The Caldwell News and The Burleson County Ledger (Caldwell, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, May 8, 1931 Page: 2 of 8
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Friday. May 8. 1M1
THE CALDWELL NEWS
By B. M. BOWER
He took the two tin water buckets
and followed a path from the back
door to a spring, and brought back
j fresh water. She looked at him then;
i looked at him long before she took
'the glass and drank.
J "You're a good boy," she said.
;"Where's Nellie?" She stared around
: her.
i The kid told her. She did not seem
to listen, but returned to her weeping.
The kid wished she wouldn't cry like
¡that; she sounded so much like his
! mothen when Pap lay on the bed un-
Ider a sheet. Killers oughta be made
to sit and listen to the widows of the
* men they shoot in the back.
1 The kid turned on the doorstep
and leaned his head in at the door-
i way.
I "Good-by, Ma'am," he called softly.
¡"Reckon I'll have to be goin' now."
Í "Good-by," she answered brokenly.
/'Look out them Poole killers don't
get you!"
i "Shoah wi',1," said the kid. Prom-
iised Nellie he'd go. Somehow it made
I a bond between them when the kid
would never break. He was going
Babe had lighted a cigarette. He
.--napped the match in twoa-like the^e
pieces, here in the kid's palm—an i
looked ni the kid nnd said he'd rather
be dt-ad than crippled line that.
The kid's clenched hand rested on
the saddle horn and his head wa<
bowed, bis cleft chin resting on the
soft folds of his silk neckerchief. His
eyes were staring. He saw Babe, in
a new and terrible guise.
He was seeing Babe standing by the
kitchen table, looking down at his
shattered knuckles, and he was hear-
ing Babe say, "Put a bullet through
my damn' brain, Tiger Eye! I'd
rather be dead than like this." He
was seeing ¿ bullet hole turn bluish
in Babe's forehead.!
The kid started and looked around
like one suddenly awakened from a
nightmare. He was on the last slope
of the ridge running up to the tiny
walled-in basin where Babe's cabin
stood snugly sheltered against a split
peak.
He gave himself a little shake,
snapped back to clear and pitiless
thinking. He lifted his head, pursed
his stiffened lips and whistled the
signal of all Poole riders. Babe pull-
ed open the door and stood there grin-
ning as the kid rode up. The kid
grinned back at Babe, but his eyes
gave their warning. His blue left eyo
was squinting and the amber right
eye was opened ful? and had the
baleful stare of a tiger stalking his
kill.
"Well, yuh made it ahead of the
SEVENTH INSTALLMENT
Bob Reeves, the Kid, was nick-
named Tiger Eye by his friends down
in the Braaos country because his
"gnn eye" was yellow When his
father, "Killer Reeves," died the Kid
left Texas to avoid continuing his
father's feuds. Reaching Montana he
9 k forced to draw o-, Nate Wheeler,
an irate nester. In the exchange of
■koto Wheeler drops dead, the Kid
factor learning that Bib Garner who
alao shot at the same time, really
killed Wheeler.
Garner gets the Kid to join the
Poole outfit as a rim rider. The Kid
auccors Wheeler's widow and is in-
terrupted by Pete Gorham and some
other nesters. He shoots Gorham
tkrough both ears for coupling his
same with Wheeler's widow. Later
he rescues a girl, Nellie, and her
dad from Gorham, wounding Pete
again. The girl, in spite of her belief
tke Kid is an imported Texas killer,
warns him the nesters will kill him.
Th# Kid warns Garner the nesters are
ilMBiflf an attack ur> the Poole out-
■*£ tt« maotB Jess Market, a Texan
who is boss of the Poo'r
That night the Kid shoots Mu..
through both hands when the latter
attempts to kill him for being the
aon of Killer Reeves. The rest of the
¡pang approves of the Kid's action.
While near Nellie's home he hears
the crock of a rifle and finds her'
dad has been shot from ambush and I
carry the dead man into bis
house.
-JNOW GO ON WITH TH ESTORY—
The kid's face was bleak and oldj
when he turned from the bed and j
Nellie's mother kneeling beside it,1
her arms thrown out and clutching'
her dead with the tensity of despair.
Nellie was holding horself calm in
apite of her horror. The kid saw her
in the kitchen dipping water into the
waahbasin on the bench beside the
back door. But as he went out to
jrssh her father's life blood from his
hands, he remembered her words and
halted, looking at her strangely.
"What call have yoh got to think
nc it?" he demanded. "Be was
H ütírt ÍS? 12S tíífiow! because Nellie made him promise, storm," Babe called cheerfuU- as the
iciUer,6 because**^ Ü Tif
2? foh vose'f pappy he had shot. ¡Eye. Goin' to be a rip-snorter when
ii] don't hive to. I know whftt Insolence leered up At the kid from it jfctfi here* ,
j- me g-v Mr I know every boot mark behind the tilted1 The kid turned and looked where i
Jou didn't ?o it " I slabs of rock. The killer had not greenish-black cloud mass came coil
' . •• ; j
of coffee, wiped his mustache with
his handkerchief, hitched the box seat
two inches back and drew his tobacco
and papers from hi« pocket. Soon as
he had his smoke going, he would gel
j up and leave.
The foreman reached thumb and
! finger into the watch pocket of his
I vest, groped there, taking his time.
He finally drew a match from his
I pocket, looked at it, used it with little
stabbing motions in the air to point
his meaning while he talked to Babe.
Gosh, did he always talk that-a-way?
It seemed to the kid that half an hour
passed before the cigarette was final-
ly lighted. The foreman absently blew
out the match, snapped it in two,
dropped the pieces on the floor and
got up reaching for his hat.
Babe lifted his head and looked full
at the kid. He saw the kid's lips
loosen, saw them quiver as the kid's
eyes met his with shamed understand-
inf.
The kid sat down on the bunk, his
arms resting on his knees and his face
bent to the floor. Babe! He would
have shot Bale just on the strength
of a broken match! If the foreman
hadn't come right when he did, he'd
, have killed Babe Garner, the best
friend he ever had in his life.
Babe! Clearing the table, scrap-1
ing the plates just as if nothing had
happened. Stopping now to mal'.e
himself a cigarette while the kitl
watched biin from under his long
long eye-lashes.
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
Card of Thanks
Spanish "Daggers"
To Line Highways
I SAN BENITO. Fay 7. (UP).-'
Yuccas, or Spanish daggers, as the
desert plants are commonly known
in this section, are being used by state
highway officials to line highway 100
extending east from here to Port
Isabel.
When completed the picturesque
plants will present the only scene of
the kind in the United States. Dur
ing bloomng season from February
to late March the yuccas with their
towering pinacles of ivory bloom are
striking features of the valley land-
scape.
Sections of highway 1? and other
roads in the valley are planted with
Palms, and campaigns are under way
to fill in gaps in unpalmed thorn-
fares.
We wish to express our sincere
thanks and appreciation to our neigh-
bors and friends for the many kind
acts during the recent illness and
death of our baby son and to those
who sent floral offerings.
Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Tietjen
and family
o
Phone your news items to 69.
Phone your news items to 69.
Figure With Us on Your
Electrical Wiring and
Plumbing Work
-Electrical Appliances
-Clarion Radios
-Electric Frigidaires
RADIO REPAIRING
CALDWELL ELECTRIC
& PLUMBING
PHONE 316
'You always come when 1——need help," the girl told him.
"Reeves " said the kid, flushing a even tried to scuff out his tracks withj ing up from the southwest.
UtthT-Bob Reeves is my name, a sidewise drag of the foot. | He brushed past him and went in-
7, y I The kid's eyes went seeking here side, turning to face Babe.
"Murray," said the girl, and put up'and there. Killer as careless as this "What's the matter. Tiger Eye
_j |,__j t. «month her hair "What —and as sure of Poole protection— Anything happen .
lull wo Ho?" She bit her Iíds. fisrht-! 'pearb like he might leave some sign "Yec, suh.Right sm
smaht happened,
Babe. A nestah got killed."
Babe's cold gray eyes scrutinized
the kid. He closed the door against
may-
ahall we do?" She bit her lips, fight- j pears , T .
ing back tears, and the color crept in-. more than boot tracks.
to her cheeks as she met the kid's Been smoking up here too,
grave look. The kid's thoughts halted as ab-, . leaned his baok
♦•IH stay heah, Miss Murray, while ruptly as his body. Even his heart ■ °f ujs thumbs hooked inside
yo'all go foh help. I'd go myse'f, but stopped dead still in his chest; or at ? cartridge belt The kid's vivid
I couldn't do no good. Some nestah least it felt as if it had The blood J re4ed iteelf in cerUin
would try and shoot me foh a Poole froze in his veins so that his face had jj -, . DÍti]e8S accuracy Babe
ridah, I reckon. If theah's a hawse a pinched, old look. He bent stiffly «"etaUs of pituessaccmacy. ua^e
jro'all can ride-" ¡with a slow reluctance, utterly unlke J""* ^ould tolSe over towSd
"I could ride Prince, but he's up in himself, and picked up something ¡f^ - **e more'n likely
the pasture, and he's awful mean to here, over here another something, (• . d'vuh know' Or
catch." land he stood up, looking at them in Who wajit,yuh know. Ur
"I reckon I can get 'im. My hawse,the palm of his hand. I "Old Prdov Murrav shot in the
is plumb foolish ovah any ridah butj Two pieces of broken match! Two , . „
me, or I'd let yo'all take him." pieces fitting together—match snap ¡ , Well_.. Babe hesitated
"No, you'll have to be ready to go ped in the fingers and dropped. Babe! , Well Babe hesitated
before any one gets here. Prince is Babe, a Poole killer! J it comSr Tige? Eye "
the sorrel with one white eye. Oh, Bushwhacking nesters from behind ¡ „„ n' if had it comin* in front
hurrv!" rocks; that's what he was doin^.i ^ . k"v nJ
He rode into the pasture and roped Playing the kid for a sucker. Lay on P? ,f lfchind " ¡ d awn th
the sorrel with the white eye, found the bunk, pretending he was reading,^ Uft h¡g boot tr£ks fheah-and
a rifle shell."
"Yeah? Well—"
"Left anotha sign, Babe."
"Yeah? What sign's than?"
"Left this, Babe." He opened his
a sidesaddle and put it on with storybooks all evening—hell! Lay
meticulous care. there planning how he'd go out next
The girl looked at him, toward the morning and dry-gulch some poali
cabin where her mother was weeping devil of a nester, that's what! Babe!
in great, heavy, heartbreaking sobs.j Pecos had to use his horse sense
"I'm—we're much obliged, Mr.'and tak the full responsibility of I .
Beeves. You—you always come when getting back up on the Big Bench, p Rn
I—when we need help. Promise you for the kid just climbed into th"'
won't stay till they come back with'saddle—his foot fumbling like a
— " ! drunken man's for the stirrup—and
"I promise to go—but I kain't
. promise I won't come back."
He watched her ride off at a gallop,
rode unseeingly away from that hell-
ish spot, where he had seen the fail-
face of friendship blacken and shrink
¡ESS" 2drt"^lp^".ir'beK- ' • death's-head before
fko BAWvol'a Hanbo Vtor vul 1 vif i "
side the sorrel's flanks, her yelb.v
braid swinging in the breeze. j
His glance fell then to the trampled1
dirt under his feet, and the bleak
look returned to his face. He turned
and scanned the ridge. Its side was
mostly brushy and with a stunted
tme growing her and there, but at
the top there was a rough outcropping : kef. Babe lied and the kid knew he
of brown sandstone with rock slabs
tilted this way and that.
The kid was sure the killer had
-waited behind those rocks; just us
aure as if her had seen him there.
But he c^dn't go right up then to
|m>ve it. He went into the house in-
stead and stood with his hat in his
looking down at the dead man
at the woman huddled on the
floor beside the bed.
The kid stood looking down at hei-
fer a minute.
Babe looked, lifted his glance to the
bleak face of the kid, and to that
tiger stare of the yellow right ey ;.
Babe's teeth caught at his underlip.
His fingrs quivered—but they did not
go for that gun. They dod not dare.
Interruption came. The shrill,
whistled signal all Poole riders knew.
Babe's eyes searched the kid's face.
He turned his back, pulled open the
door, answered the call.
"Supper ready, Babe?" The Poole
foreman owned that voice.
Nothing would happen while he
was there. Flag of truce.
Cards lay as they fell till the fore-
man left again. Meant to go, all
¡íl£ more'rHikeíyTold alt about "J"J ;1 hS, Wf "«J
Tiger Eye Reeves, and helped Jess „SftY*3ght' hone8t man'
plan how he could get him. Damn' ™ j ' , ,
fool—let Babe lie him blind. A cold-1 The foreman talked while he ate
blooded killer like that! I largely of the supper Babe had cook-
Kill the kid some of these days, ed. Babe talked, too, but not very
more'n likely. I much. Knew he d have to face it, soon
He remembered the look on Babe's as Joe Hale was gone. Shoah storm-
face as he stood outside the Poole " g. So dark inside the kid got i'P
mess house, watching Jess Marke'i go j and lighted the lamp.
by with his bandaged hands. • The foreman emptied his third cup
He ought to have known, that first
day. He ought to have seen that Babe
Garner had f l eJ that rifle shot not
to save the kid's life, but because h
wanted to make certain Nate Wheeler
was dead.
Up on the Bench there the other
day, riding over to talk to Jess Mer
Onroll here in the
Silvertown Safety League
TN EVERY part of the conn trv,
JL conscientious drivers are
signing the Pledge of the Sil-
vertown Safety League, and
displaying the League Emblem
as evidence of their stand. This
city should and can be in the
forefront!
This is the most determined
effort ever launched to make
the streets and highways safer
for your family and yourself.
Reckless driving must go! Un-
safe equipment must go! Public
opinion must be aroused!
The Pledge is waiting for your
signature at League Headquar-
ters. Sign it, and receive your
emblem. There is no cost or
obligation. You are simply
doing your part to cut down
the frightful toll which 1*4* re-
sulted from the improper oper-
ation and care of cars.
Come In nowl
as a .Member of
THE SILVERTOWN SAFETY LEAGUE
ó aqree
1 To drw* at ipmdt in kispimg with th tafmty of echara
a« wtU €U mymlf.
2 To hemp oa the right Mm of thm road, mmmmpt teten
pasting
S Topa—only whmn I know therm it amplm timm and tpaem
•" never on Mind corn or when nmaring thm creel
ofahilL
4 To go through intmnmctíon onfy when / have thm right
of way
To obemrvm ail traffic eignaU.
To give tignaU mywelj thai ron he clearly teen and un-
derstood, before turning or Hopping in traffic.
To drive only when in full potMuion aj my facultim%.
To kmmp my brake , lights, and horn in good condition.
To operate my car on tires which assure a positive grip
on the road—safe traction—-and freedom from ham-
ardous tire failure .
witness nciunnt
TUa pMf* of Ik Stfielluai
Safrtv Uapt... airead, ilptd
by th a«aad« of dri.en u
hrillil bf —tin—I leaden a* Ika
mmrn Importaat atrp eerr naada
toward aafcly am Ike mwta aad
kigkwaya. Itaad tke Pledge Da
jwm •abaerUte te I la peiaeipleal
Than coma la ... alp It.. .and
gal jroor aaUea I
TW SIHar Fleet, «hila leetiag
tke endurance aad aafety lea-
•■rea «I tke laaaot SUeartotrn
Tire, kau roeered a million car-
■Ilea irAteal an m/ierv n>ia
remarkable aafere record pointed
tke war to tke ralea anee aera la
Ika pledge of Ule Sllranawa
Safety I eaywa.
Goodrich Silvertowns
Ofnather 3. 0. Qoodrick
Homeyer Brothers
CALDWELL, TEXAS
pinky DiNry
PINKY KNOWS A BETTER "PRETEND'
By Terry Gilkison
AW NO, / I DON'T
HKB. 5P N ACM/
VtfBLI., DEAR. JU*T
PR1TÉND
LI KB IT/
A40 MOM,' I'LL JUfT
PRCT€NP
INO IT.
rvtiNKLg i/rrim
*TA*.
AV rug MOVf* TH0RB MX/
*** TV 099 YOU 9HfWV CAV
/b do.
If / OW*M0 A MOTION
*fCTU*9 tHOW y
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Cromartie, C. E. The Caldwell News and The Burleson County Ledger (Caldwell, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, May 8, 1931, newspaper, May 8, 1931; Caldwell, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth174949/m1/2/?q=wichita+falls: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Harrie P. Woodson Memorial Library.