An Heritage of Crime [pp. 266-275]

An Heritaqe of Crime.
the citizens generally seem to appreciate it as
they did elsewhere, and the Union soldier felt
that he was having rather a thankless and in glorious time of it; nor was it strange that
he should anxiously look forward to the end
of a struggle, in which, in spite of himself,
he was destined to bear no active part. In
time, however, the War Department was en abled to relieve even the California volun teers by the regular regiments which were
sent out from the East, and San Francisco
has not yet forgotten the appearance of the
"Bloody Fourteenth," nor the commotion
which was caused by its short stay at the
Presidio, while preparing to march to its final
destination. But this is incidental, and has
little to do with what is here to be related.
The regiment to which I belonged was
serving in Arizona, and was relieved in April,
i866, after which no time was lost in complying with the orders which had been issued
for us to march at once for San Francisco,
and be mustered out at the Presidio. We
started the day following the arrival of the
Fourteenth Infantry at our station. As was
almost invariably the case in the movement
of a body of troops and especially where
the men had been recently paid, as ours had
there were numerous camp-followers, who
hung in the rear, or, more frequently, went
in advance, and would appear and disappear with perfect regularity at the various
camping places on the march down the
Gila.
Among these were two men, both gamblers, and apparently partners, whose undisguised purpose was that of gambling with the
soldiers each night while in camp. They were
usually lounging about the forage stations on
our arrival, where they knew we must camp;
and after the camp was made, would locate
at a convenient distance, and arrange for
"opening the game," the appliances for which
were carried in their saddle bags. With the
close of the duties of the day, their " work"
began, and continued far into the night.
The largest and oldest of these two was not
remarkable in any way-a bulky, coarse, redhaired man, whose origin, as indicated by
his dialect, was apparently somewhere south
of Mason and Dixon's line; in appearance,
of the ordinary cow-boy type, though the
latter term was not then in vogue, nor, as it
is now, the pride and glory of men of his
stamp.
The other was more noticeable, and a very
different character. A lithe, slenderly made
young man, possibly twenty-five years old,
rather above the medium height, very dark,
though remarkably clear complexion, dark ened still more by exposure to the rays of a
southern sun; always cleanly shaved, except
a somewhat heavy moustache, which almost
concealed the mouth, and hair cut close to
the head; neatly and plainly dressed, and,
though without the usual plainsman's osten tation, after the custom of the border —a
broad-brimmed felt hat, light woolen shirt,
opened low down at the neck in front, can vass trowsers, covered to the knee by a pair
of Mexican leggins, and the inevitable revol ver in his belt. His bearing seemed unmis takably that of a gentleman, and a superficial
observer would at once have called him a
strikingly handsome man; a more careful
scrutiny of his clear-cut features, however,
would have, at times, detected a strange,
cruel glitter, which was indescribable, and
seemed to flash with the quickness of an
electric spark from his very black eyes and
regular white teeth when he smiled, though
these occasions were seldom. In spite of his
surroundings, his manner indicated an association with a widely different element from
that in which he now appeared; and whatever may have been the character of his language when engaged in his disreputable occupation, when not in conversation with his
usual companions it had the quiet reserve and
polish of an educated gentleman, made still
more remarkable in contrast with the nature
of his present calling and associates. There
was something about him that seemed to reveal the New Englander, but, at the same
time, a decidedly foreign appearance, which
left one in doubt as to his nationality.
This person went by the name of Ewing
— Jack Ewing, as he was familiarly called.
He appeared to be pretty well known in the
territory, where the gambling fraternity was
1886.]
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