Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 221 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

| theless, L interes to secure her liberation, and bring her here, where she will have an oppo rus uty toe njoy the benefit of your surplus gold-bags. ‘Great Heaven! this is the trost infamous of lies. You are a Mormon scoundrel come here in pursuit of a defenseless girl, and this foolish woman is one of your wives—and because I de- fended In a measure, your would-be victim, you have sprung this revenge upon me, your © n polygamous too give utierance to a base lie.” ‘Gentlemen, I appeal to you; to stand up, an I swear to you thet this is not true,” the woman cried piteously. ! vit is just as Mr. Burt has said. This man, mamucl Singleton, married me, a number of Yeors ago, and then cohsigned me to a mad- houve to cet rid of me. Through the kindness of Mr. Burt I at last have succeeded i . escaping, dud in reaching this point, and I want make him live with me as busband shou d—or, at least, give me sufficient money to support mein comfortable circumstances t 1rough life.” The appeal was not mede in vain, ted mysel! encugh in the ease | Sugar-Coated Baas ee eee oe ee ee ee Se ee Coated Sam, but got knocked very uncere- _moniously down, as a result of their indiscretion. In no ways inclined to be teken was the sportive president cr the Sugar-Coated Mining Company, and after laying out four of his _ assailants, he whipped outa pair of 382-caliber by cs ausing | C revolvers, and with them at full cock, in his grasp, stood awaiting the issue. ‘*Come on, if you like!” he said with a dan- gerous quietness of demeanor. ‘‘ I’m ready for the second and third edition, you perceive. If you want to have sufficient material to poll an electoral vote, to-morrow, about the surest thing _youcan doi is to let Sugar-Coated Sam alone— | take my word for it!” ou to | for it | elicited a sympathetic grunt from a number of | miners, especially thos) who had _ suspectod Sam ot the safe-robbe ry. ‘*‘ Kit stands ter reason, b’yees, thet we shed give the petticoater ther preference, in belief,” one mir erdeclared. ‘ Sugar Coat luks like ther kind ©’ a ch: ap ‘vO ‘t would desart his wife,” “Vas, an’ I opine ther more ye investigate him, ther more one is apt ter discover, too,” another | cnight of the pan and shovel declared significantly. **On course,” chimed in still another. ‘“ Sugar- Coat knows w’ot he’s about, every day, an’ was ther galoot Ww ’ot robbed the safe an’ then, tried ter play up ‘possum on us.” ‘** An’ hyar’s w’ot suggests tLet we, a thrivin’ young city, should hev a gover nment ter settle wi’ sech cases, and I purpose we hyar, on this spot, elect a combined jedge an’ mayor an’ s er iff, who shall bev ther power ter trans: ct all legal bizness, an’ settle ther hash o’ evil- doers at large.” ‘Gud idea—gud idea. Hyar am I, Bill Hener Shakespeare, ther primest factor in ther hull multiplicand, who would accept ther persish wi’ blusbin’ pleasure e, an’ be glad o’ ther chance ter adjust all deefickulties of a personal or public natur’, “Fer makin’ a noose They say I am handy, Tho’ law is my princerpal holt; Jest fill me wi’ juice An’ lam ther dandy Poetercal petterfogical colt.” **Or I can be prevailed upon to accept such a sition,” Commodore Burt modestly volun- ered, ‘* Although a stranger to vou, I pre- sume I can give you satisfaction, having filled several positions in public, such as governor, mayor and secr etar y of state,” ‘Ary article o’ my personal raiment, from my holey socks ter ther thr’ut piece o’ my shirt will I bet, that ye nevyer filled a position higher than boss over 9 hoss-steal, in yer life,” the bullwhacker poet declared grimly. An’ no other canderdate w’u’d lL rather buck ag’in’ than you. For **T kin see it in yer e Q, That yer head is full o ’ rye— In legal matters soon ye’d make a blunder— Fer, ef ye tricd ter quash, Soon *tw’u’'d settle yer fair hash, An’ ther boys’d blow yer carcass up ter thunder.” ‘Your poetical self-sufficiency ought to be suppressed or it will prove ge nerally detrimental to the community,” Burt fired back. ‘““By the way, gentlemen, I fully indorse the idea that you need a mayor, for you are a young city of much importance, and rapidly drawing nigh unto the zenith of your aspirations, Therefore, it becomes you to have dignity in the posses- sion of a good public representative—moreover it is necessary, as this country is fast filling up with lawless characters, and soon we will have. road-agents and roughs of every description to contend with. Therefore, 1 suggest it as an excellent idea that we make the move before the roads get bad—to use a figurative expres- sion. Arrest this man, Singleton, who at best is an unsavory rascal, and keep him under lock and key until we ‘an give him atrial. On the morrow, call an electio nm, and nominate and elect, by vote, a good man to boss the town and keep matters in a good healthy state. What say ¢? A cheer greeted the Mormon’s speech. His views were practical, if they were selfish, and | hit the nail upon the head, so far as the citizens were concerned. A number made a move to secure Sugar- OL —_ | | But these men of Grim Gulch evidently did not think in this same way, for an overwhelm- ing number leaped forward, regardless of his oa aud secured him in less than it takes. to tell it Three fell, mortally wounded, however, ere the capture was accomplished, and it was the sport’s revolvers, that did the business, One thing Sugar -Coated Sam noted, particu- larly—Shakespeare took no part in the attack or the suspicion against him—a fact he won- dered at, somewhat, for once upon a time, be- fore, these two men had been foes, although it was evident the bullwhacker had not as yet come into knowledge of the truth, Of all the rough assemblage none seemed more highly gratified at Sam’s capture than Commodore Burt. ‘* Ha! ha!” be hissed, ‘I fancy you will not take the role of a defender, hereafter, will you? Your game will end, here. in Grim Gulch.” Sam did not reply, but suffered himself to be led away to a cabin belonging to a miner named Carter, which had recently n finished, and offered as strong attractions as a prisou, as any other in the young city. Into this Sam was locked, and left to his own reflections, whatever they might be, An immediate canvass was inaugurated, aud Grim Gulch was politically alive. Three tickets or candidates were offered as being the best for the if ood to vote for, for m ayor, judge and sheriff, and each ticket ‘had its advocates. First pr oposed for the new office was Commo- dore Burt, and he promised to become popular among one class—not because there was any- thing ‘attractive about the man himself, but be- cause he seemed to bave an abundance of ready greenbacks in his pocket, which he quietly slip- ped into the bands of such men as he thought would be likely to support him and influence others to do so, The next candidate proposed was Poetical Shakespeare, and he seemed likely to carry the votes of the roughes! class, from the fact that they stood in awe of him, because he had al- ready demonstrated that he was the bully of the burg, so far as fisticuffs and excessive brag- ging were concerned. The choice between him and Burt, promised to be about equal. And in face of the suspicions and circum- stances which had arisen against Sugar-Coated Sam, there had been one party bold enough to propose his name for the mayoralty. Who this person was, was not definitely known, if indeed, known at all. He was a bushy whiskered and hairy indi- vidual, of medium size, little of whose counte- nance aside from the peering eyes could be seen; owing to his hair, beard, and slouch hat. His gar ments were coarse and dirt stained, and his belt bristled with weapons, and upon his hands he constantly wore’a pair of mittens. Where he had comhe from no one took pains to inquire—he was simply one of the strange and varying types of bumanity that the daily stage brought into the town, and bad risen up on top of a table in che Bella Union saloon, and declared to the crowd that it was bis opinion that Sugar-Coated Sam was the right man for the office to be filled, and that he had a few surplus ‘‘ rocks” to back his opinion. Later he gave his name as Bumblebee Bob, and ‘*‘ set ’em up” for a large number of the bystanders, paying for the treat with a large and valuable nugget. Although his first proposition in favor of Sugar- Coated Sam was greeted with a general laugh, it was not without its effect, and when the follew ing day dawned, it began to grow ap- parent that there were to be three lively con- tests for a choice of the “boss of the town,” among which Sugar-Coated Sam was not to be so far behind. And as tbe election day pro- gressed, the excitement waxed hot and furious, SE Tr me | OT ee y_uncere- | and b bets were made by the hundred, on the re~ sult. Although Sugar-Coated Sam was kept con- fined in the cabin, anda vigilant guard kept over him, his race pr opr ssed probably as favorably as if he had been at large, tor Bumblebee Bu b, is he called himself, was wide-awake to the pr isomer candidate’s inter ests, in the fullest sense of the word, and much to the e envy of the other candi- dates, and their friends, He used his money quietly and judicicusly, where the others nae theirs rashly and with publicity; he was here, there, and every where, and oe oached one and all with an irrepresst~ bility characteristic of a professional ‘*slun per.’ Another thing might have been noticeable to a close observer here were a great meny strangers in the plac e, who had never been secu there, and, what was ‘most singular, two thirds of their agpregate number wore heavy fu & beards of a decidedly sandy color, while the other third wore jetty black be ards. A detective would have pronounced them twe different bands of disguised men, whose busi- ness was not above suspicion, but in the hul- bub and excitement of the election day, few if any took any notice of the matter, And, too, the eccentric female fop in male st- tire, whom we have once before seen as Sure Pop, came into the camp, accompanied by ti a male part of the people who had previously le's it with her, and all bands polled votes—but t: + whom was hard to tell. Commodore Burt and Shakespeare, snid tla ticket-taker, were running about even > near as he could estimate, but —— ash 4 how Sugar-Coated Sam was running, he wou ¢ shake his head with a peculiar smile, and «. - cline to answer, What did the smile signify? That Sam wis to receive an overwhelming majority? Or cit it mean he was going to get left majestically bebind? Burt rushed from the polls to McDuff’s boar«-. ing-place, and to the room of the woman wi,» had said she was Sugar-Coated Sam's wita, She and the little girl were sitting by a window, gazing out upon the bustling scene, on the street. ‘‘Furies take the man,” he said, ‘He will beat us at our own geme, if a desperate measure is not adopted. Fire three shots upon, the street; get quietly out of the town, ard follow the directions I gave you this mcrue- in Fnen he had gone, the woman got a pistol, fired three times into the street, through om open window, and then stole from ‘the bouse | #, the rear way. What did it all mean? CHAPTER V. A MOONLIGHT TRIAL, WHATEVER it meant, few could tell—few thaw, knew—few that-took pains to know. Most every one’s thoughts were upon the issu@. of the vote, and if a dozen had been assassinated by those two bullets, it is doubtful if any parm ean notice would have been taken of the act And when a number of black-whiskered met left the crowd, and scattered’ in various dis. rections, but one person upon the street took notice of it, and that person Commodore Burt, into whose’ face there flashed a light of cum, bined evil and satisfaction. The builwhacker noticed this, and brol.e forth: *** Yes, hyar’s w’ot's a jedge o pia, An’ thar’s ; green in yer eye,’ or ye can call me a surcker. I say, brother CONe didate, w’ot expression twinkles in yer eye*” Burt started. ‘Go to thunder,” be growled, on seeing w! &. it was, “If you see anytMing expressed in Ny ey! e, it is because I am going to win the race,” ‘Now, ef ye want ter bet on that, ?m yr. man, from fo 3 nails ter eye- se ardner, doy. ary sum, fur bu’st my boots ef I don’t allow Sugar- Joated Sam is goin’ ter i: ther po An’ J reckon et ain't goin’ ter disappoint me. i! I do get left, ‘ca’se my re sponser’ bililies in t} " newspaper line won't allow me ter ’tend to niuea outside,” i ‘‘Whata pity you should be so overtesice, a with business,” Burt sneered, as he- turned UD ah his heel and went on bis way. Noon arrived, and the excitement was eho te at.fever heat, when an escaned guard came f » ing from in the direction of the cabin-jail, ¢: if ing: “The Vigilantes! the Vigilantes! they -w 4h, lynch Sugar-Coated Sana!” Eomicbooks a as SS =|