The Sheriff And His Partner

The Sheriff And His Partner, by
Frank Harris

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Title: The Sheriff And His Partner
Author: Frank Harris
Release Date: October 12, 2007 [EBook #23008]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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SHERIFF AND HIS PARTNER ***

Produced by David Widger

THE SHERIFF AND HIS PARTNER.
By Frank Harris
One afternoon in July, 1869, I was seated at my desk in Locock's

law-office in the town of Kiota, Kansas. I had landed in New York
from Liverpool nearly a year before, and had drifted westwards seeking
in vain for some steady employment. Lawyer Locock, however, had
promised to let me study law with him, and to give me a few dollars a
month besides, for my services as a clerk. I was fairly satisfied with the
prospect, and the little town interested me. An outpost of civilization, it
was situated on the border of the great plains, which were still looked
upon as the natural possession of the nomadic Indian tribes. It owed its
importance to the fact that it lay on the cattle-trail which led from the
prairies of Texas through this no man's land to the railway system, and
that it was the first place where the cowboys coming north could find a
bed to sleep in, a bar to drink at, and a table to gamble on. For some
years they had made of Kiota a hell upon earth. But gradually the land
in the neighbourhood was taken up by farmers, emigrants chiefly from
New England, who were determined to put an end to the reign of
violence. A man named Johnson was their leader in establishing order
and tranquillity. Elected, almost as soon as he came to the town, to the
dangerous post of City Marshal, he organized a vigilance committee of
the younger and more daring settlers, backed by whom he resolutely
suppressed the drunken rioting of the cowboys. After the ruffians had
been taught to behave themselves, Johnson was made Sheriff of the
County, a post which gave him a house and permanent position.
Though married now, and apparently "settled down," the Sheriff was a
sort of hero in Kiota. I had listened to many tales about him, showing
desperate determination veined with a sense of humour, and I often
regretted that I had reached the place too late to see him in action. I had
little or nothing to do in the office. The tedium of the long days was
almost unbroken, and Stephen's "Commentaries" had become as
monotonous and unattractive as the bare uncarpeted floor. The heat was
tropical, and I was dozing when a knock startled me. A negro boy
slouched in with a bundle of newspapers: "This yer is Jedge Locock's, I
guess?" "I guess so," was my answer as I lazily opened the third or
fourth number of the "Kiota Weekly Tribune." Glancing over the sheet
my eye caught the following paragraph:
"HIGHWAY ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE.

JUDGE SHANNON STOPPED.
THE OUTLAW ESCAPES. HE KNOWS SHERIFF JOHNSON.
"Information has just reached us of an outrage perpetrated on the
person of one of our most respected fellow-citizens. The crime was
committed in daylight, on the public highway within four miles of this
city; a crime, therefore, without parallel in this vicinity for the last two
years. Fortunately our County and State authorities can be fully trusted,
and we have no sort of doubt that they can command, if necessary, the
succour and aid of each and every citizen of this locality in order to
bring the offending miscreant to justice.
"We now place the plain recital of this outrage before our readers.
"Yesterday afternoon, as Ex-Judge Shannon was riding from his
law-office in Kiota towards his home on Sumach Bluff, he was stopped
about four miles from this town by a man who drew a revolver on him,
telling him at the same time to pull up. The Judge, being completely
unarmed and unprepared, obeyed, and was told to get down from the
buckboard, which he did. He was then ordered to put his watch and
whatever money he had, in the road, and to retreat three paces.
"The robber pocketed the watch and money, and told him he might tell
Sheriff Johnson that Tom Williams had 'gone through him,' and that he
(Williams) could be found at the saloon in Osawotamie at any time.
The Judge now hoped for release, but Tom Williams (if that be