Ilf TI WILD n WOOlf EAST
Jazz And Bobbed Hair—Vs. Cowboy, And
oix Shooters.
(By RAMBLIN’ BILL.)
In the years gone by there left the
Lawndale section of Cleveland county
one W. B. Williamson, who “went
west" chasing the cure for better
health. Ere long, while “beating the
hugs" Williamson started writing and
under the name of “Ramblin’ Bill” has
turned out articles with a studied ser
iousness blended with hearty humor.
A philosopher of life that writes of
conditions as they are and have been
among an everday people “Ramblin’
Bill" is an amateur writer of no mean
ability. A laugh is not all one gets
from reading his articles for always
there is a thought left to ponder on.
The Star hopes that Mr. Williamson,
»ho receives his mail at Box 1125
Douglas, Arizona, will continue to en
tertain Star readers with his articles
as other suns travel o’er his glorious
west, which in the article today he
contrasts with the maddening whirl
of the East.
People used to go west for excite
ment and adventure. Now they go
cast. Since the days of prohibition,
jazz, and bobbed hair, the west has
settled down to quietness, and one
could safely add, to saneness. That
is except the city of Los Angel, s,
California, where hold-ups occur quite
frequently and every killing is not
caused by motor accidents. But the e
wholesale hold-ups in the city of An
gels are most perpetrated by thugs
from the east who drift in for easy
pickings. They don’t always get away
with it to be sure, but its a safe bet
that eighty per cent of the criin° in
the west is committed by men who
were born east of the Rockies.___
This is another way of saying that
. the days of the two-gun men in the
west are almost a thing of .the past.
However, to the uninitiated eastern
er, it would appear that the old wort
has not lost all its color for you c n
still see the big Sombrero, flannel
shirt and booted men. However, the
only thing carried on their hips, is
perhaps a bottle of home brew or a
safety razor, few six-guns being in
evidence anymore unless you happen
to meet an old-timer ,who, through
the courtesy of modern polities ia
holding down a job of sheriff. In many
cases you meet this old color of the
west m-the smaller towns, the large r
cities having resorted to more modem
garb Tor their officers of the law.
The cattlemen, however, are still
ar,nf? their r»nK€ tog's, bat cattle
rne" as a general thing are fewer
than they used to be and the profes
sional np-snortin- cowboy has almo-t
become a thing of the past.
Cattlemen are being converted into
itrj larmors and dairymen, miners
merchants and other vocations too
numerous to mention. The days of the
open range is giving way to more
modern times, and small homesteads,
dry farms, etc. Today excitement in
the , west is a memory, crime is as
lien s teeth and people are safe to go
about their business witnout the pro
tection oft six-shooters and Winches
ters. The same cannot be said of the
east anymore and to on : who has
spent several years in the western
country, a trip back east, is one of
excitement, adventure and romance.
Waring headlines from the dailies of
robberies, murders, stick-ups and oth
er hideous crimes greet the prodigal
m the east and he starts playing safe
by looking under his bed and making
sure his door is well locked, braced
and bolted. His dreams are usually
disturbed by weird nightmares.of va
rious sorts and his firsf nights in an
eastern city are ones to be remember
ed. After awhile, of course, his un
easiness wears off and he gets set
uea aown to the routine 01 things and
takes everything for granted like the
lest of the folks in the crowded east
ern cities do. He sort of figures that
among such great multitudes of peo
ple just so much crime is bound to
exist and a certain amount of excite
ment must prevail. However, the east
does not lose its glamour to him and
he uses his highly cultivated inslinct
typical of the west, to observe thinys
about him. A westerner in New York
( ity for his first time will see things
that real New Yorkers never see or
even think about. But I am not going
to write about what I have seen in
New York, because too many people
have already written too much about
that city. In fact, New York has al
ready had too much advertising by
would-be story and feature writers,
who use this great metropolis for
backgrounds for their stories. I've al
ways considered New York too big for
me and am going tp select a smaller
town or towns for the setting of my
story—for this story in particular—
or really to tell the facts that fo'low:
After several years in the south
west, I decided I would visit some of
my old haunts back east!. Consequent
ly I cranked up my Lizzie and headed
her toward the rising sun and drove
until the tall smokestacks, twenty
story skyscrapers, paved streets and
highways beckoned me to slop awhile, j
i Signs on the highway lold me that
j this was Dallas, Texas, the prosper
| ity zone of the south. From the looks
j of things, the building activity, rustle
j and bustle of the traffic, 1 could not
doubt the signs. I put my flivver in a
j garage and went to a good hotel where
i I bathed and spruced up a little and
! made myself presentable for the
j street. Hardly had I gone a block and
a half till I heard pistol rhots, saw a I
; crowd gathering a block ahead of me, '
■ heard the clang of an ambulance and |
learned that a crazy negro had just !
j run Wild wounding several citherns
with a knife until he was subdued by j
J the law by means of several slugs j
i through his anatomy. Of course, th's i
| could happen almost any place fer j
[crazy men don't usually know what
! they ape doing, but when l bought a ;
paper and noted that several hold-ups '
j had occurred that very day in the vi- |
cinity, I began to wonder if such was ,
| the programme. Upon conversing with
a cop that didn’t seem to be hard
boiled or have anything in particular
to do, I learned that there was much
crime being perpetrated in their fa:r
city and that such things as stream
ing headlines in their daily newspapers
were not infrequent occurrences, ilc
seemed to think I was from further
eastward and delight in filling me
full of excitement. I listened to h in |
relate many exciting incidents of |
crime and when I felt my hat bo ng
pushed off my head, I moved or. to
seek other adventures. A glaring sign
caught my eye in front of a vaude
ville, something about the girl with
the million dollar personality. I lin<d
up with the crowd, called for a seat
in the front row, got one in-the mid- ;
die of the house and went inside, 1
What I saw was just an ordinary t
vaudeville show of the musical com- !
edy type, with a bunch of pretty jan- I
es doing a sort of lock-step dance and
yelling to the accompaniment if an
orchestra that was playing some piece
I never heard before and trust I nev
er hear again. Pretty soon the girl j
with the expensive personality ap- ,
peared. She had bobbed hair and a 1
pretty soft voice and sluwed more of j
her person than of her —ality. Every- :
body cheered and applauded her ar.d
she had a hard time to make herself
heard above the deafening roar of the
crowd, or I believe you would call
them the audience. She indulged in a
few high kicks, blew a kiss in the di
rection of a bald headed man who was j
sitting in a box with his wife and j
went off stage. I then left the theatre
and noted that it was getting dark
outside, or that it would have been
dark only for he street lights and I
started out seeking new adventure 1
and wondering how long it would be
before someone would hold me up and
take my watch and roll, the roll not
worrying me much because it was not
so very heavy just at that time.
Getting kind of thirsty like 1 decid
ed that a little liquid encouragement
would come in handy, so following an
old custom of the west, or a custom in
vogue since the inception of prohi
bition, I inquired of the first poliie
man 1 came across as to the nearest
place where a fellow might get a lit*
tie refreshment in the way of bier or
light wines, being a little afraid to
make inquiries concerning anything
stronger. He informed me that 1 was
in a dry town and asserted' .that if 1
found anything to let him know be
cause he, too, was kind of dry. 1 fin
ally found a prosperous looking boot
logger who offered nr- a pint of white
mala for eight dollars, hut we didn’t
trade and 1 returned to my hotel de
cided to call it a day. However, con
versation I heard in the lobby made
me change my mind an ! upon hearing
further details about a certain joint
where liquid cheer could be obtained
for a small consideration o” two-bits
and more per throw, 1 again found ;
myself on the streets. A few inquir- ;
ies Jed me to the neighborhood 1 was
seeliing and after rapping tnree times
in succession upon a cenal i door fol
lowed by two more raps, winch was i
;he Signal, the door was opened and i
I found myself in a deserted hallwav 1
and dark too, save, a burly coon who
had opened up for men, nr.d who then
pointed the way down the dimly !
lighted hall. After passing through
several more doors, I passed into a
sort of restaurant 01 all night caba- j
ret where nearly a hundred people
were sitting around tables and drink
ing something in smell tea nips', that
certainty proved to he someth ng
stronger than tea. They also served
sandwiches, or a substitute for same
built on the lines of a Harvey House
Spec al. Mine was a suggestion <f a
ham sandwich, and had the late Mr.
Harvey gazed upon thin placebos- for
food, he would have died with envy
because it was absolutely according
to his specifications and dying words:
“Cut your ham thinner and make the
holes in the doughnuts larger.” They
also brought me a tea cup filled with
something that looked like Scotch,
smelled like white mule and tasted
like gasoline. The charge was not two
bits either, but seventy-five cents for
sandwich and all. I drar.k this con
coction and used the sandwich for a
chaser. Pretty soon the. dancing
started and noticing a cure looking
bobbed haired blond eyeing me up
sort of wistful like, from the next
table, I presented myself in front of
her and asked her for n dance. She
arose a little groggy buc after mean
dering or negotiating arcuud the
room a couple of time “he held her
feet ship shape and we were getting
fair to middling. After a couple ol
dances we repaired to her table and
ordered more refreshmentThis I
time the bill was a dollar eighty-five
and 1 presumed that they were charg
ing for the dance, which they were. !
She sipped her poiso.t and eyed mo
sort of critical like, as if to say “talk
up stranger.'’ i was not much mood
for conversation after seeing rh-.t up
hour or so more in this Hare wo Id
make me hock my flivver for a ticket
out of town. However, I decided to
learn her game whether 1 played it or
not. so 1 made conversation right hin
dily fearing ail the time she would
get thirsty again. The dancing had
started again but I decide 1 that blond
or no blond, I would not parti, ipate.
hhi' showed no inclina' ion to dance
cither and seemed content to liste n to
my lucrative of Bra? ', np Jure where!
I had never been and never i f.end to j
be, but had been telling her that I had
just returned fr< '.a there where 1 had
been for fifteen years, excepting the
time spent in Franco, for 1 noticed
she was looking at th" aevv'co button
on my coat. She seemed irte-evtcd in
my story but was <«o.t of h. 's lant
wh-n 1 suggested that we take a walk
ir. ih; fresh air. Nevertheless, she
followed out readily enough when ii
became manifest that 1 was checking
out of that place regardless of her t
decisiop. Fifty cent- mire for my hat :
and we finally found ourselves on the!
street, the blond and I. It whs pretty
late and I did not know just what we !
were going to do, so we went into an !
cl! night lunch stand and believe me*;
that gal sure did order a meal. The
way she set into the food they set
out to her, you would have thought
she had just come off a month’s fast.
A pie and coffee for me while I tried
to add up the difference in the check
and my fast diminishing roll. The re
past finished she burst forth in con
versation and the light in her eyes
told me that she had accomplished the
iria;n purpose of h< r visit to the cab
aret, she had got a good feed. I felt
sort of sorry for her and began to
rd from her flow of words that she
was a stenographer by profession. It
seems she had come to Dallas some
days ago to connect with a job which
did not materialize and had run low
ir funds. She had merely stumbled in
to that cabaret by mistake and after
she had discovered what she hud got
ten into she was ofraid to try to get
out and my coming in when I did sav
ed her, because some sort, of a wolf
in man's clothes lad been threaUn
ing her with some very meaning and
dangerous glances until I invited her
to dance. I sympathized With her right
muchly and made a date for the next
afternoon at three p. m., and we part
ed company further down the street
\vh~re she said her room was only a
block away. I need hardly mention
that my sympathies extended so far
that I advanced her the price of a
week’s board and car fare for her to
carry on her job-socking programme.
The next day I was at the appoint
ed place at the appointed time hut
after waiting an hour, I decided that
flic was sick or something for she
certn.nly did not shew up at. all. Af
t,r a little deductions additions and
subtracting a little, I about decided
that 1 had been an easy mark and
felt like going up too cop and punch
ing his nose in order that I would get
justly punished for my sins. I didn’t
though, and sadder hut wiser I got
out my lizzie and headed for Okla
homa City.
I arrived in the capital city the fol
lowing day just in time to read about
hig bank robbery in the suburbs. Also
1 just got in town in the midst of the
i’r.'t day of the teachers convention
and 1 was glad 1 had conic to that city
for the streets were lined with the
most pretty girls I ever saw at one
lime in a hunch. Honest Injun, boasts
Util and truthfully when she boasts
of her pretty “wimmin." They were
having the time of their lives seeing
the sights and shopping and renew
iog old acquaintances it would seem.
1 fell in with the spirit of the times
my seif and pretty soon I had my
bonk filled with addresses and phone
number and no one suspected that I
didn’t belong there. I had the time of
niv life until this convention broke up
and I too was broke, or so badly bent
that i almost grew desperate. But a
good friend loaned me enough to get
back to Arizona.
But it was not my*intention to tell
80 n,uch about my trip, except to em
j hasisse the fact that the wild and
wooly east has stolen all the 'glory ot?
the old west and that adventure and
romance that once could be had west
of the rookies are now almost a thing
of the past since the days of prohibi
tion, the radio, flappers, petting part
ies, bob hair, sheiks, woman suffrage,
Ku Klux klan, and male lip sticks.
In our little town on the border, have
is seldom a murder anymore, only a
few highway robberies, scarcely a
burglary and nothing at all to cause
one’s blood to move faster in one’s
veins and arteries. Gone are most of
the rip-snotin’ rootin' tootin’ cowboys
of the old west. They have gone back
cast and are driving taxicabs, or two
gun men have gone to selling real es
tate for diversion ad our one-time
real he-men are teaching school or
preaching the gospel or otherwise en
gaged in the peaceful pursuits of the
modern west—..
RAMBLING BILL.
Only the fast thinkers become lead
ers. Me who hesitates is bossed—Asso
ciated Editors.
In trying to vote itself a raise of
pay, Congress may get a rise out of
the country;—Norfolk Virginian Pilot.
Wonder what would happen if the
Finn took up swimming?—Arkansas
Gazette.
Advises Against Too
Much Cotton And Not
Enough Feeds Year
» Vkcs Farmer* to Plant for Feed and
Hay and Not Give all Attention
to Cotton Thia Year.
(By S. C. Crawley, Uttimore.)
I erhaps you have heard the phmae
or expression used “talce a fool’a ad
vice" and do a certain thin* or let it
alone.
Well, I reckon a fool’s advice ia just
as good as nny ones if it be good. So
this being true I will Centura to give
my fellow fool farmers a littel advice
As it is nearing the time to plant an
other crop, I think we all would do
well to do a little thinking and fig.
uring for ourselves. I noticed where
one man had advised the farmers not
to cut the amount of guano they have
been using on account of the high
price being asked for it, and he goes
on to urge the farmers of Cleveland to
ma kean effort for a 60,000 bale crop
this year. Now I think it is alright
to use a liberal amount of guano per
acre, and to cultivate as many acres
as we can, but we had better be sura
that we have enough of these acres
planted in corn and other feed stuff
to make our supply at home, then aH
the cotton we can cultivate.
This “all cotton" farming is dan.
gerous. J uat a few more years like last
year and we will be as broke as the
farmers of Georgia. Consider last year
and be wise. We made a big crop of
cotton and a small crop of corn and
other suplies last year, and the result
was the price of cotton fell off one
third from the price of 1923 and the
price of corn went up one-third and
wheat almost one-half. Another out
standing feature and result of last
year’s plan of farming is that the
farmers of Cleveland have bought and
will have to buy the most feed stuff
and other supplies that they have
bought in a number of years.
“All Cotton” farming will make
cheap cotton gnd other things high.
Just one or two more big crops of cot
ton and the price will hit the bottom
Then with the big guano bill and oth
er debts bearing down upon us, with
high priced supplies to buy and noth
ing to pay with, we Will be praying
for the boll weevil ty come get us and
deliver us from the wrath to come.
The Chicago Public Library has re
served a special room for cross-word
puzzle fans. It is understood, however,
that they did not ffo so far as to pad
the walls.—New York Evening World..
A German has invented a kind of
ship that will come to the surfaoe
again one hour after singing. This
will be a life-saving invention for pas
sengers who can live Sixty minutes un
der water.—Southern Lumberman.
SUITS FOR MEN AND YOUNG MEN
The Man who would be Well Dressed and Prosperous looking ought to, by all means, Consult the tailoring of his clothes. IPs easy
to do. Here you run no risk. These lines like Kuppenheimer, Society Brand, Michael’s-Stern, Daddy Junior, AVt Fashion and Cloth
Craft. GET THIS STRAIGHT—At KELLY’S you pay no more for these hand-tailored, man-made clothes, all Virgin Wool, than you
frequently pay for the ordinary kind.
-BOY’S TWO PANT SUITS
We have a wonderful line of Boy’s Two Pant Suits—all sizes and all the wanted shades—$6.50 to $17.50.
Another big shipment of Young Men’s beautifully tailored suits to go on sale at $22.50 and $24.50.
SHOES—NUNN-BUSH SHOES A product that enjoys the honorable distinction of having a good reputation naturally attracts the
admiration of discriminating men. We have them in all leathers—$7.50, $8.00 and $8.50.
HATS-Knox Hats $6.50. Mallory and Melton Hats $5.00. Bunie Hats $3.50. Stetson Hats $7.00.
You should see our new Shirts and Neckwear. Not-a-Seam Half Hose, all shades, pure thread Silk, full fashioned, 50c pair.
WE CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO SEE OUR LINES.
KELLY CLOTHING COMPANY
ROYSTER BUILDING, SHELBY, N. C.