The pioneer West : $b Narratives of the westward march of empire
History
The pioneer West : $b Narratives of the westward march of empire
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.)
A leading member of the committee met Slade, and informed him in the
quiet, earnest manner of one who feels the importance of what he is
saying: “Slade, get your horse at once, and go home, or there will
be ---- to pay.” Slade started and took a long look, with his dark
and piercing eyes, at the gentleman. “What do you mean?” said he.
“You have no right to ask what I mean,” was the quiet reply, “get
your horse at once, and remember what I tell you.” After a short
pause he promised to do so, and actually got into the saddle; but,
being still intoxicated, he began calling aloud to one after another
of his friends, and at last seemed to have forgotten the warning
he had received and became again uproarious, shouting the name of
a well-known courtezan in company with those of two men whom he
considered heads of the committee, as a sort of challenge; perhaps,
however, as a simple act of bravado. It seems probable that the
intimation of personal danger he had received had not been forgotten
entirely; though, fatally for him, he took a foolish way of showing
his remembrance of it. He sought out Alexander Davis, the Judge of
the Court, and, drawing a cocked Derringer, he presented it at his
head, and told him that he should hold him as a hostage for his own
safety. As the judge stood perfectly quiet, and offered no resistance
to his captor, no further outrage followed on this score. Previous
to this, on account of the critical state of affairs, the committee
had met, and at last resolved to arrest him. His execution had not
been agreed upon, and, at that time, would have been negatived, most
assuredly. A messenger rode down to Nevada to inform the leading men
of what was on hand, as it was desirable to show that there was a
feeling of unanimity on the subject, all along the gulch.
The miners turned out almost _en masse_, leaving their work and
forming in solid column, about six hundred strong, armed to the
teeth, they marched up to Virginia. The leader of the body well knew
the temper of his men on the subject. He spurred on ahead of them,
and, hastily calling a meeting of the executive, he told them plainly
that the miners meant “business,” and that, if they came up, they
would not stand in the street to be shot down by Slade’s friends; but
that they would take him and hang him. The meeting was small, as the
Virginia men were loath to act at all. This momentous announcement of
the feeling of the Lower Town was made to a cluster of men, who were
deliberating behind a wagon, at the rear of a store on Main street.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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