U niversity
ok
O regon M onthly
31
T he Half Breed
RIGGER .Trove .came to Coeur d’ Alene on a pinto
c^yt&e, mounted’ -behind Ri^'*Jiather, a Rquaw-man.
The, young breed ‘^ ill ,£wore ,a bit of faded erape
abound h,is hat,( and seeing this, the one woman of
„the eamp received him kindly; his father, meanwhile,
fraternizing..with, new -friend^' in., a -nearby “glory
hole.” ' '
!
ThG elder Trove soon found employmshtAh, the placer yninesj,
a,qd»^et up his household in a deserted .cabin, where h4e*Jretnained, a
good citizen, to the,, time of his dpceaseh This-» was; the resdl^oR a£
dispute over certain placer ground with “‘T wo GunA’l'^ates, a man
o-f twin shot notoriety-, - After the killing,/Rates hurriedly left Murray
and moved to the lead mining- side until the smoke should blow away,,
there-, in time, .locating the Melbourne, upon which he Settled.
His victim was buried by the,miners, who also extended gympa-’
thy/to the.ypung half breed, in the.Torm of.aJyell filled purs,e. T rig
ger refused,fRis, with .thanks, and retire.d;-to. the seclusion of his cabin
for.sey^ral weeks, his dry eyed grief and7 impotent-desj^.e for ¡revenge,<
lending^? darker Rush to hisCprown' face—peuliar contrast to. Caucas
ian cftrls and light blue eyesf,v m Sa 1
i
Trove, iya? from -New' England,, an ostraciseyt^Son of good family!
and during the time,- he lived, a parent, he had instructed his son in
sdqie Qf the thihg§.;gentlemen know and do.£-o^s- a consequence- the
offspring ate.soup from the side of his, <spo‘op, and one day measured
the freight of the „town flag-staff by the ’tise of -hixs^erious angles^
thus .gaining, the respect .of his miner friends:. I After, his' father’s?
death he became morose and unsociable,; the sly cunning,of «his. Nez
Ret^e mother/,flowed' in to , and mingled with the Jsound Yankee
knowledge „of. his- father; and in the .woods of the upper gulch he
bScaqre a,two gun artist,, from the. fearful need oh revenge where-the
law, ‘.had. ialled.jf^ reach-.
>;
- At twenty, he ,could shopt .thceyei.QUt ©f a .magpie-with either;
hand,? ,and while practicing • with hisG^ppirades, had-^several times
drawn, and emptied two^ pistols into a ’can b^fb-re the m os^ rapid/Rh
them- could fa irly ta k e a im - Finally;R e. came’ J/p .the ,southiside of
Shoshone, lpcqt^d a lead claim, the poyot£,„ on R ates’«. end line, and
settled hims/df, confirmed //sourdough”. Being ^a man now, his