School Days

One of the prettiest women I've met in the West was very nearly the cause of violence and carnage. And to this day, I don't think she knows why. Frontier, gentlemen! Herewith an Englishman's account of life and death in the West.

As a reporter for the London Times, he writes his colorful and unusual stories. But as a man with a gun, he lives and becomes a part of the violent years in the new territories. While starring John Dana, this is the story of J. B. Kendall, frontier gentleman.

One of the first things I noticed in Laramie, Wyoming territory, was the intense rivalry between that town and Cheyenne on the other side of the Laramie Mountain. One read the bitter attacks and counter attacks in the opposition newspapers, one heard it on the streets.

At the time I arrived in Laramie, gold had been discovered in the mountains to the south and there was great rejoicing in this fact, which threatened to eclipse Cheyenne's claim of superiority. In the interest of fair reporting, I decided to visit the mining area, with the idea of making comparisons between it and that which I had seen in Montana territory.

It was about midday when I saw the sign by the side of a trail reading Rotten-Head Gulch, and a few minutes after that when I arrived at a cluster of shacks, which constituted said township.

I noticed three men outside an edifice which bore the legend, Dirty Charlie's saloon. Good afternoon. Howdy. Sloane's closed. Oh? Yeah, voting day. Oh, I see. You voted yet? Well, no.

But get out voting paper. Got it right here, Jim. Right here, mister. I'm not a member of the community. Does that make a difference? Well, you're a human man. That's all a difference we need.