September 1, 1971 (12 pages)

ear tect wae epee (Continued from last week) PART IX "No, I had nothing to do with it except to try and save © her; and they came within an ace of hanging me, too, the cowards," Mike, who usually knew the right thing to do, went to the cabin, filled a cup half full of whiskey, and returning, forced it on Rance, who was in a state of collapse, "You need a bracer," said Mike, "take a long drink and steady your nerves, and let us know what has come across you to get you in such a state,”Thus adjured, Rance gulped down the liquor and began his tale, "I got into town about ten o'clock and went ‘to the postoffice after the letters and I met Harry Thornton there, We shook hands and then he said, "Rance, there is a lot of trouble on hand, A miner was murdered this morning, there is a rough crowd gathering and it means mischief, I don't believe the mob will hurt the woman, but it is liable to turn loose and ‘ clean out the Greasers by way of retaliation." “What woman?" I asked "what has she done and how are the Mexicans concerned with it?" " Anita did the stabbing,' he replied, "You know Anita," said Rance to his partners, They had all heard of. or knew her, She was a little slip ofa Mexican girl, a handsome type of her race, whose loose morals and profession were well-understood throughout the camp, a woman no better no worse than a dozen of her kind who made the town their dwelling-place,"From what Thornton told me, the miner had been on a drunken carouse for a week, This morning, in a particularly ugly mood, he attempted to force an entrance to Anita's house, she refused to let him in, doubtless afraid that in his drunken state he would abuse her, Her refusal maddenedhim, and kicking the door in, he raised his hand to strike her, when crazy with fear she drew a knife and plunged it into his heart, The fellow fell dead on the doorstep, and she ran screaming up the street and into the Magnolia Saloon, where she gasped out incoherently that she had stabbed a man, The sheriff took her to the log jail, and the.dead man was brought to the courthouse and laid out preparatory to a coroner's inque t, The town was full of:miners — he was a miner from Poker Flat — and some of the rougher spirits began-to agitate the justice of cleaning out the 'Greasers.' The Mexicans, anticipating some such action, decamped down the river and out of harm's way, a move that balked and enraged the mob, The members headed back up the street, howling and yelling for vengeance and some one cried, ‘Hang the —!' They they went wild, battered in the jail door, seized the poor woman, ran her down to the bridge over the river, fastened a rope to the rail and around her meck, and pushed her over, Great God! boys, would you believe that white men could do such a thing? It all happened after Harry began to tell me the trouble, The gamblers scattered to cover, they were afraid the mob would turn its attention to them; the merchants closed their doors and shut themselves inside their stores, white-livered cowards that they were, Harry and I drew our six-shooters, forced our way into the crowd, appealed and threatened, got knocked down and trampled on for our pains, and then they began to yell, "Hang the damned Chivs!" and I reckon they would have done it, for they forced us on the bridge, but the ghastly sight of that body, twisting and turning over the river, her hands clenched in the rope at her throat, and her distorted face, sickened them as it sickened me, and the crowd melted away as quickly as it came together. That revulsion of feeling was all that saved us, They cut her down immediately, I don't know who; I could not stand the sight, Oh, it was awful!" and Rance covered his face with his hands, as if to shut out the vision, Recovering himself he added, "Worse than all boys, the hounds took two lives, one unborn inw che world," Rance's narrative put them all out of sorts, It was incredible that such an inhuman, dastardly crime could have been perpetrated, Rance gradually recovered his equanimity, the letters and papers served to turn their thoughts momentarily into other -channels, although one. and all denounced Downieville and the cowards that had stood by or sought cover while _ the tragedy was being enacted, CHAPTER VIII THE CITY OF SIX GROWS The Winter of '52-53 was one of the most inclement ever experienced in California, Rains in the valleys and snowstorms in the mountains were almost continuous until early spring. Then there came a warm spell accompanied with a sou'easter, before which the snowdrifts disappeared as if by magic, Every ravine became a brawling torrent, the rivers a mad rush of wild waters, and the plains a vast lake, As the valleys were sparsely settled, but little damage was done beyond the drowning of a few cattle; while in the hills the raging streams merely obliterated the old work along their banks, sweeping away the flumes and sluices, restoring the bars to their original unvexed condition, here and there undermining a camp perched too near the water's edge or cutting through a bend, making new channels and leaving dry the old ones, The equinoctial storms over, the warm sun shone through the lengthened days and the mysterious reincarnation of nature began: the foothills donned their robes and green and gold; flowers spangled every hillock; the black oak put forth its tender leaves; the red berries clustered thickly on the manzanita boughs, a feast spread for the predatory grizzly; the piping quail that had retreated before the winter storms to the lowlands, paired off and sought the chanizal-clothed mountainside and made their nests in its densest thicket; and the incomparable springtime of the Sierra slopes .revivified and gladdened every living thing, With it disappeared the depression and gloom bred of the loneliness of their winter retreat that’ had fallen on "The City of Six." They had come fairly well through the enforced companionship and close contact of a six months’ association, a supreme test of character, Perhaps theDean was more taciturn, his Shakespearean studies had stimulated his reflective facutties and made him somewhat impatient of the triteness of ordinary topics; Tex had become feverishly voluble and lived in the past of his border and Mexican war experiences;. the hearts of the brothers — a commonplace and unromantic pair they were — turned to their old Ohio homes and the fat and fertile acres in which they longed to invest their riches; and lighthearted Rance, since the tragedy on the river, had become peevish, morbid, and irritable. He fairly loathed the place and its surroundings, detested his occupation, and longed to

ear tect wae epee (Continued from last week) PART IX "No, I had nothing to do with it except to try and save © her; and they came within an ace of hanging me, too, the cowards," Mike, who usually knew the right thing to do, went to the cabin, filled a cup half full of whiskey, and returning, forced it on Rance, who was in a state of collapse, "You need a bracer," said Mike, "take a long drink and steady your nerves, and let us know what has come across you to get you in such a state,”Thus adjured, Rance gulped down the liquor and began his tale, "I got into town about ten o'clock and went ‘to the postoffice after the letters and I met Harry Thornton there, We shook hands and then he said, "Rance, there is a lot of trouble on hand, A miner was murdered this morning, there is a rough crowd gathering and it means mischief, I don't believe the mob will hurt the woman, but it is liable to turn loose and ‘ clean out the Greasers by way of retaliation." “What woman?" I asked "what has she done and how are the Mexicans concerned with it?" " Anita did the stabbing,' he replied, "You know Anita," said Rance to his partners, They had all heard of. or knew her, She was a little slip ofa Mexican girl, a handsome type of her race, whose loose morals and profession were well-understood throughout the camp, a woman no better no worse than a dozen of her kind who made the town their dwelling-place,"From what Thornton told me, the miner had been on a drunken carouse for a week, This morning, in a particularly ugly mood, he attempted to force an entrance to Anita's house, she refused to let him in, doubtless afraid that in his drunken state he would abuse her, Her refusal maddenedhim, and kicking the door in, he raised his hand to strike her, when crazy with fear she drew a knife and plunged it into his heart, The fellow fell dead on the doorstep, and she ran screaming up the street and into the Magnolia Saloon, where she gasped out incoherently that she had stabbed a man, The sheriff took her to the log jail, and the.dead man was brought to the courthouse and laid out preparatory to a coroner's inque t, The town was full of:miners — he was a miner from Poker Flat — and some of the rougher spirits began-to agitate the justice of cleaning out the 'Greasers.' The Mexicans, anticipating some such action, decamped down the river and out of harm's way, a move that balked and enraged the mob, The members headed back up the street, howling and yelling for vengeance and some one cried, ‘Hang the —!' They they went wild, battered in the jail door, seized the poor woman, ran her down to the bridge over the river, fastened a rope to the rail and around her meck, and pushed her over, Great God! boys, would you believe that white men could do such a thing? It all happened after Harry began to tell me the trouble, The gamblers scattered to cover, they were afraid the mob would turn its attention to them; the merchants closed their doors and shut themselves inside their stores, white-livered cowards that they were,

Harry and I drew our six-shooters, forced our way into the crowd, appealed and threatened, got knocked down and trampled on for our pains, and then they began to yell, "Hang the damned Chivs!" and I reckon they would have done it, for they forced us on the bridge, but the ghastly sight of that body, twisting and turning over the river, her hands clenched in the rope at her throat, and her distorted face, sickened them as it sickened me, and the crowd melted away as quickly as it came together. That revulsion of feeling was all that saved us, They cut her down immediately, I don't know who; I could not stand the sight, Oh, it was awful!" and Rance covered his face with his hands, as if to shut out the vision, Recovering himself he added, "Worse than all boys, the hounds took two lives, one unborn inw che world," Rance's narrative put them all out of sorts, It was incredible that such an inhuman, dastardly crime could have been perpetrated, Rance gradually recovered his equanimity, the letters and papers served to turn their thoughts momentarily into other -channels, although one. and all denounced Downieville and the cowards that had stood by or sought cover while _ the tragedy was being enacted, CHAPTER VIII THE CITY OF SIX GROWS The Winter of '52-53 was one of the most inclement ever experienced in California, Rains in the valleys and snowstorms in the mountains were almost continuous until early spring. Then there came a warm spell accompanied with a sou'easter, before which the snowdrifts disappeared as if by magic, Every ravine became a brawling torrent, the rivers a mad rush of wild waters, and the plains a vast lake, As the valleys were sparsely settled, but little damage was done beyond the drowning of a few cattle; while in the hills the raging streams merely obliterated the old work along their banks, sweeping away the flumes and sluices, restoring the bars to their original unvexed condition, here and there undermining a camp perched too near the water's edge or cutting through a bend, making new channels and leaving dry the old ones, The equinoctial storms over, the warm sun shone through the lengthened days and the mysterious reincarnation of nature began: the foothills donned their robes and green and gold; flowers spangled every hillock; the black oak put forth its tender leaves; the red berries clustered thickly on the manzanita boughs, a feast spread for the predatory grizzly; the piping quail that had retreated before the winter storms to the lowlands, paired off and sought the chanizal-clothed mountainside and made their nests in its densest thicket; and the incomparable springtime of the Sierra slopes .revivified and gladdened every living thing, With it disappeared the depression and gloom bred of the loneliness of their winter retreat that’ had fallen on "The City of Six." They had come fairly well through the enforced companionship and close contact of a six months’ association, a supreme test of character, Perhaps theDean was more taciturn, his Shakespearean studies had stimulated his reflective facutties and made him somewhat impatient of the triteness of ordinary topics; Tex had become feverishly voluble and lived in the past of his border and Mexican war experiences;. the hearts of the brothers — a commonplace and unromantic pair they were — turned to their old Ohio homes and the fat and fertile acres in which they longed to invest their riches; and lighthearted Rance, since the tragedy on the river, had become peevish, morbid, and irritable. He fairly loathed the place and its surroundings, detested his occupation, and longed to