Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 221 — page 2: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

-— ‘tuiitous Sugar-Coated Sam; The Black Gowns of Grim Gulch, X DEADWOOD DICK EPISODE. BY EDWARD L. WHEELER, AUTHOR OF ‘‘ DEADWOOD D CK” NOVELS, ‘‘ ROSE- BUD ROB” NOVELS, ‘‘ BONANZA BELL,” ‘*GILT-EDGED DICK,” ETC., ETO, CHAPTER¢«I. GRIM GULCH. IT po rot know that Grim Gulch ever had a name-giver, until the gold fever took to its con- finesa few adventurous spirits, who were willing to endure almost any amount of hardship, rather than not to set their grip upon the witiaw part- icles, a pound of which meant guite a handsome sum in money. The whole Western border was alive with excitement consequent upon the rich carbonate discoveries at Leadville, and the old eager spirit of the 49ers to acquire golden gain was stril- ingly exemplified in the restless, heterogeneous set who roamed from place to place, wide-awake and eager to dig when there was any shew for getting profitable pay-dirt. Some adventurous chap had expressed a desire, one night, at a Chin-Chin hotel, to explere Grim Gulch, with its deep gloomy furrow track through the heart of the mountain wilderness, and that wish had eventually turned a move in that direction. Grim Gulch was prospected, and lo! geld and silver found. That virtually settled the case. The richest mineral-bearing sectien was christened a town after the lugubrious title of its gulch—Grim Gulch. It was a destinéd cit of the feverish crazy order, so many of whic had been built and abandoned, except by a few struggling miners who were sometimes content to linger behind, and stand their chances of eking out a miserable and lonely existence. Abandoned or ‘“‘stampeded” towns are nof always necessarily unworthy, but when a big drift gets into a miner’s imagination or he is fired by fabulous stories in some other Jocality, you might as well try lassoing a moving loco- motive as attempt to stop him. And so, Se upon the discovery of the geld, Grim Gulch’s existence as a town, became an assured fact, for ‘‘ pilgrims” and ““tender- foots,” began to drop in by degrees, te populate and get rich. Of the discoverers, and therefore thefounders, there had been four: McDuff, a reticent and sour-tempered Irishman, mony gs a Yankce, Hans, a Dutchman, and Sugar-Coated fam, an American ia the fullest sense of the werd, It was he who acted as a sor’ of captain, mayor, or president over the other three, until “folks” began to arrive, A sturdy, dashing fcl- low he was, of fine form and face, and with ride enough to keep him tidy and cleanl7; enca the appellation—‘ Sugar-Coatedy’ for, Snapp allowed he ‘‘ war tew nice ter stan’ ther wear an’ tear of a rough life on ther frontier.” But, despite this pride and maybe a Tittle ersonal conceit that he was reasonably good- ooking, Sugar-Coated Sam was capacitated for command, and was given the say in everything, and his advice was accepted by his three pards, without demur. The site selected for the city was midway up the guich, from its mouth, at a point where it widened out into a ‘‘ pot” or “ basin” of several acres extent, Here Sugar-Coated Sam had caused lots to be staked off, all of uniform size and some fifty in number, and had arranged a squatters’-claim article and posted it upon an extemporized bulletin board for the edification of any callers who should ‘* drop in.” The document went on to dispense the gra- information that they, respectively, Saw’l, IicDuff, Hans and Snapp, had settled upon the aforesaid property and takem out pro- prietury articles according to governmental rules and regulations, and therefore, it behooved would-be settlers in Grim Gulch to either lease or buy of them, as they were sole owners of all desirable lots in the heart of the city. In penalty whereof it should be deemed an offense punishable with a 82-caliber revolver for any galoot to squat upon the aforesaid lots, without first having obtained the censeut of the owners. When everything was arranged, according te their liking, Sugar-Coated Sam set off to the —_-—-___— Sugar-Coated Sam, nearest land agency to secure a good title, and in due time returned, first having noised about the news of the rich deposits of the auriferous that were to be found up in Grim Gulch. For not only-had the sportive pard secured a title to the lots where the future city.was to stand, but he had taken care to purchase neigh- boring tracts in the guich, on either side of the prospective metropolis, He thought be could foresee a day when these self-same lands, now rugged and unsightly, would turn dollars into the treasury of the firm —for as such they in due time signed articles of incorporation, as the Sugar-Coated Mining Co., with Sugar-Coated Sam as president, Snapp, vice-president; Sam’l, Snapp, Hans and Mc- Duff as directors, and Sam as secretary, treas- urer and accountant. Timber was not handy to get at, and so they put up their miner’s tent, and used it asa gen- eral habitation and cffice until they should be able to hi pepes it with a brown-stone front, as sam laughingly remarked to his partners, A week otf prospecting served to discover some valuable specimens of nuggets, quartz and ‘* flakes,” which Sam put upon exhibition on a table in the ‘‘ shanty,” as the tent was called, and waited for something or some one to turn up. For, unless there was an influx of miners, the ‘* city ’” promised not to progress rapidly toward Philadeiphian proportioxs. Oneday there came a person, but he was a ‘member ” from China, and was not invited to stay. - In fact, he was rather prevailed upon by the morose McDuff to ‘‘ be afther J’avin’ at onc’t,” and be it said to his sagacity, the almond-eyed son of Confucius concluded there was no show for him in Grim Gulch, where there were only ‘* four shirtee ” to wash. ‘*Tf we can’t have dacent p’aple we’ll have none aé all, at all,” McDuff averred, and his mates were fuily with him, so far as the Chinese question was concerned. Yinally a man came one day—a man who had Ase eoe come to stay, as he was of that cheeky, bullying type of character, a cross be- tween the gentleman and ruffian, whom it is hard to suppress, and this fellow was a good specimen of bis class, He rode into the city, upon a superannudted mule, that had had anear taken off in some san- guinary scrimmage, and looked as if there had been a famine in fodder, in his last place of residence, The same might be said of the bullwhacker, who was gaunt and hungry looking, and a sorry men for beauty, with his blood-shot eyes, tangled beard and hair and ragged attire. Riding meekly into the camp, he drew rein in front of the single tent, before the door of which Sugar-Coated Sam was lounging in a hammock, the other pards being engaged jin prospecting among the claims. There was something like an enthusiastic ex- pression in the bullwhackcr’s face as he beaved a deep sigh efter drawing rein, and taking a ood square look at the president of the Sugar- voated Mining Company. “Stranger,” he said, finally, ‘‘I don’t allow yé luk like a galoot w’ot’s got reJigyun an’ j’ined ther band o’ saints that is to be!” ‘Well, I presurse you are right, as I don’t exactly belong to any particular religious sect,” Sam replied, curling his mustache, andregarding the stranger inquiring] y. . ‘*T know’d et—lknow’d et ther mcme:t I sot eyes on ye. Thar’s nothin’ art:ifcial about you—nary atime. You’re built on a ;ud solid asis, wot won’t admit o’ yer stoopin’ to nothin’ mean, Ef yo wart ter do er thing, ye do it. Ef ye wanter smoke, et’s yer bizness, an’ no monopolizin’ mite society hain’t got no say why ye sha’n’t do et, accordin’ ter ther act o’ Con- Bron. Ef ye desire ter lubricate, yo kin ‘smile’ ill yer face is one huge shinin’ mark, ’thout any remarks bein’ made. By the way, seein’ thet L haven’t tickled my thrut wi’ a drap fer many a long day, I wouldn’t mind j’inin’ ye in a ‘ smile,’ ef ye eos ter hev any ninety-in-the-shade or prime old Taos about yer shebang.” **Sorry, but as I don’toften indulge, Thaven’t any liquor on hand,” Sam replied, smiling at the roundabout way the visitor had in getting at his object. ‘No liker? Alas! the words are alike unto the knell o’ doom. Sure ye keven’t got any- thing, pard—a leetle benzeen or speer’ts 0’ tur- pentine, fer instance; wi’ a wassup n»st fn if, ter rasp off the phlegm in a feller’s vocabulary trap?” “Nothing stronger than the water in the brook yonder,” Sam assured. ‘Might try a ee ee eee ___ ad ——— EEE ee Ce ee — + dose of it as an experiment, and put in a bull thistle or cactus stalk to give it tang!” ‘“Good thought! Stranger, you’re an origi- nal. Great future scientific triumphs isin stcre for you. And as for me, poetica} insperaticn is all I hev ter rely on fer my fame an’ fortune in the present an’ future.” ‘«'Then you area poet, eh?’ Samuel, the sug r- coated inquired, quizzically. ‘“ Waal, now, thet I jest am, pard—a poet right frum ther pine-clad pinon-forest pinnac es o’ ther Serious. Allow me three inches o’ ten- glefut in-my Diiler, stranger, an’ I, Willicm Henry Shakespeare, kin spread out more rbytb- matic perfection ter ther squar’ inch than ary other ravenous rhymer iu ther perfesh.” _** Well, judging by your flippancy of tongue, I am not prepared to doubt that assertion,” Sam said. ‘* Cometh thou from afar, friend 8S. ?’ ‘‘Frurh Coffin Lid Camp, Coloredy, latteily— formerly from Arizone. News did reach me that this was a place of destined golden prow ise, and therefore, being invited toa necktie party, and not keerin’ to offend by refusin’ tcr attend, I silently packed my saddle-bags and _ stole this way witha view ter resumin’ my old trace— publishin’ a nusepaper. Paper, press and rig- out from A to Z hev I coming, an’ l’ll show ye areverlation in journalism thet ll make yer ears tingle, when they arrive on the fust trein that I am the forerunner of. ‘““Summarily will I sit down upon ther siniul- ness of ther people, an’ advocate lynch jaw ser ther doctoring of road-agents an’ hoss-thieves; in poloticks I shall be strictly neutral ter tler party w’ot sets’em-up; a collum o’ free acv:se consarnin’ everybody’s bizness wull be a promi- nent feature tergether wi’ interspersions 0” clas- sic poet ical prunes.” ‘Well, I presume you'll succeed, in case you don’t suck in too much fluid kombasto infuri- oso,” Sam replied. ‘‘At present we've not much enterprise in our town, but all ye’ve pot ter do isinvest a thousand in a lot, build yer shanty, an’ go ter work.” ‘‘ A thousand dollars! Great heavings, stran- ger, all I’ve got is but a V!” ‘* Then, unless you strike luck, there’s a poor show for you ‘here. Still, you can stay about camp, as long as you behave yourself.” For this privilege Shakespeare expressed thanks in strong terms, and dismounting un- loaded his saddle-bags and turned bis «quire companion out to graze, as there was a plenty of tender grass and bushes abcut tbe valley. With the coming of the rough-looking pilgrim it would seem that good luck came to Grim Gulch, though he was a tough customer to be an omen ot luck; for the very next day his promised wagon-train of ‘*stampecers ” wound its way into the gulch, and still another, a day later. Of the first all were rugged miners, clad in the inevitable red or blue shirt, and cordurcy breeches, top boots and slouch hat of the mining country, and equipped with mining parapler- nalia, ad armed well, for these ‘* stampeders” of experience are not the ones to venture into an unknown count: y without a-plenty of pow- der and lead, Of the second party there was a more hetero- geneous assortment of humanity, consisting of several ladies—wives and daughters of the men —and some men of the class that aim to earn a livelihood by other means than actual Lard labor—Bohemians who lived by their wits, speculators, gamblers and sporting men gen- erally. But of all the lot was one whose apperrance would naturally attract the most attention—a girl of some sixteen or seventeen years, rigged out in a stylishfitting gray plaid suit consisting of coat, pants and vest, with a shiny plug hat set jauntily upon a head-crowning of tight little yellow curls, while patent-leather slippers graced a dainty pair of fect. Then there was a glossy white shirt front, with collar, tie and genuine diamond cluster pin, white kids wpon the hands, a heavy gold chain strung across the vest, with a nriniature gold revolver for a charm, and a slender gold- heeded cane that she could twirl, quite dex- trously. And added to the flashy attractiveness of Fer dress was the fact that she was in both fececnd form a decidedly bewitching beauty. CHAPTER II. TWO GIRLS AND AN OLD RIP. OF course the inpouring of the new-comers brought bustle and confusion. A number immediately purchased claims and proceeded to stick up tents upon them, an make things livable, while others were of thé Eomichboo cS (EO)