thought he'd have to reach for a towel or something, but he never let go his grip on me till he got most through ; and, I tell yoii, when I felt that razor edge on my throat it was kingdom come, sure enough. “Lookin’ back on it now, I don’t suppose he would have done for me that way. Pike may have,been a murderer and a horse thief, but he didn’t raever, io far is I know, come down to the cutthroat business. But it Wasn’t much of a time for cool reasoning, that wasn’t, and I tell you you can’t know till you have tried it how awful xjeakenin’ it is to the nerves to haVea razor drawn across your windpipe by a truth-ful-disposed man who has sworn to kill you., “Well, that was the longest shave I ever had; but after a little eternity he went across the room for something, and I put a twist into my voice and said something about getting my tobacker, and got up and walked over to where my traps were hung. I never looked! toward him till I got a holt on my army Colt, and then I turned, quick as a flash, and had him covered before he looked round. “The minutd he saw me standin’ up and nigh on clean shaved, he know’d me, but he" went on stropping his razor cool as you please. ‘“That you, Cap?' says he. " • “ ‘Yes,’ says I, It’s me, Pike. Never

mind about the second course. I knows its customary, but there’s your half dollar all the same,’ and I chucked one on the floor. “ ‘Oh, that’s all right, Gap,’ says he. ‘I don’t owe you no grudge now,’ says he. ‘You may as well sit down agin.’ ‘“Not if the court knows it,’ says I. ‘I know you for a truthful man, Pike, and I know ypu swore to lay me out for what I did up to Blue Horse, and I don’t propose to have you do no more foolin’ round my windpipe with no razor.’ “ ’Well,’ says he, ‘you’ve got* the floor and I hain’t got nothin’ to say.’ “‘I have, tho’,’ says I, and I made him lay down his razor and hold up his hands till I tied ’em w ith a bridle thar was bangin’ up behind the door, and then I triced him up on one of the rafters, just so he could stand easy.’ “ ‘Now, Pike, says I, ‘don’t you hollow till I’m out of bearin’, ’cause ,if you do I’ll come back and shoot you through the winder. I’m not sure but Pm doin’ wrong to let you off this way, anyhow,’ says I, ‘but I’m a stranger in Bender, and I don’t know the ways of the place, so J.’H give the Sheriff another chance.’ “ ‘Then I got up as soon as I could and lit out from Bender, ’cause I heer’d at the hotel that this here barber (that was afore I know’d who he was) was a leadin’ citizen and was runnin’ for Mayor or somethin’. So I reckoned he could whoop up the boys and make it uncomfortable for me if I stayed in that neighborhood too long. That’s the reason why I fresh shaved, Mr. Sheriff. Now, if you don’t mind tellin’ me, who is it your after?” “Well, stranger,” said the Sheriff, slowly, “I’m after Pike Murphy—though he don’t go by that name in Bender. He’s been regularly sentenced to be hung in three, different counties in Nevada and Colorado, besides which the woods is tolerable full of citizens’ committees that’s just spilin’ to interview him. We didn’t know till yesterday that he was down to Bender and runnin’ a barber shop. Of course he goes by a digerent name there. I’ve got a strong'posse appointed to meet me here before sundowh. It’s about time some on ’em was cornin’ along. Bein’ as you know him, stranger, maybe you’d like to go along with us?” interrogatively. With that readiness to risk life for the sake of a little excitement which is characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon man, the stranger accepted with pleasure his new-found friend’s invitation. “William Mack Kyarter is my name,” he said. “It s my real name, too. I come from Pennsylvania, and I ain’t no ways ashamed to have it known who I am.” The Sheriff and his companion proceeded to make themselves comfortable, where they could keep an eye on the trail which led Benderwards, and in due time the posse began to ride in, singly and by twos and threes, until some twelve or fifteen determined-look-ing men were assembled, all heavily armed 1 . In the late dusk of the summer evening they rode into Bender, silently surrounded Murphy’s shop, and four men, led by the Sheriff, entered and summoned him to surrender. Pike was professionally engaged at the moment, but warned perhaps by his morning’s experience, he had his revolver within easy readh, and dropping behind his customer’s chair, much to that individual’s consternation, opened fire on the Sheriff’s party. The skirmish was short and lively and peculiarly entertaining to the unfortunate customer, who with a long white peignoir, or whatever that mysterious garment may be called wherewith tonsorial artists are accustomed to swathe their victims, found himself suddenly converted into a species of fortification. When the first shots rang out the bullets whistled in close proximity to his person. He started from his recumbent position, grasping the arms of the chair, but was transfixed by the voice of the Sheriff. “You sit still, stranger!” he roared, adding to his own posse, “take to cover and wing him if you can, boys,” upon which the three deputies promptly availed themselves of such shelter as the establishment afforded, taking snapshots whenever the unhappy Pike inadvertently exposed any portion of his anatomy. In a skirmish of his character, or in a regular pitched battle, it is surprising how many shots can be fired and but little damage done. Of the score or so of bullets which flew back and forth across the room only three drew blood; two of them lightly scored the arm of the devoted customer, and the third, passing through the board partitions, pierced both ears os a mule on which one of the Sheriff’s men was mounted, creating a diversion in the darkness outside in which mulish heels and a spmmafily' unseated rider bore conspicuous parts. Kyarter was nearest the door, and remarking, “I’ll fix Him, Sheriff,” bolted around to the rear of the shop, seized a i double-barreled shotgun from one of the guards, thrust it through a pane of glass withoutwaiting to open the window, and, presenting it within three feet of the discomfited ruffian,remarked, “Now, then, Pike!” That individual turned his heed and looked into the double muzzles, which seemed to grow larger as he gazed. One glance was enough. “Put her down, Cap,” he said. “My hands is up.” A crowd had rapidly gathered from the neighboring saloons, which formed the business center oi Bender City, while the arrest was effected, but it was kept back by a cordon of the Sheriff’s men. Presently the prisoner, securely pinioned, was brought out and lifted to the back of a led horfre, while the Sheriff read his warrant to the crowd—which seemed somewhat inclined to attempt a rescue. He gave, also, a brief summary of the prisoner’s history, with some of the aliases by which he was known. Popular incredulity and indifference as to alleged murders gave way to righteous wrath as soon as it was known that he was a thrice-convicted horse-thief, and when the posse rode out of town all danger of a rescue was over, and the Sheriff’s only solicitation was lest a citizens’ committee should take the matter into their own hands. Nor was his anxiety without foundation. As the , party rode up the long mountain road

consultations in a low tone of voice took place among the members of its rear guard. At length one passed to the front and engaged the Sheriff in conversation. ’ Then another joined, riding Up on the other side where the trail widened a little.' At a favorable moment his wjrists were seized, and, although he struggled manfully for a few secondsj he was quickly overpowered and disarmed. • * „ * * . * * * Early on. the following morning a camping party, bound for one of the smaller mountain parks, crossed the divide. Some of them had walked on in advance of the team which was toiling slowly up the long ascent Two girls, just (from an Eastern school, were leading the way, alpenstocks in hand. As they paused for a moment to wait and rest, one, with speechless horror, clutched the other by the harid, and both gazed with pallid faces upon ajifeless form that hung by the neck from a limb of the widespreading oak under whose shade they stood. Thrust in his belt was a half-sheet of paper, on which was rudely printed: “Pike Murphy, horse-thief and murderer. Done by order of Judge Lynch by the Citizens’ Committee of Shallyhoe County, June 15, 18.— Charles L. Norton, in Chicago Inter-Ocean. ,