Gold

by Stewart Edward White

  CHAPTER XXXII

  ITALIAN BAR

  As now we are all settled down to our various occupations, Yank ofpatience, Johnny of delighted adventuring, and myself of doggedindustry, it might be well to give you some sort of a notion of ItalianBar, as this new camp was called. I saw a great deal of it, more than Ireally wished, for out of working hours I much frequented it in thevague hope of keeping tabs on its activities for Johnny's sake.

  It was situated on one of the main overland trails, and that waspossibly the only reason its rich diggings had not been soonerdiscovered--it was too accessible! The hordes of immigrants draggedthrough the dusty main street, sometimes in an almost unendingprocession. More of them hereafter; they were in general a sad lot. Someof them were always encamped in the flats below town; and about one ofthe stores a number of them could be seen trying to screw theirresolution up to paying the appalling prices for necessities. Themajority had no spare money, and rarely any spirit left; and nobody paidmuch attention to them except to play practical jokes on them. Very fewif any of this influx stopped at Italian Bar. Again it was tooaccessible. They had their vision fixed hypnotically on the West, andwestward they would push until they bumped the Pacific Ocean. Of coursea great many were no such dumb creatures, but were capable, self-reliantmen who knew what they were about and where they were going. Nobodytried to play any practical jokes on them.

  Of the regular population I suppose three fourths were engaged in goldwashing. The miners did not differ from those of their class anywhereelse; that is to say, they were of all nationalities, all classes oflife, and all degrees of moral responsibility. They worked doggedly andfast in order to get as much done as possible before the seasonal rains.When night fell the most of them returned to their cabins and slept thesleep of the weary; with a weekly foray into town of a more or lesslurid character. They had no time for much else, in their notion; and onthat account were, probably unconsciously, the most selfish community Iever saw. There was a great deal of sickness, and many deaths, butunless a man had a partner or a friend to give him some care, he mightdie in his cabin for all the attention any one else would pay him. Inthe same spirit only direct personal interest would arouse in any ofthem the least indignation over the only too frequent killings androbberies.

  "They found a man shot by the Upper Bend this morning," remarks one tohis neighbour.

  "That so? Who was he?" asks the other.

  "Don't know. Didn't hear," is the reply.

  The barroom or street killings, which averaged in number at least two orthree a week, while furnishing more excitement, aroused very little morereal interest. Open and above-board homicides of that sort were alwaysthe result of differences of opinion. If the victim had a friend, thelatter might go gunning for his pal's slayer; but nobody had enoughpersonal friends to elevate any such row to the proportions of a generalfeud.

  All inquests were set aside until Sunday. A rough and ready publicmeeting invariably brought in the same verdict--"justifiableself-defence." At these times, too, popular justice was dispensed, butcarelessly and not at all in the spirit of the court presided over byJohn Semple at Hangman's Gulch. A general air of levity characterizedthese occasions, which might strike as swift and deadly a blow as ashaft of lightning, or might puff away as harmlessly as a summer zephyr.Many a time, until I learned philosophically to stay away, did my bloodboil over the haphazard way these men had of disposing of some poorcreature's destinies.

  "Here's a Mex thief," observed the chair. "What do you want done withhim?"

  "Move we cut off his ears!" yelled a voice from the back of the crowd.

  "Make it fifty lashes!" shouted another.

  A wrangle at once started between the advocates of cropping and thewhip. The crowd wearied of it.

  "Let the ---- ---- ---- go!" suggested someone.

  And this motion was carried with acclamation. No evidence was offered orasked as to the extent of the man's guilt, or indeed if he was guilty atall!

  The meeting had a grim sense of humour, and enjoyed nothing more thanreally elaborate foolery. Such as, for example, the celebrated case ofPio Chino's bronco.

  Pio Chino was a _cargador_ running a train of pack-mules into someback-country camp. His bell mare was an ancient white animal with longshaggy hair, ewe neck, bulging joints, a placid wall eye, the fullcomplement of ribs, and an extraordinarily long Roman nose ending in apendulous lip. Yet fifteen besotted mules thought her beautiful, andfollowed her slavishly, in which fact lay her only value. Now somebody,probably for a joke, "lifted" this ancient wreck from poor Chino on theground that it had never been Chino's property anyway. Chino, withchildlike faith in the dignity of institutions, brought the matterbefore the weekly court.

  That body took charge with immense satisfaction. It appointed lawyersfor the prosecution and the defence.

  Prosecution started to submit Chino's claim.

  Defence immediately objected on the ground that Chino, being a person ofcolour, was not qualified to testify against a white man.

  This point was wrangled over with great relish for an hour or more. Thentwo solemn individuals were introduced as experts to decide whetherChino was a man of colour, or, as the prosecution passionatelymaintained, a noble, great-minded and patriotic California member of theCaucasian race.

  "Gentlemen," the court addressed this pair, "is there any infalliblemethod by which your science is able to distinguish between a nigger anda white man?"

  "There is," answered one of the "experts."

  "What?"

  "The back teeth of a white man have small roots reaching straight down,"expounded the "expert" solemnly, "while those of a negro have rootsbranching in every direction."

  "And how do you expect to determine this case?"

  "By extracting one or more of the party's back teeth," announced the"expert" gravely, at the same time producing a huge pair of horseshoeingnippers.

  Chino uttered a howl, but was violently restrained from bolting. He wasunderstood to say that he didn't want that mare. I should not have beena bit surprised if they had carried the idea of extraction to a finish;but the counsel for defence interposed, waiving the point. He did notwant the fun to come to that sort of a termination.

  Prosecution then offered the evidence of Chino's brand. Now that oldmare was branded from muzzle to tail, and on both sides. She must havebeen sold and resold four or five times for every year of her long anduseful life. The network of brands was absolutely indecipherable.

  "Shave her!" yelled some genius.

  That idea caught hold. The entire gathering took an interest in theoperation, which half a dozen men performed. They shaved that poor oldmare from nose to the tip of her ratlike tail. Not even an eye-winkerwas left to her. She resembled nothing so much as one of the sluglikelittle Mexican hairless dogs we had seen on the Isthmus. The brands nowshowed plainly enough, but were as complicated as ever in appearance.Thunders of mock forensic oratory shook the air. I remember defenceacknowledged that in that multiplicity of lines the figure of Chino'sbrand could be traced; but pointed to the stars of the heavens and thefigures of their constellations to prove what could be done by a vividimagination in evolving fancy patterns. By this time it was late, andcourt was adjourned until next week.

  The following Sunday, after a tremendous legal battle, conducted withthe relishing solemnity with which Americans like to take their fooling,it was decided to call in an expert on brands, and a certain Californiarancher ten miles distant was agreed upon.

  "But," objected the defence, "he is a countryman of the complainant.However honest, he will nevertheless sympathize with his own blood.Before the case is put before him, he should view these brands as anunprejudiced observer. I suggest that they be transcribed to paper andsubmitted to him without explanation."

  This appealed to the crowd. The astonished mare was again led out, andcareful drawings made of her most remarkable sides. Then the case wasagain adjourned one week.

  On that day the Californian was on h
and, very grave, very much dressedup, very flattered at being called as an expert in anything. The drawingwas laid before him.

  "Don Luis," said the court formally, "what do you, as expert, make ofthat?"

  Don Luis bent his grave Spanish head over the document for some minutes.Then he turned it upside down and examined it again; sideways; the otherend. When he looked up a little twinkle of humour lurked deep in hisblack eyes, but his face was solemn and ceremonious.

  "Well, Don Luis," repeated the court, "what do you make of it?"

  "Senor," replied Don Luis courteously, "it looks to me like a mostexcellent map of Sonora."

  When the crowd had quieted down after this, the court ordered the animalbrought forth.

  "May it please y'r honour, the critter got a chill and done died,"announced the cadaverous Missourian, to whose care the animal had beenconfided.

  "H'm," said the court. "Well, here's the court's decision in this case.Pio Chino fined one drink for taking up our valuable time; Abe Sellersfined one drink for claiming such an old crow-bait on any grounds; Samis fined one drink for not putting a blanket on that mare." ("I only gotone blanket myself!" cried the grieved Missourian.) "The fines must bepaid in to the court at the close of this session."

  Hugely tickled, the meeting arose. Pio Chino, to whom the tidings of hisbell mare's demise was evidently news, stood the picture of dejectedwoe. His downcast figure attracted the careless attention of one of themen.

  "Here boys!" he yelled, snatching off his hat. "This ain't so damn funnyfor Chino here!" He passed the hat among the crowd. They tossed in gold,good-naturedly, abundantly, with a laugh. Nobody knows what amount wasdumped into the astounded Chino's old sombrero; but the mare wascertainly not worth over fifteen dollars. If some one had dragged Chinobefore that same gathering under unsupported accusation of any sort, itwould as cheerfully and thoughtlessly have hung him.

  Of the gambling places, one only--that conducted by Danny Randall andcalled the Bella Union--inspired any sort of confidence. The other twowere frequented by a rough, insolent crew, given to sudden silences inpresence of newcomers, good-humoured after a wild and disconcertingfashion, plunging heavily at the gaming tables and drinking as heavilyat the bars. This is not to imply that any strong line of demarcationexisted between the habitues of one or the other of these places. Whenan inhabitant of Italian Bar started out for relaxation, he visitedeverything there was to visit, and drifted impartially between Morton's,Randall's Bella Union, and the Empire. There was a good deal of noiseand loud talk in any of them; and occasionally a pistol shot. This wasgenerally a signal for most of the bystanders to break out through thedoors and windows, and for the gayly inclined to shoot out the lights.The latter feat has often been cited admiringly as testifying to a highdegree of marksmanship, but as a matter of fact the wind and concussionfrom the heavy revolver bullets were quite sufficient to put out anylamp to which the missiles passed reasonably close. Sometimes theseaffrays resulted in material for the Sunday inquests; but it isastonishing how easily men can miss each other at close range. Most ofthe shootings were the results of drunken quarrels. For that reason theprofessed gunmen were rarely involved. One who possessed an establishedreputation was let alone by the ordinary citizen; and most severelyalone by the swaggering bullies, of whom there were not a few. Theselatter found prey for their queer stripe of vanity among the young, theweak, and the drunken. I do not hesitate to say that any man ofdetermined character could keep out of trouble even in the worst days ofthe camp, provided he had no tempting wealth, attended to his ownaffairs, and maintained a quiet though resolute demeanour.

  When in camp Johnny and his two companions shone as bright particularstars. They were only boys, and they had blossomed out in wonderfulgarments. Johnny had a Californian sombrero with steeple crown loadedwith silver ornaments, and a pair of Spanish spurs heavily inlaid withthe same metal, a Chinese scarf about his neck, and a short jacketembroidered with silver thread. But most astonishing of all was a largeoff-colour diamond set in a ring, through which he ran the ends of hisscarf. Parenthetically, it was from this that he got his sobriquet ofDiamond Jack. I had a good deal of fun laughing at Johnny, but he didn'tmind.

  "This diamond," he pointed out, "is just as good as gold dust, it'seasier carried, and I can have some fun out of it."

  I am afraid he and Old Hickory Pine and Cal Marsh did a bit ofswaggering while in town. They took a day to the down trip, and joggedback in a day and a half, stopping in Sacramento only the extra halfday. Then they rested with us one day, and were off the next. Thus theyaccomplished seven or eight trips in the month. Both Old and Cal had thereputation of being quick, accurate shots, although I have never seenthem perform. As the three of them were absolutely inseparable they madea formidable combination that nothing but an organized gang would careto tackle. Consequently they swaggered as much as they pleased. Atbottom they were good, clean, attractive boys, who were engaged in anadventure that was thrilling enough in sober reality, but which theyloved to deck forth in further romance. They one and all assumed thestern, aloof, lofty pose of those whose affairs were too weighty topermit mingling with ordinary amusements. Their speech was laconic,their manners grave, their attitude self-contained. It was a good thing,I believe; for outside the fact that it kept them out of quarrels, itkept them also out of drinking and gambling.

  I made many acquaintances of course, but only a few friends. The best ofthese were Dr. Rankin and Danny Randall. Strangely enough, these twowere great pals. Danny had a little room back of the Bella Unionfurnished out with a round table, a dozen chairs, and a sofa. Here heloved to retire with his personal friends to sip drinks, smoke, and todiscuss all sorts of matters. A little glassless window gave into theBella Union, and as the floor of the little room was raised a foot orso, Danny sat where he could see everything that went on. Thesegatherings varied in number, but never exceeded the capacity of thedozen chairs. I do not know how Danny had caused it to be understoodthat these were invitation affairs, but understood it was, and no oneever presumed to intrude unbidden into the little room. Danny selectedhis company as the fancy took him.

  As to why he should so often have chosen me I must again confessignorance. Perhaps because I was a good listener. If so, the thirdmember of a very frequent triumvirate, Dr. Rankin, was invited for theopposite quality. The doctor was a great talker, an analyst ofconditions, and a philosophical spectator. The most frequent theme ofour talks was the prevalence of disorder. On this subject the doctor hadvery decided views.

  "There is disorder because we shirk our duty as a community," he stated,"and we shirk our duty as a community because we believe in our heartsthat we aren't a community. What does Jones or Smith or Robinson oranybody else really care for Italian Bar as a place; or, indeed, forCalifornia as a place? Not a tinker's damn! He came out here in thefirst place to make his pile, and in the second place to have a goodtime. He isn't dependent on any one's good opinion, as he used to be athome. He refuses to be bothered with responsibilities and he doesn'tneed to be. Why a pan miner needn't even speak to his next neighbourunless he wants to; and a cradle miner need bother only with hispartners!"

  "Miners' meetings have done some pretty good legislation," I pointedout.

  "Legislation; yes!" cried the doctor. "Haven't you discovered that theAmerican has a perfect genius for organization? Eight coal heavers on adesert island would in a week have a full list of officers, a code oflaws, and would be wrangling over ridiculous parliamentary points oforder in their meetings. That's just the trouble. The ease with whichAmericans can sketch out a state on paper is an anodyne to conscience.We get together and pass a lot of resolutions, and go away with asatisfied feeling that we've really done something."

  "But I believe a camp like this may prove permanent," objected Randall.

  "Exactly. And by that very fact a social obligation comes intoexistence. Trouble is, every mother's son tries to escape it in his owncase. What is every one's business is no one's business. Every fellowthin
ks he's got away from being bothered with such things. Sooner orlater he'll find out he hasn't, and then he'll have to pay for hisvacation."

  "We never stood for much thieving at Hangman's Gulch," I interposed.

  "What did you do?"

  "We whipped and sent them about their business."

  "To some other camp. You merely passed on your responsibility; youdidn't settle it. Your whipping merely meant turning loose a revengefuland desperate man. Your various banishments merely meant your exchangingthese fiends with the other camps. It's like scattering the coyotes thatcome around your fire."

  "What would you do, Doctor?" asked Randall quietly; "we have no regularlaw."

  "Why not? Why don't you adopt a little regular law? You need about threein this camp--against killing, against thievery, and against assault.Only enforce in every instance, as far as possible."

  "You can't get this crowd to take time investigating the troubles ofsome man they never heard of."

  "Exactly."

  "And if they get too bad," said Danny, "we'll have to get the stranglersbusy."

  "Confound it, man!" roared Dr. Rankin, beating the table, "that's justwhat I've been trying to tell you. You ought not to care so much forpunishing as for deterring. Don't you know that it's a commonplace thatit isn't the terrifying quality of the penalty that acts as a deterrentto crime, but it's the certainty of the penalty! If a horse thief knowsthat there's merely a chance the community will get mad enough to hanghim, he'll take that chance in hopes this may not be the time. If, onthe other hand, he knows that _every time_ he steals a horse he'sgoing to be caught and fined even, he thinks a long time before hesteals it."

  "All that's true, Doctor," said Danny, "as theory; but now I'm coming tobat with a little practice. Here's the camp of Italian Bar in the year1849. What would you do?"

  "Elect the proper officers and enforce the law," answered the doctorpromptly.

  "Who would you elect?"

  "There are plenty of good men here."

  "Name me any one who would take the job. The good men are all washinggold; and they're in a hurry to finish before the rains. I don't carewho you're about to name--if anybody; this is about what he'd say: 'Ican't afford to leave my claim; I didn't come out here to risk my lifein that sort of a row; I am leaving for the city when the rains begin,and I don't know that I'll come back to Italian Bar next season!'"

  "Make it worth their while. Pay them," insisted the doctor stoutly.

  "And how's the money to pay them to be collected? You'd have to createthe officers of a government--and pay _them_."

  "Well, why not?"

  "At the election, who would take interest to elect a decent man, even ifyou could get hold of one? Not the other decent men. They're too busy,and too little interested. But the desperadoes and hard characters wouldbe very much interested in getting some of their own stripe in office.The chances are they would be coming back to Italian Bar next season,especially if they had the legal machinery for keeping themselves out oftrouble. You'd simply put yourself in their power."

  Dr. Rankin shook his head.

  "Just the same, you'll see that I am right," he prophesied. "Thisillusion of freedom to the social obligation is only an illusion. Itwill have to be paid for with added violence and turmoil."

  "Why, I believe you're right as to that, Doctor," agreed Danny, "butI've discovered that often in this world a man has to pay a high pricefor what he gets. In fact, sometimes it's very expedient to pay a highprice."

  "I can foresee a lot of violence before the thing is worked out."

  At this point the doctor, to his manifest disgust, was summoned toattend to some patient.

  "That all sounds interesting," said I to Danny Randall once we werealone, "but I don't exactly fit it in."

  "It means," said Danny, "that some day Morton's gang will go a littletoo far, and we'll have to get together and string some of them up."