THE PERKINS JOURNAL PAGE FIVE
\\; .
and Pictures from the Good Old Days
u Cannot Be My Friend. and His Too"
NOTE-
story of the life
"Pistol Pete" Frank
each week on the
I Image of the Perkhls
The publication of
is an effort
of Perkin's
citizen and to ac-
generation of the
i from a by-gone era
the ferry on the
the boat was on
The ferryman
house after a drink
he came when he
As we ferried
the river I asked
was Jim Chil-
it was and I took
of buckskin and
He looked at
"So you are
esse Thompson and
of mine and the
• You: must stay all
Take your pony
after I tell
into the house with
lr his hand. I took
tnd bridle off my
him where he
of grass without
up in the brush.
trappings up on
those of Chil-
the house.
wife," said Jim,
more marks
before you leave
Now we will go
and talk."
log in the shade
asked me why I
Shannon Camp-
Thompson had
put it on the
my friend and
d, "for he steals
cattle and ponies.
up across the
and someone
he drives
River.
ian meets the herd
them up into
sells them. The
whole story,
and the Fer-
my father when
years old, of the
years I had spent since then lea-
rning to shoot and waiting to get
old enough to bring them to jus-
tice. Now I was almost 16 years
old and I was on the trail of the
whole gang; I intended to clean
them all out before I stopped.
Jim Childers listened earnest-
ly to my slory and when I had
• finished he said: "Big Jim Starr
told me about you a long time
ago, the time you went down
to the Dog Creek council huse
with Jesse Thompson for the
council meeting, lie told me ab-
out your shooting. If we had
known about this we would have
come after you and then they
would not have stolen any more
ponies from us. But now you
come; we will help, and maybe
• we get all of them." I told him
that all the help I wanted was to
find them. I would do the ret
.myself; I didn't want anything
to happen to them now, until I
got through with my job.
Jim's wife had come out in
time to hear my story. She went
into the house and got her tat-
too ink and a sharp piece of
wood and began marking on the
piece of buckskin. She took lots
of pains to make the aarks just
in a certain shape and position.
After she had finished she ex-
amined it closely from every an-
gle, then handed it to me, saying,
"You take it now and Jim will
tell you in the morning."
Thanking her, I put the buck-
skin back in my gun belt and
Jim and I sat and talked.
Just before sundown two men
came up and wanted to cross
lhe ferry. I rode over with them
and could tell that Jim did not
like them. As soon as they led
their ponies off the boat Jim
took in his lines and set the boat
• to go back across the rover, while
the two men mounted and rode
away. After they were out of
hearing Jim said, "They are bad
Indians. They help ShannorL
Campsey steal Ponies. I sure am
glad you are going to kill him be:
fore he gets a chance to steal
any more ponies. You will get
there day after tomorrow and
then Shannon Campsey will stop
stealing ponies for good."
The next morning, as I was
coili,g my rope, Jim's wife came
out to where Jim and I were
standing. She put a large corn
pone and some fried bacon in
my saddle pockets.
"When you get to Reed and
Palone's Camp," she said, "go
to see Emitine Palone and tell
her I am allright, for she is my
sister. Show that totem to Andy
leed and he will tell you to find
Shan Campsey."
I thanked her and, after sha-
Mng hands with Jim, mounted
and was on my way.
Jim had told me all about the
trails and how to reach Reed
and Pahme's who were all living
in the same camp. The next
morning I arrived at the camp
and was taken to Andy Reed's
place. I showed him the buck-
skin and told him what Jim and
. his wife had said. He looked at
the totem and then at me finally
he saM; "You are too much of a
boy yet to fight that bunch. I
will take some of my men and
go with you."
"No," I protested, "lust tell me
where he lives and how to get
there and I will do the rest. I
may be just a boy but I know
how to fight such dirty skunks
as they are."
"Well," he said, "you stay and
eat dinner and I will tell you
all you want to know while we
eat "
After dinner I was getting
ready to leave when I saw a
small group of men on their po-
nies and noticed they were all
heavily armed.
"Now see here," I cried, "this
is my fight and I want to do it
my way."
"Thts all right," said Andy
Reed, "these men are going to
• wait at the spring, on the other
side of Shan Campsey's house.
If .YOU get hurt they will take
care .of you.. They won-'t fight
till you get done fighting. So
after you leave Shan's house go
around the yard fence and takd
the path to the spring, where we
will be waiting for you."
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
Veteran of The Old West
Frank Eaton
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J
