Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 4, Number 8, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 23 August 1873 — Page 7

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Jii'

sgasj

JVA WOT OA LL TTKTt IfOTHX*.

be marriage rite ovYfr.^ And though I Knm Mid#

-aasBscKs

A ad 441 my tftHe brotkerv To*xvet uiy tkth«r'i choaen, BuvT rtSutfl not call her mother.

aha Is ii fair

^Wlth a race* and K«nUe air. IfWl Mni1 BywuwftHTMl And allken «oilny lwU. I know my feitberglvw* iWlOve ll»f bofe

e»*s

young

creature,

another,

But if .ikMI tmxfi j. could nol can her wotner. h«»rb«r •S* netStwi* dW*t«i41

By Jtoer wlHi "J ^#s»K Jijwlncd my h?art tu h«ar It, mv team 1 Mkl not »«lhrtl3 For «?vrry word w** hallowed

|jy the dear Vo!W or my mother. My father, in the jiuimhlna .» of nppy day*to cotrie,

Ua* hull Jonwt Iho shadow

IJutmeattd 1UU«|imUi» Jju4 HtUJ l)«i orphan children— ^Ckjd MU Kh ttttbot on* mother. *Veb6i*t»e'My niother'a picture —'-T*rom 1t*m*u«om«rp1«ee,

Atod Mt uesiae tuy lauwr's i«fr*Ofl A you user, fairer face: The} 'v« made her dwr old chambw

The boudoir of soother,t,t, Rut 1 wlU uot forgvt thee, jwy owiv—wy angel mother.

r,.

lUuflKUi the Kuna«a JUgMtlO^

ti Flat Broke. ««-4»

Oltl Matt Cfrlgsby, a *t hdf or and one whose Texanship dated from Sam Houston's time and San Jacinto, wax ia do sense of the word an extraordinary man, and he certainly was a very ordinary Texan. Bom in 6no of'tM northern rtvercountiesxrf Kentucky, somewhere about 1816, he1 had followed the iuevltable bent of Kentucky youth of that day in a keelboat voyage to New Orleans, somewhore early in the thirties. Then his restless disposition impelled him op Red river, where be Btaid, variously onguged a* a Held overseer, boatman and soon, until '30, when his wayward oye caught the gUuiiuer of Sam Houston's Lone Star, and it sealed his destiny. Texas has since then grown into a marvelous greatness, which, vast as it is, sseins but the faintest dawn of its prosperity in view of the promise tho presentitres. But of those who contribute to her greatness now tboso who nursed her tragic infancy are left, but hero and theroone, scattered few. Men they uro of iron frames and brave, stout hearts tnon whoso hair tho northers of many winters and the scorching of many summers have bleached and faded, and whose years are told now by scores thrice multiplod but you can yet read in those bronzed and furrowed viBages, and in those eyes whoso lire not ago nor vicissitude hasdlmmod, the legends of that heroism that blazed at San

Jacinto, or was quenched in the rod blood of tho Alamo and Goliad you can yet feci the grip of tho friendly hand-shakes tho brawn of the old arms that, whou they were young, rocked the cradle of a baby empire.

All honor then to the Texans of '30. They are few and getting fewer. The mighty rush and roar of this latter time cfins In their old ears to deafen and detract. Every year they see the broad prairies thoy conquered from the successors of tho AztocA furrowed up with railway cuts, and the cattle ranges out fn two by railway trucftrf. New lift net* are coming to reap the crop they sowedTorfy years ago, and new heart* and sad amid tho scones to whoso history thoy belong. Every now and tbon another of them goes to follow his comrades over yonder goes to join his butohered brethren or Goliad, and, llko they did, he dies game. The few that aroltft you may find scattered along tho Mexican border freighting from

Hfiiargo mining, maybe, in Sonora. Totaling cattle upon the verge of these pioftedrt was Matt Grigsby. He had aeon service. San Jacinto was Xnly a baptlmb for him for after that he had snulTed'itho sulphur of Palo Alto and Hesaca, Buoria Vista and Monterey, Contraras and El Mollno del Roy, Churubusoo and Chepultenec. Then he had gone back to his saddle, his mustangs and his cattle, and had kept them coo'gonlal fellowship till the drums of '61 and the summons of Ben McCullough had called him to war again. Out of this last aitd greatest struggle Matt had come in '65, old, gray, poor, alone and disfranchised in tho State ke had holped to make.

The day after the »u rrender at Shroveport old Matt wandered about tho street* listlessly. Just half a century old almost penniless friendless j, the cotnrAcioA ho luuJ marched with unci fought side of for four years were dispersing and going each his mournful way, to face the uncertain and gloomy future at best he might. If somewhere out In Texas there had been an 'old woman* waiting for Malt in a cabin that however lonely, bore the badge of •horn#' on Its out-hanging latch string, it would havo beona comfort, llut of this there was nono fbr old Matt. Nobody bore his namo nor claimed his lovo. So he merely sauntered about Almlei&ly and mused upon the past, content to let the future look out for itself. Ho was conscious of hnving fought his fights well, and made his retreats and his surrender sullenly aud stoically. And when this consciousness was perfect in the rugged old bralii that worked underneath the grixxlv Mftlp-lock, h« had no tolf»condfttuning to bo. He may have gone away back to the olden time when he trudged through the Kenton county woods, to the little log-house where he h*d learned all he knew of lore. He may laive recalled the cherry-faced Kentucky matron ho called mother, and 4 moist glbiUn may feat© ovtrcast hi* eye for her sake but if all this happened no one saw It, because each had enough of hi# own concerns to think of.

While this veteran of three wars was keeping company with his solitude in this wny, aitting astride a djsdaetl «rdlnAno* Ixw, Mrhose plhe sidis he traa ftlmlesudy hscking with his Arkansas tooth-pick, a voice, young and toll of eheer, saluted him:

Hello, Reb., what »er drMBiln' alout Old Matt looked np qttldf. Ih frftnt of him stood a stalwart young Illinoisan, in bine* •Oh, nuth'n much, Yank. What's the news «Well, ther ain't no news to speak on 'eep'- the war's over.'

Yon reckon shs's ov«r, donelsur«f .erh tllng.

Yon rsekon sus ov«r, tione. surer queried old Matt, rtwmrtnfc hb whtt-

'•"sha ia as Air as I'm oonsarned, anyhow,' rejoined the time's bin oot two weeks, *f ii» ban sin* on toseeUis thing wal, mister, I reckon yon n*t®«8*»t be kerrect, leastways differ with yoo. I rW*ou 1« b«*rn about enough of gunpowder raaket In my time to last m© the balance or my days.'

George AdatDt, Hum mm*K»^u« i«hy

&SSS&&&

ed.' They talked a good while. Adams told Matt about hU old mother, and his two litUes!tt«Wup *nTlltAot*# *ud old Matt told him fragmentary remlnisoeuoes of hl» wild life, and finally the two strolled away to tamp to get some coffee, for It was near sundown. Mstt's stories of Texas excited the spirit of adventure In young Adam's bosoni.and Adams had conceived a ftudden liking for the quiet pUssant Qitfwan.. Aud so, after a few more djtys of loitering «b^utShreveporf, andlo^g talW sbout Texas an4 Oie c«tU»**u«o, AdSU)* wrote a letter to his old mother, telling I b«»r tha®1 she- Innst along without him for another year or two, as he was

SSS!MrsraST!SOT

the JjHinpaHaH rango t*nd try und Htart a herd It didn't take a great deal of moiv?y to baodlp stouk inTexasiu -Go and so these two had bul little difficulty in finding a mt}n, alter they had got as

far as

Austin, who was willing to sell out his 'brand' for three hundred dollars which formed the joint cash Qapital of the Arm.

Now,'the pdrchhse of s» dattle hrattd nmy foeui to oivilised people a good deal like buying a pig In a hag. Under Ordinary circumsUtneea it is as commonplace a transaction ustbo purchase of any other vested title in property. The laws of Texas provide for the right brand ft» a title stook sh definitely they do for thy title to real estate by warranty dfetrd This man, of iVhom tho tirm ofGfigsby AAduna had purcluuted his braiul, had been forced by the war totie^lect hfs stock, Which he had left in 'tW, and had uot been back to tho ranch since to oven corral ami brand tho calves. TBen the Comanches snd Ktowns h^d been r«th«Ung,i»i?out thore fbr tro or three at their eiiAe. afid the presonoe of C»manches and lviowas always affects tho value of stocK brands, precisely as an earthquake ciuses roal estate to fluctuate in price aud otherwise. Aud, besides, his cattle were on the outermost range, and bo h#d a family sntl bachelors always gets along better in Indian neighborhoods than lunrried men do 8f that he was glad enough to soil his brand out fov three hundred dollars hard cash, which he undoubtedly invested iu 'fixtures,' and entered into the great Southwestern industry ot keeping a saloon. But for^old Matt the Coinanobes had no terrors. If there was anything, in fact ho was afraid of, he had singularly failed to come upon It. though he had beon hunting danger for well ou to forty years. And there was a singular absence of caution in the composition of young AdainB, though it probably was crowded out by his youthful roeklossness, rather than shut out altogether by the hardihood of his nature, and was the case with his mild-voiced, taotituro old partner Thus those two made an admirable pair to go out on the verge of tho Comanche range to 'pick up a neglected brand.'

And

whose

they turned their horses

toward the. Staked Plaiu, and Austin saw them flfo more. There Is obviously a poverty of ro mance and a lack of chivalry in the business of holding stock. One would naturally expect that a race of men

liyos st6spent in the monoto

nous round of twelve hours'ofl.'watching a herd of grazing cattle, varied only by an-occasionalstampede, would be of all men the tamest and least ineBting. May be they f.ro. But try one of them with an insult or an Indignity, and you will presently discover that yoft have struck tho most vlvldlv interesting customer you ever met. Taking tho class of Texas cattlemen in the aggregate, tjind it will bo found as an unvarying charactertetie that tbey afford mora net lighting weight to the pound gross, and a greater combative Capacity to tue supeWioial square inch than any other class of ny»n on the Taco of tho earth. It makes no difference to him what niHy to tho status, color or, circumstances of the enemy, sjp only ho is hggrossive whether ho bo Comanche, Kiowa, horse-thief, sharper or claimjumper, the Texan's moans of redress i« always slung conveniently on hie right hip. and his sense of justicois measured by tho surest eye, tho suddonest nerve and tho quickest linger. Tho hardest thing for civilised people to understand is how a man can kill without being a murderer,and how hu man bloofl caa be shed without stain tng the slayor's hands. Judged according to the ethics of tho Texas border, tho regard for human life which prevails In tho older sections of tho coun trv Is a superstition.

It is undoubtedly hotter to live where there is what Is called law, with all Its appliances for bankrupting litigants

and

protecting criminals from the penitentiary and the gallows, than to live whero every man is bis own jury, and whore the sentence of the court and its execution are simultaneous in the savago bark of ft dragoon pistol. There may bo a moral sublimity in tho fear* ftilly and wonderfully complicated pro* cess whereby society operates Itself. There must be something in tho mi vantages of Sunday schools and their kind th«t is superior to the barbarism of tho plain# ud the «attle-ra»ges. At ail events I shall not quarrel with Christendom on this score. Tho point is conceded without argument. And yet, somehow or other, by a sort of lit* explicable instinct, I would risk my 11 fo in the keeping of a Texan's honorthough that Texan might fcmto a doaen notches (tot on the butt of hit old dragnon, and «Wry o»»e®f tbOoa tho record of a life taken in a quarrel—sooner than would invest a week's salary in the honesty of about four-fifths of civilised mankind. At all events the rudo honesty of these men makes tho right of brsad s*crtd, though their savage notions of tthlvalry may sad do render the tenure of human life a very insocars and uncertain right.

Still it Is alwsys well to cut a Texan'a cards at draw poker. But fortune smiled upon the firm of Grlgsby A Adams. And wbon fall cams they hadT jtttherad from all the wild range notik of Han Antonio several

on they were still successful. Their cattle wintered well. So norther came to them to blast with Its Icy breath the fruits of their venturesome toil and sturdy patience no Kiowa came horlItw across th« trackless pampas with his scalp-lock quaking in the hrees? and his war-whoop spHUlngtheair, to Stampods the hsttlsor giwM»f.lyrtlf»y sepulttire hiy the Mtto»*#ocUK with the bnisards and coyotes tor mourners. And as the summer and winter came and went again,old Mattandyoung Ada&wfoamftbemaeit«a gttiliAe welt to do to th« worid. Tbsy sold somo stock into a big drove, and put the money where it woikl do most good—In a reinftrt*nwnt of young calves. And S9 tii«y wrpnght and watched and wslted for four yearli, ontll the orsnd they had bought for throe hundred

fio the IlUpoUan, whose name was d^llan beewne «ted among the thous

rich. But "young Adams was getting restless. His aged mother, whose only bbv he was, worried about him. Bom® w»w|M»1W»dowra«q«a:th« Ililnoia nvairie from hia home.wwigatting anxious too. for it waa now seven year* sl!M» thfijwd givsaj®thi to the beardless volunteer, and she thought she had walled long spough. All this eame to Adams fti long letters at such Intervals as horseback journeys oonld be made from the range to the post offlee eighty tulles away, and be want* od to aeil oot and go home aud aettle down. But old Matt demurred. He thought they wore doing powerful well, and it waa batter to hang on another year and double their pile.

Finally old Matt caihe back one day to the camp from a long trip. He hart been cW«wr to Auatln. In Austin ho had meta man from old Kentncky, and this man had told him that bis mothereighty, almost blind, with no ono left tft lean upon as she pafeaed down to tho river little way beyond—found an apology for a home among sbfftd distant kindred, who wsre waitlogpatienti^ ly for her to die. Matt was mootUer and more taciturn than ever now. The next day 1M* meuated hia mustang, and when ho came back, In tho course of threo davs, hq knew just whut the firm of Grlgsby «K Adams was worth. He waa ready to yield to Adams and sou out. It was not diflleult to llnd a purchaser then, fo!* it had gon to be noised about that there wus money mints of it, in Texas cattle. So there was nctfvltv for a few Ulays ou the Grigsby it "Adams range. The cattle were corralod, tho steers that wore tit to drive were picked o.ut and driven away out. on thv range. The stock cattle, cows, calves, yearlings, etc., representing the brand, were sold ton couplo of ranchers for twenty thousand dollars cash, and old Matt and young Adams took tho Cbisbolui trail with twelve hundred hoad of steers lor tho Kansas City market.

As they moved slowly north wardwlth their hoofed and hornetl wealth in front of thetn, and the proceeds of the sale of their brand in their saddle bags, w«b busied his brain with his own d#y drlam8 of the- near future. Young Adams' had in it the comely image of a

buxom

So the old lady's just stayin' with folks that'r waitin* fur her to die, is she?' mused Matt. 'Well, reckon I'll relievo both parties, by goin' thar to take caro on her. I don't seem to be much good in the world nobow, bt|t I mought do the old lady a neap good while sho stays, and tha'll make up for a power o'trifiin'.',

It takes a long tiurto to get to market with Texas cattld. But tho beauty of the thing is, that tftey gain flesh and value as thoy go, so there is a compensation and no tims lost.

The trail leads through the territory of the Choctaws, Chlckasaws and Cberokoes. And, uftd'er" tho treaty jlaws, these Indians are eoiitled 'to Ii jufertain toll for the privilege of drivlng^stqck through their lahds.

l-HAUfE SATURDAY EVENING MAIL. AUGUST 23. 1873.

Illinois girl in the foreground

who ha^ been waiting for bim these seven vears, slnco ho had gone away in bluefu '62. And his mother and liitl# sisters in their poor little home on the prairie, waiting too,. When he got home with a cool twenty thousand in his pocket, wouldn't ho open people's eyes in that hum drum, sprinjj-wbeftt raising Countrv? Wouldn't lie Buy« nice farm that'he had in hia mind's eye and dx up the house in. £neshape, apd make a neat home fbr bis mothpr 0ld sisters, and for his girl who baft Waited so long and so true. Old Matt's dream had in it no such splco of romance, but it was just as sweet to hjm 'lor ail that. For ho was going back to Kentucky to see her who had loved and matured him fifty years ago, and whoso fow remaining years it should be his mission to fill with that enjoyment with Which her humble life had beon, perhaps, all too unfamiliar.

NQW

it easy

enough to get along with thofifll-Dlood Choctaws. They are civil and hospitabje—as far as their moans of, hospitality go—good-natured, larfn andTqi* lbe most nart just comfortdolyshlftwaSs'or shiftlessly comfortable, as yotTlike, and they never quarrel with cattle-men or anybody else if they can. holpJt. But the Choctaw lmlf-brceds are a^dif-, fit ant specieaof animal altogftthiBr. The offspring, generally of A mosWWf^rhatly vicious clflAs of whito inen, thoy combine all tho cuss^dnossof tho two races that arejimnl^cd in them, to such repletion tlLprtbei*. ifcno room for any. of tho virtuOH ^f either. About the only similitude they bear ]lo tho full-bloods in the matter of disposition is their deep-seated antip.^hy to. work of any kind. IUit their oilpidlty is by no means as pwat^eM their laziness is incurable, aiyl thnC.At,#p®etimes happen that they seek to' levy Wtortlonato toll upon the ^assintt jjertl.

Now the fexiff! p»iysJailstoll none to cheerfully under any^rtumstanoes. Hfvcherishes a deep-seated conviction that 'the QbVernmeftt is a fool. and does a ^eap o' ttrillln' with the red skins.' And- UO thinks that„ whereas the brains of tho Vincent Colyers, and tho Fteedirien's Bureau Howards, and thift ilk of humanitarians, have been e»rcl«d from time out of mind how* ta solve tho Indian problem, he con id solve It quite wadlly If the Government would just ataqd out of the way for a year or two. It occasionally hap-» pens thai there Is a half-bfeed funeral uot long aft«r an auompt has been made to levy double toll. But it must norbe lmagftfed that the funeral is all on Uiehaif-breed sida bf the account^ tor many a fcxati h*« found a bloody burial along the Chleholm trail. Whatever may be the half-breed's vices, there Is no Ihcls of fight In hint. Thus, when ho and the Texan come together*1 with no other sentimental affection to overcome at the start.lt Is quite like introducing a red-hot iron into a keg of

^Wefl^au attempt was made, near tho Canadian, to lew donble toll on the herd of Grlgsby Adams. When it was over—and it waa ov^r soon—the flrrn of Grigs by A Adams lacked a jo nlor party, and out of a party of five half-breeds one had gotten away alive, to say nothing of a 'Greaser' or two who had been belong on the drive This was new experience forold Matt.

hundred head of cattle—mostly two H® sorrowfully burled his' d«*d P*1^ years old—hearing on their haunch^sliier. nut gum plaster on three wight the cauterised scar they bad bought for three hundred dollar*, As time wore

bit^ea wSoro cfoM bullets had raked his own skin In the scrimmage, and resumed his drive ss though nothing had happened. Poor Adams bad made no iticn except a lltUe convulsive quiver sfter ha fell. Not a last word or message for his mother or his aistessor his betrothed who was waiting for fatal. Not even a last dying smile for old Matt who loved hlm.ss be Might have loved his own son. The fight hsd been of that qnlck, sharp sort, where no time Is wasted In the scntlmensl. *T no wed that boy wssgsme whert I first sot eyes on him In Shrevoport, said old Matt to himself, satia&edly. Havingssld this roucb,he had exhausted the Texan vocabulary of enlogium It is grand to die admlrtTblv. Poor George Adams did not enjoy the opportunity, he went so qnick. The halfbreed's bullet that crashed through his brain calmed his wrath tn the sadden freeslng death, and tberu waa nothing 1

that the ball-hole waa In Bat that, together with tbefiiot that It took force to dislodge his oUioUhttti from the desd fingers, aud that two of the dead h*lM{reed«, lay clow to the IllluoUan, satisfied Halt: found a place In Mstt's mem

bry alongside of the hundreds of his old-tims comrades, who were embalmed in his ragged idmlmMoo

dK6of

having

Matt's heroes waa headed

br the name of Fanuin. And tbe otd man would warm np with the blood of *3$ that the reminiscences of Goliad brought back to hia veins again, when bespoke of that bloody morning away back in the childhood of Texas, when the Lone Star glimmered In the forefront of ber struggle for freedom. '•That Fannin waa yor clean pattern of wbafa called a fearless man," be would aav "I think I kin see him now, lookin' brio tho bell piuwtles of them Gresaers, Mcopeta*, jlsfc like be mlght have Moped Into a gal'a eyea that he liked. Ola Matt had beard a full description of ^Fannin's death from Mexican who was present at tho massacre. The

Mexican told the story ip Camargo long after the war, and fifteen years after Goliad ho told it to an admtiring group of fellow-Greasers, with the grim *20 er for a casual listner. Aud old Matt used to add sometimes that Mexican, shortly after he told of his share In that butchery, suddenly lost her appetite for.bulquo. and quit talkin' about Fannin. 'The fact is,' said Matt, 'he quit things generally.' So old Matt conferred upon his dead partner tho apotheosis of a place in hi«t memory by the side of Fannin, and drove his steers on up through the Nation and across Southern Kansas to Abilene, and thence te.raiUQ, Kansas City.

Matt sold his herd, paid up al^ tho expenses of shipping, yardage, etc., and sab down to count bis pile. With the proceeds of the sale of the brand in the range, aud the sum received for the drove of steers, it figured up thirtyeight thousand dollars. A pretty good five veara' work from a start with three hundred. So Matt tbok the money and, put It in the bank In two separate deposits, the one ordinary, tbo other in special package. The first was to tho credit of Matt Grigsbv. The last was labeled 'Deposited by Matt Grigsby for George Adams.' There was nineteen thousand dollars in each deposit.

Then old Matt wept out about town with all the serenity of a man who has a large balance in bank. Ho'bought a fine gold watch and chain, and the latter contrasted quaintly enough In bis new glitter with the rusty hue of his old corduroys. He 'lowed to stay around a day or two and sort o' git used to things, and then ho would go back to Kentucky and make iris old, blind, dying mother comfortable. Ho was going back to ber after forty years. He wondered how he would find her? whether she would know him? if her mother's ear could detect in the voice that had been hushed to her fur forty 3*ears tho accents of her boy who went away while yet bis cheeks were smooth and red, and his hair untouched by the Iron gray oi time and tempest? And then ho would stop on his way to Illinois, where Mrs. Adams lived, and tell her as gently as he could how he had hurried her boy with bis boots on beside the cattle trail, and render unto her the means of comfort for her old ago that he had died In winning. Geo. Adams had made no will. None was needed. The firm of Grigsby fe Adams had no terms of agreement beyond a verbal proposition to do and a verbal response, 'I'll do'or,' with a mutual 'shake' and a 'let's liquor' tabind the bargain. Still, old Matt never dreamed of taking out letters of administration noy-ot' -probate proceedings. He (Jould divide 38,000 by I wo, and he knew where his dead partner's mother lived. To this rude, uncivilized mind that wi*s all the administration that was needed upon tho estate of George Adams. So he said nothing to anyDody about the hiattor.

Bnt" Matt was not a saint. And a painted siren who .-waited to ensnare near the Kansas City Xjevee found this out. The fact was that Matt got on a terrible bender. Toxans frequently do. Hd drank iShampagno, HC rode about towp ii« a hack. He leased 'for himself and his friends' a whole bouso —including its fixtures and its frail tenantry as well—and tho rental was exorbitant. This was very unseemly behavior in a man of bis age. Then he toyed with tho tiger aud that playful animal1 bereaved bhji of many a dollar. Ono night a youngster said something which Matt construed Into disrespect to a girl who was ap inmate of a certain pophlar resort. She was nae of thoso whom society washes its hbndAof, but whose vocation society makes a necessary Item In Its economy. Society thinka It Is Impossible to insult woman of this class by any epithet LiowcvorJoul. Not so old Matt. He was not civilized. So be swore that no one in the shape of woman should be insulted In his prertmce. and, the youujister persisting, old Matt rebuked bitn upon the head with the heavy b.irrrl of bis dragoon pistol. Then, to avoid prosecution for assault with intent to kill, Matt prodigally paid the fellow two thonsand dollars to 'settle it.'. This spree had lasted two Weeks, closing ap with a protracted and desperate onoonnter with a faro-bank, and old Matt's little fortune of nineteen thousand dollars was gone where sll the other Ibrturfes ho had made had preceded.lt.

Matt had bet his last ivblte 6Wp and tiot up and walked away from toe Sable- Ho went over and sat down on the window.aill, folded his arms and bent bis heed forward on hie breast. lint he did not murmur. A gentlemanly 'capper' approached him and asked htm to take a drink. They went up U* a side-board, and while they stood there the hitter said, "You are In devilish bad luck.' I

Yes.' said Matt. ..

,-•

How ranch are you loses?* f. Flat broke,' said M*tt. But the fellow seemed to know all about Matt's affairs. 'The devil you are.' he said *how can a man be fiat broke when he h« twenty thousand dollars to his credit In the bank 'Spoae It b'longs to somebody else?' qeerted old Matt, eyfta* the follow curiously.

Well, what's to hinder you taking a couple of thousand oot or It and playing vour losses back again?'

Thar'a a,d—d eight to bender.' •What,?. You wight Jteep all fbr that matter, and nobody'd be the wiser for

Yen reck in •Why of course why not?*:

Matt slowly straightened up to bis tall height, rested his two hands on bis hips and looked the fellow square In the eye, while his own glittered with ludy sparkles.

I'M tell yon why not,' he answered huskily 'that money b'ioogs toau old widder over In Illlnoy leastways the boy that It b'longed to b'fouged to her, and I recken she needs it powerfully, now he's gone.'

What of that?' Look s-bere, mister, I reckln yon

Ton advise

git hauled np? Do. yon take me 'or that sort of a man? Now f(y?a do, Why ail I've got to say Is, jlst pull your lion and step yer steps, for nobody ever celled meta l»bief before! And Wi-be d—d ef you shell da it and git away

Old Matt's indignation fairly biased. The fellow slunk aw ^apologizing and laughing,"but glad ttrchabgft botn the subject snd tue customer.

Then Mstt walked oot and went away to his hotel. The next morning he got up snd the first thin* he did wss to go and send nineteen thousand dollars, by express, to George Adams' old mother in Illinois. Then he sat down and wrote in his cramped, rough scrawl, a letter, tolling Mrs. Adams how her boy slept Jn his shroudless sepulcher bv the cattle trail, and that be had sont'lier what had belonged to him. with the charges paid. 'This is sll I caado,' he jwrote at the close wish I could sertd your boy along with it, but I can't. But if it's auy satisfac tion to von to know it, iny dear mad am, he &ied as g#une aaever was.'

When he Jiad mailed that letter, he thought of his own mother, lingering through her last years in old Kentuc ky. 'I can'tjto to her, now,' be said to himself,

'cause I'm broke! I'll go

back tp tho range and sep ef I C4n make another raise. Mebbo God'll spare the old lady a few years longer, and I'll get to see her oooe more afier all.' Then be, ,drew the sleeve of his coat across his eyes" and turned away to go down to tho stock yards, and see if he'couldn't strike something in tbe way of a job. He sold his new watch to pay his hotel Dili, and then started back to tbe old cattle trail again, and that was tho enf *of five years' bard, patient work.

With nineteen thousand dollars of a widow's money In hfs hands, old Matt Grigsby has been Fiat Broke.

But then, he iwajf only aTexas Cattle-

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TWO WOMEN DECAPITATE!}.

Frightful Sccnc on a fSciitian Scaffold— Pilcotut Appeals for Mercy

...

On the llth of July. Ann Pxiestec, aged thirty-two, and Frodoricu Ruppert, twentv-seven, were beheaded at Dess&ii, tbo'German Duchy of Anhalt. Both were xparrled, and conspicuous among the vast crowds tint witnessed their last moments were their husbands. Anna Pries^er and Frederica lluppert bad paid a ,visit to tho r.ged widow (Sarnig, on the 12th of April. The old lady had showed them a large casket filled with precious stones, aud after they had left her they determined to return and appropriate her valuables. They found the widow in bed, aud smothered her to death by pressing a pillow tip'on her head. They obtained the precious stonesnnd other valuables, but on tho following morning they were arrested, and soon after convicted of murder and sentenced to dbath. Their life in prison was an almost unbroken series of sickening scenes of ,fear and despair. On the morning of the, day of their death Executioner Pritzier entered the cell. After tying their hands to thoir baeks, and connecting their feet with a short leather strap^ ho cut off tho tfjJper paft'of their dresses, exposing their necks.' During this operation they begged thp headsman piteonaly to have mercy on them. The executioner.tried to comfort them, but when he left their cell their cries of anguish and distress could b« heard all over t^io prison. When they arrived on the scaffold the executioner's -asDstant had to suppprt thnih. The death,warrants were read, apd tbe headsu?an mo»tioned Anna Priester to advance. The wrotched woman threw herself on her knees, and cried in a piercing tone, "Mercy! mercy J" -She hud to be dragged np to the block, where her head was quickly fastened. The headsman took his ax from a lealbor Caso. He tried tho odge of the blade, and then, rapidly stepped up to the left side of the block. He looked a moment at the white neck of the wft'man, whose body was moving convulsively all the tllne. Then ho lifted the ax and struck. The blow had done its work well, for the head of Anna Priester rolled down, while her trunk rose up, a thick stream of blood spouting into tho air. Meanwhile Frederica, upon witnesjlng this horrible spectacle, had fainted away, and ifye doctor had to hold hartshorn under her nose before she roawoke bo consciousness. Sho was already moro dead than alivo whon her head was fastened to tbe block. A second or two afterward her bead, too, had been severed from the trunk.

And then ensued a still more revolting scene. Large numbers of tbe bystanders hastened on tbo scafTold aud tried to gather some of the'blood of the victims in teacups or tin vessels, the superstitious In certain parts of Germany believing that the blood of executed females is a certain remedy for diseases otherwise Incurablo.

TI1K CURIOSITY OF A FLY. Talk about the curiosity of women We will back a fly against any woman. Just watch him as be gaily travorsos a' bald man's cranium, he halts on tbe eyolid, and, taking a cursory glance around him, waltzes ovor to the end of the nose peeps up one nostril, and having satisfied his curiosity there, corvettes over the upper lip, and takes a glance up tho other. With a satisfactory smile at having seen all there is to be seen there, he makes a bee line for the chin, stopping a moment to explore the cavity formed by tbe closed lids. Arriving at the chin he takes A notion to creep down under the shirt collar, bat, suddenly hesitating, he turns around as if he had forgotten something, and proceeds to an exploration of the ears. This concluded, be carries out bis original intention, snd disappears between the neck and shirt collars, emerging after the lapse of some minutes, with an air seeming to ssy bo has performed his doty. What matters the frantic attempt* to Catch him, the enraged gestures, ami tbe profane language Tbey disturb his equanimity not a moment driven from one spot he alights on another: be finds be baa a duty to perform, and and he does It.—[I^wrence American.

HtTJtncOoitn.—A Reading. Pa., woman was slapped In the face by her husband on Wednesday night, whereupon the injured woman posted off to tbe canal, merely remarking as she left tbe boose that the briny deep abonld wash away tbe insnlt. Taking her stand on tbe canal bridge, she threw a large fiat stone into the water, whlob made a splash like unto that which au Injured wife would make if abe ahould jump in. Next this Reading woman laid herself in the bqsbea, and enjoyed the spectacle of ber husband and twenty other men dragging the canal for her body. Lastly site discovered herself and went home with ber joyful yet repentant husband.

Fasttdtocsfeminine

A TALE OF THE CALIFORNIA

t, -it BT JOAQVIJi MUXEK.

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There waa a company up the gnlch above us. Portuguese were these—» quiet, unobtrusive set of men, with doga snd shotguns, aud the quaintest little cabins in the world. Brown men, sailors biostly, with earrfnys In thdlr ears, and tbeir shirt-bosoms open oiannlah people, silent and rsspectfuL Then there were other companies bblow, not unlike our own—a hundred men or more on this littlo mountain stream. Trees above us in oternal green, cbapparal along tbo fierce and ateep old mountain si^e, that pitched almost perpondlcularly on either side the stream upon us, from which whistied the pertridge through the day, and called the grey coyote at night. No other sounds than these, but the rattling of the stones in the cradle or the torn, and tbe pick and shovel on the rocks. No doctors, UQ law, no lawyers, & no thieves forty miles to the nearest trading camp. All things were brought p, front there across a fielu of everlasting snow, upon our .backs—bread and bacon and bears, and beans and bacon and bread, the whole year through. At last the dreaded survey came. Men suddenly fell III, lost' tho use of their limbs, fell helpless on our hand*. No help nothing would do them good but change of place and chaogo of diet. .. We to gild not carry theui out across te tho snow. This was dreadful. Yon could not have seen these strong, brave men stricken there, helpless, dying day by day, without hOpe, and boon silent. Sad! fearful.

There were six of them, and the worst case In the six was that of tho mail with the leather nose, all brought toether, all lying looking helplessly, idly into each other'* laces, thinking of other feces, other seenos, in other lands. At last an old sailor suggostod, as a last resort, a remedy. Ho baa seen a ship's crew Raved in some land in the tropics. We would try that. It was to place the men, stripped nude as nature, up to the chin in the earth, and leave them there through tho night, till the loose aud warm rich soil should draw the poison from their bodies.

Thero was reason in this. Besides, wo had sotno evidence that it would save our men for once when a party of Indians attacked us, we won the fight, and, follbwlug them up a little way, found a wounded Indian burled up to tbe eyes in the earth. They bad -. done this in the hope of saving bnn, to try and heal bis wound, and thoy are goad physicians.

Wo dug six pits Iti the shadow of 4 pine, In the loose and warm alluvial soil and there, as tbe sun went down. We stood the men up to the chin, snd filled the earth In about them. tt was a lovely moonlight night, balmy and peaceful as a paradise. Not a sound save tho doloful nowl of a wolf in the crags alove. Even In this conditton the grim Russian was the centre of interest. But he was as silent as helpless. His head Inclined to one side, and rested on the loose, warm soil beside bind. His hand was half hidden in tbe earth.

Oregon Jake was tbefp, assisting as well as ho might, in his awkward looso way, in the singular experiment and effort to save tho lives of the stricken men.

But he was.not gifted with any spoeial gravity of bearing, and tho grotesque picture before bim, with all its aadoeBS, bad its comical feature.

He went up to Ginger and began to talk, as he looked nbw and then at tho Russian over his shoulder. He laughed as he did sc.

T}ie buried man heard him, lifted his head with an effort, and cried out in a ghostly, gravo-yard voloe:

Kuock hiiu down, Giuger! Kuock him down ., Ginger, troe to Ills helpless Jrlend, knocked him down dn tho spot

Again tho feeblo head of tlio helpless man settled over on the soft soil. Ho closed his eyes with tho most perfect satisfaction, and then smiled till his white tooth looked liko tho entire roof to a minlatbre cemetery.

After a while tho tired miners Megan to retire, and, with a silent prayer for tho success of the experiment, Jeft it to time. The invalids wore choorftil, and, now with a littlo hope, chatted gayly onough togethor, but looked strange beyond description—the six ahaggy heads Just bursting through tho earth, like Banquo's, three in a row, In tho fitful moonlight. It looked llko men rising from tne earth and coming up to Judgment. Their voices sounded weird ana ghostly, too, as of another world. After a while, ono by one they foil asleep, and all was still save tho howling of the wolf on the bluff above. I grew frightened llko. .think tho otbors did, too. Arid one by ono wo stole away and left them there, as tbo nigbt wind went on, and sought our bunks inside the* cabins, and throw us down In our clothes and slept. It was an experiment for llfo or death.

What a strango stupor overcomes men sometimes at night, who havo been bwrd at work all day. Singular

that we should have left thoso six men there at midnight in tbe black shadows, with only here and thero a ray of moonlight to relievo tho scene. StrAnge that we could not keep awake.

The experiment was a failure. -Tho wolves camc down In tbe night and ate off every head level with the ground.

SUDDEN DEPARTURE. He waa bidding good-by to his sweetheart. It happened on a Sunday night about half-past ten o'clock. He kindly offered to shut the shutters for ber, from the outaide sho waa inside ready to fasten them. He begged forlust one more kiss before be left her. Tho window was about six feot from the pavement. She balancod herself on tbe window-sill and leaned out as far ss she could. He stretched himself upas far as he could—he was rather short for his age. It waa a tableau whioh will linker atriong his sweetest memories of tbo past. The love-light shone In her large blue eyes, sod ber wavy, light brown hair fell over tbe fair face tbat yet haunts his dreams in tbe night season, when the dull cares or earth are for a moment swept away, and tho brain revels In bright scenes tbat might have been. Hope and love and trust were there. He threw his arms around her alabaster neck, and imprinted a kiss upon ber ruby Hr»—then came a crash —the back euspender buttons of his pants gave way, and the glrL almost tumbled oot into bis arms. With a frantic effort he pushed her back into the room. Just then tbe old man appeared on the scene, snd tbe fellow loft suddenly for home holding his pants with both bands. ,' ..

A pATRoyiziKci

bathers at Long

Branch wear masks In the water. If tbey wore maaks all tbe time, it would not make much difference.'

Dahsel.—Miss

Mar-

garet, aged nine, (to mamma, who is a widow and has no sons)—1"1 am very glad uncle has come to atop with us, mamma. I Ms nice to have a man about thehoiuet"

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