mm DAILY INDEPENDENT
Pr.ilCY H. YAM DYKE, Publisher md Editor.
NEWPO" - ARKANSAS
44.4444-f444.44 44444444444444
-► 4
:: The Capture of J
:: Squinty Smith |
::-;
By UOHN H- RARTERY. 4
44444444444444444444444444
ANDES he comes, mammy!”
yelled the little yellow-head
ed, freckled boy, running into the
rickety shanty and out again, danc
ing with delight. A scrawny, with
ered, weary woman came out of the
house with two dirty children at her
heels and behind them a half-grown,
red-headed, gangling girl, with two
fierce little braids sticking away
from her poll.
A burly man on a ragged pony
eame galloping down the country
road.
“Supper ready, Mag?” he bawled
at the woman.
“Supper! Why, ’tain’t no more’n
seven o’clock. What’s up?”
“What’s up! Everything is up!
Squinty Smith has gone an’ done it
right this time. lie killed Frank
Copley in the Hazard s’loon, put four
eold Tins in th’ dep’ty sheriff, and
Lord knows how many he’s nshot
ocuv-c x irn tuwu.
The children stared in awed aston
ishment at this bloody news and fol
lowed him round to the corral.
“Well, what y’all lookin’ at? Here,
you, Siss,” to the red-headed girl,
“get a move on you. Mariar, don’t
stand thar all night like you was
locoed. Git my supper.”
“Did you see him, Hank?”
"See who?”
“Why, him, Squinty Smith?”
“See him! Of course I didn’t see
him. If I seen him it’d been all up
with him! I’d a ribbed him up with
lead till he’d a-sunk his own grave.
Hut I didn’t have no gun, nohow.
Sher’ff Housman says T must jine the
posse, an’ 1 says: ‘Sher’ff, if I’d n
been sher’ff ’stead o’ you, I wouldn’t
need no posse for to ketch Squinty
Smith nor no other onery outlaw
like him.’ So I didn’t have no gun,
so I just come home for t’ git supper
an’ ready up my arsenal. Git a move
on thar, Siss!”
The red-headed girl tossed her
bead and disappeared into the tum
ble-down kitchen. The mother got
busy with pot. and pan, and the man.
blustering fiercely about what “he’d
n-done if he on’y'had his weepons,”
pulled his Winchester out of the
closet and began to slip cartridges
into the magazine.
“I don’t want no more’n a peep at
that gol-dinged Squinty Smith, no
how. He alluz wuz onery, an’ he
otta been put outa biz a long time
ago. He’s had Sher'ff Housman
bluffed for two year an’ more, an’
he’s got purty nigh every man in
Plankton buffaloed! But I’ll show
him!”
The man’s slatternly children stood
about him in gaping admiration. The
red-headed girl stuck her head in at
the door and said:
“What did you fetch t’ent. daddy?”
“Dry up, you ninny; I didn’t have
no time to think about fetchin’ home
nothin’. 1 come home to git suthin’.
I come home to git my weepons, an’
if ever I ketch a peep at that dang—”
At this instant there was a sharp,
rasping click at the open window and
a blue-barreled gun muzzle jumped
into the light.
“Hold up your hands, Mitchell!”
said a quiet but very distinct voice.
me mg man ax me Tame held up
his hands with a foolish effort to
smile at the face that looked over
the gun.
“Quit yer foolin', Smith,” he said,
weakly; “put it down an’ come in.”
Squinty Smith, a bull-necked, one
eyed ruflian got in at the window
without foregoing an instant of his
advantage.
“I’ll take charge of these, Mitch,”
he said, coolly putting his host’s pis
tol into his coat pbcket, “and this.
Both snide-looking guns, but I’ll take
charge o’ them.”
Mitchell sat still, his wife and Siss
watching the performance from the
darkness of the kitchen, while Smith
walked out into the lot and deliber
ately dumped the rifle and the pistol
into the well.
“Got any more guns?” he asked,
coming back.
“Nary a gun. Smith,” answered
Mitchell, trying to wink knowingly
at his wife.
“All right, you can let down your
mitts,” quoth the outlaw. “You sit
thar, and here, Mrs. Mitchell, you
might a-knowed I’d a give you your
supper ’thout no such row as that.”
“ain’t nothin' wrong, is they? You
set alongside. Now make that gal o’
your’n git me some supper.”
The scared children huddled iu the
corner behind their fallen hero. The
woman, fascinated into submission,
sat beside her husband. The outlaw,
his big, blue revolver beside bis
plate, attacked the pile of corn
bread. Siss, the red-headed, nerv
ous vlperish looking girl, came in
and out with a dish of potatoes,
some fried bacon and a can of water.
"What makes you act so foolish,
Smithy?” Mitchell w-is whlnihg;
‘•You might am!, you mightn't. Got
any eggs?” growled Smith, leering
at Siss out of his one vindictive eye.
“Ain't got none fur you!” snapped
the little virago, bridling with fury
and whipping her two little red pig
tails venomously.
The desperado turned red with
fury, clutched at his pistol and was
choking out a curse when Mitchell in
terrupted with:
“See here, Siss, you dunged little
rattlesnake, fetch him some eggs.
That ain’t no way fur you to go sass
in’ Mr. Smith! Don’t you know no
better than fur to be givin’ back
talk to folks older’n you?”
Siss looked inquiringly at her
mother, but the weak little woman
nodded her head and piped:
“In the stone jar, Siss. You’ll find a
couple o’ eggs in the stone jar.”
“Now, see here, Mitchell,” said
Smith, transfixing the hulking
coward with his eye, “tain’t
no use you lettin’ on' you
don’t know. 1 seen you in town to-day,
and you passed me on the road. 1 was
under Baggot’s corn crib. 1 killed Cop
ley and the deputy, an’ I’d killed Houa
man, too, if I’d a chance. I’m goin’ to
take your horse, an’ if you ’r any o’
these brats o’ yourn says a word to thv
sheriff about me, *r which way I come,
’r what route I took. I’ll come back
here an’ blow tli’ whole outfit into-”
Siss came in with two fried eggs and
laid the dish before him. He took his
knife and fork and reached for the
food, hurrying like a hungry, hunted
man.
“I'll come back and blow the whole
outfit into—”
She stood irresolute an instant be
side him. Her snapping blue eyes were
on the pistol. Quick as a flash she
grabbed it up, whisked round the ta
ble, and with the cocked weapon held
in both her skinny hands and pointed
full in the bad man's face she yelled:
“Now, you impudent pup, I’m a-goin’
to frazzle you with bullets!”
Smith was so astonished that he let
fall his eating utensils, sat bolt up
right, stiff as a lay figure, pale as his
dirty hide would go, his lips hectic, his
one eye starting and the sweat of rage
"I KILLED COPLEY—AND THE
DEP’TY.’’
and fear upon his mottled forehead.
The little yellow-haired boy, crouching
in the corner began to squawl lugu
briously. Mitchell and his thin wife
sat and stared at the transfigured Siss.
“(lit up an’ tie him, daddy!” she al
most shrieked. “Tie him ’r I’ll fraz
zle him all over the floor!”
Mitchell looked at Smith and paused,
Iris big hands shaking a bit.
“Tie him ’r I’ll frazzle the both o’
you!” she roared, stamping her foot
in an ecstacy of wrath.
Mitchell hulked out into the yard
for a rope, but Siss, the little serpent,
held her quary motionless with the
glitter of her eye and the portent of
the big revolver. But Mitchell came
back and the cowed outlaw was limp
and weak before the untrembling hos
tility of the red-headed girl. And when
Mitchell’s courage began to come back
and he had fixed fast the lariat about
the pinched arms of Smith, there was a
clutter of hoofbeats in the road. Smith
made a motion as if to rise, but the blue
eye and the big gun bade him sit still.
And when Sheriff Housman and hi*
posse came galloping up Mitchell was
in the road yelling: “I ketehed him
sher’fY! 1 got him in yander tied up
an’ licked! Chicago Becord-Herald.
Therf’i Nodi inn Like Taper.
Artificial teeth made of paper and
“uppers” for boots and shoes of the
same material are among the new uses
to which paper is being put. The old
saying. "There is nothing like leather,”
may some time be changed to "There’s
nothing like paper.” At this very mo
ment a substantial business firm in Bos
ton is considering a proposition to take
up the work of manufacturing paper
hats. By and by a high hat, dress suit,
and shoes rivaling patent leathers, all
made of paper, may be considered
quite the correct thing. The paper age
may astonish the world to a greater
degree than any that has preceded it.
The human skeleton, exeluahe of
teeth, consists of 208 hope*.
SOME STORY TELLERS.
An KnRlinhman Who Was I’rrtlJ
Good, Hut There Was an Amer
ican Miner Present.
“The Lord save me from an English
man who has done things or says he
has,” said a western man at the Wal
dorf-Astoria recently, relates the New
York Tribune. “Such a one will spoil
any party and throw* gloom on any
gathering he happens to be in. An En
glishman of this type was once a visit
or in my town, and at the club he be
came an unmitigated nuisance. No
matter what story was told, the Brit
isher invariably went the narrator one
better. For example, one man told of a
big faro game he had seen at Cheyenne
in those never-to-be-forgotten days
when cattle sold at $75 a head and ev
ery one in the cattle country simply
reeked with wealth. It was a good
story, but as soon as it was finished the
Englishman rang in one of an experi
ence he had had at Monte Carlo that
made the Cheyenne tale seem like a
bottle of fiat champagne.
“Then an ex-army officer told of a
company of infantry at Gettysburg
that had been sent up to capture a cer
tain hill. They didn’t secure it, but 75
per cent, of the company lay dead or
wounded on that bloody hillside before
the boys in blue could be driven back.
“The Englishman capped that with
an experience of his in India. Out of
a company of 76 Sikhs that he com
manded only two escaped—himself :md
another, the other shot so full of holes
that he looked like a nutmeg grater.
“When the refreshments made nec
essary by this last anecdote had been
imbibed another man so forgot himself
as to relate an experience he had had
_a* v _ rn. _ tt»_
" hu ( ucu i a. m. *_i v. *•“**“■****
chimed in at once with a legend of a
bear hunt of his own. He had only six
shots in his magazine rifle and was at
tacked by four adult and two cub bears.
After an exhibition of fancy shooting
that must have made the performances
of ‘Wild Bill’ or ‘Billy the Kid’ look
amateurish, the last bear fell, shot
through the heart, only six feet from
where the doughty Englishman stood.
“The silence that followed the rela
tion of this Munchausen positively
hurt, but when it was at last broken
the fate that Englishman had so long
been tempting was upon him.
“ ‘That experience,’ said the soft
voice of a six-foot mining man, who
had been silent, ‘reminds me of a simi
lar one I myself once had. I was after
antelope and had chased a pair of them'
all the afternoon. They finally came to
a canyon and made for it. Just as they
got to its entrance I shot twice at
them, missing both times. I didn’t,
fire again, for the reason that those
two shots were all that I had in ray
magazine rifle. Nothing daunted, I
spurred my weary mount forward and
soon found myself within the shadows
of the canyon, which rose precipitous
ly. With the idea of resting my horse
I dismounted and that wretched bron
cho took prompt advantage of my
kindness by jerking the reins from my
hand and making a bolt of it. Look
ing around for the cause I saw a grizzly
at least nine feet high rushing toward
me with open mouth. I can tell you
I legged it up that canyon and a busy
brain accompanied me. I couldn’t
shoot the grizzly, for my last shot had
been fired at the antelope. Just then
a rock came into view, and, utterly
spent, I cast myself upon it.’
Here the miner came to a full stop,
and the deeply interested Englishman
leaned breathlessly forward. ‘What,’
he queried, ‘what did the bear do, my
dear fellow?’ ‘Why,’ returned the
other, without batting an eyelash, ‘he
ate me up, of course.’ ”
PRICELESS PICTURES.
rrensnre* of Art Thnt AVereCaptored
by the Duke of AVellinKton from
the Si>aiilards.
Not only is the duke of Wellington
as duke of Ciudad ltodrigo a Spanish
grandee of the first class, but he pos
sesses the most magnificent pictures
which have ever found a place in the
royal Spanish collection. When Na
poleon conquered Spain these were
seized bjr his nominee, Joseph Bona
parte, really as spoil of war, osten
sibly as part of the kingly inheritance
bestowed upon him by his brother,
says the London Tattleh The greater
part of this loot Joseph carried with
him on his retreat, and after the bat
tle of Vittoria, when Wellington cap
tured his baggage, the pictures
formed part of the prize. Somewhat
>f a Philistine the Iron Duke jxacked
his captures off to England almost
without looking at them, and little
dreaming what priceless treasures of
art had fallen to his share. Later on
the Spaniards questioned his right to
keep them, and the duke having doubts
as to his title wrote to the Spanish
ambassador offering to surrender any
that were claimed by the king of
Spain. That monarch, however, de
clined to deprive the great warrior of
what had come into his possession “by
means as just as they were honor
able,” and these splendid pictures
still form part of the great collection
at Apsley house.
Some<timen Even Them.
So far as statisticians' report, fault
is found by women with poor gram
mar on every occasion except in a mar
riage proposal.—Atchison Globe.
i
DRS. B. A. & W. R. WASHBURN '
Physicians and Surgeons.
Special attention given to diseases
of Ear, Nose and Throat. Also Dis
eases of Women.
-:o:
Offices: New Watson Building,
Rooms 12, 14 and 15.
Newport, Arkansas.
DR. H. O. WALKER,
Physician and Surgeon.
Office: Redman’s Drug Store.
Newport, ... Arkansas.
WHEN GOING
EAST • WEST - NORTH ■ SOUTH
TAKE THE OLD RELIABLE
H I *
ONLY LINE WITH DOUBLE DAILY
THROUGH SERVICE
TO HOT SPRINGS
NO CHANGE.
CONNECTION MADE AT BALD KNOB
for Memphis.
UNSURPASSED SERVICE
FAST TIME
DIRECT CONNECTION MADE AT ST.
LOUIS AND TEXARKANA WITH LINES
DIVERGING.
FOR INFORMATION CALL ON OR
ADDRESS
WM. M. GREGG, Agent,
NEWPORT, ARK.
H. C. Townsend, G. P. A.,
ST. LOUIS, MO.
The NEWPORT
LAUNDRY
COMPANY.....
Has the Largest Plant in
Arkansas.
Equipped with Latest Improved
Machinery.
Uses Filtered and Condensed
Water and Positively Guar
antees all work.
Give Us A Trial.
We Will Please You. Prompt
Service and Special Work
Everyday.
Gut of Town agents wanted.
NEWPORT LAUNDRY CO.
W. F. Williams, Mgr.
Henry ©wen/
PHYSICIAN, SURGEON AND
OCULIST.
BAILEY BROS'. DRY GOODS STORE
_j mmn — — - —m
Eupion Oil
When buying illuminatLjj;
oil insist on having Eupioist, tne
family safety. This is a dou
ble distilled process oil that is
OKDORf.Kss and absolutely safe.
If you will use clean burners
and wicks and Euptot? On, you
will have best light obtainable.
The only merchants in New
port that sell this high grade
oil are: Wolff-Goldm m Mer.
Co.. W. B. Chastain, Wilmans
Bros., R. D. Wilmantr, Heili
ger’s Union Market Co., Martin
Brof.., and Harris & Daugherty •
Waters-Pierce Oil Comp’y
THE BANK OF NEWPORT
(Oldest and Largest Bank in the County).
CAPITAL $50,000
r:=.:--=_=TTT7-. ■, OFFICERS -
G. W. Decker, President, A. D. Bailey, Vice-President
R. M. Johnson, Cashier. T. D. Kinman, Asst. Cashier
Directors:—A. D. Bailey, V. Y. Cook, G. W. Decker, John T. Flynn,
Thos. J. Graham, J. W. Grubbs, R. M. Johnson, A. E.
Shoffner, J. M. Stay ton.
We thank our patrons for the past year’s business out of which we are
enabled to j»ay our stockholders their regular ten per cent dividend, and to
add to our borplus fund and reserve profit account $7414.99.
Free
Through
Reclining Chair Cars
- f*om ■ —.. ■
Texas, Oklahoma,
Indian Territory
and THE WEST.
__- wim .— ..
Double Daily Service
■ ■ -- *o -
MEMPHIS, The EAST
and SOUTHEAST.
Pullman Buffet Sleeping Cars.
New Solid Vestibuled Trains.
Uhequaled Schedules.
Perfect Service.
THE ONLY LIKE TO THE SOUTHEAST
WITH NO TRANSFER AT MEMPHIS
For all Information call on ticket agt
of an.v line, or addrosa
I. L. Rodgers, T.P.A.Dalits, Te».
Jno. V. Tedford, T.P.A., Oklahoma, O.T.
Geo. H. Lee.G.P.AT.A., Little Rock,Ark.