Black, Jack, 1871-1932; Criminals -- Canada -- Biography; Criminals -- United States -- Biography
A small post office in Utah yielded us a few dollars and a big bundle of
“stickers.” I had no fear of Pocatello after getting in and out of it
once, and we thought it only right that Mary should have the stamps and
get the profit on them. I got into her place with them, but she hadn’t
enough money and I had to wait till morning for her to get it from the
bank. Instead of staying quietly in her house, as she advised, I went
out for a look at the town and the whittler got me.
He threw me in the calaboose, promising to take me to Blackfoot the next
day to start on my six months. He hired no Indians this time, but just
locked the door and went back uptown, probably to look for George. I
paced up and down the length of the calaboose, cursing my carelessness.
About midnight there came a rap on the door.
“Are you in there, Kid?” It was Salt Chunk Mary. She passed in a small
bottle of whisky and some sandwiches. I implored her to go over by the
depot and try to find some bum that would break the lock and let me out.
“No use, Kid,” she said. “The town has been hostile ever since the
convention. A bum can’t light here any more. I’ll try to get some
gambler to do it.”
She hurried away. In an hour she came back alone, armed with a crowbar.
She put the pointed end of it into the neck of the lock and with a
mighty wrench twisted it off and threw the door open. I stepped out.
That pale, light-fingered ghost, “The lady that’s known as Lou,” would
have fainted in my arms. Not Mary. When I reached for her hand, she
pushed me away.
“Don’t waste time thanking me. Here’s the coin for your stickers. I
borrowed it from the girls. You’ve got to hurry; there’s a train
leaving in ten minutes.”
While I was still pouring out my thanks to Mary she turned away, and I
hastened to the railroad yards, where I hid myself till the train pulled
in. I didn’t go near the depot to buy a ticket, but crawled under a
coach and deposited myself on the rods. Before daylight I crawled out
at Ogden and hiked straight out of the town. I waited at the first
station out, and in a few hours got a train into Salt Lake, where George
was waiting for me.
He had seen Judge Powers, who defended me when I ran away from the
verdict of not guilty. The judge assured him that there was no claim on
me and the worst I need fear was a charge of “vag” from some sore-head
copper. I at once told him of my troubles at Pocatello and my delivery
from the calaboose by Mary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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