JOE RILEY. 263 



most elaborately got up and wore a great deal of jewelry. 

 The men crowded round to shake hands, and she joked and 

 laughed with them as if she was going to a ball. After 

 getting into the train she alternately cursed the vigilance 

 committee and sang snatches of comic songs, and was kissing 

 her hand as the train disappeared round a curve ; and yet 

 this woman had acted as a decoy for her husband and had 

 been the cause of, if she had not actually witnessed, several 

 murders. 



One of the quietest men in the hotel was a prize-fighter 

 named "Joe Riley," who was training to fight for the 

 championship of Montana. He was an Irishman but not a 

 Fenian, and had seen better days, his people having been 

 well off. After trying many things and failing he had become 

 what he was, and had won several fights. He and I used often 

 to sit up and talk by the stove when everyone had gone to bed ; 

 and we were there one night when some one knocked violently 

 at the door, which stood at the top of three wooden small steps. 

 Riley asked who it was, on which a voice answered that it was 

 some fellows who wanted whiskey, though it was evident that 

 they had had too much already. Riley told them that the bar 

 was closed and that no more could be had that night, but as the 

 knocking still continued he opened the door, when three men, 

 all more or less drunk, attempted to come in ; Riley, however, 

 prevented their doing so, saying that they must go away, and 

 on their asking who would make them do so, he replied that 

 he would. One of them then made a rush at him, but was met 

 by a right-hander in the face, knocking him into the road, the 

 second going down on the top of him, on which they made oif, 

 not daring to use their, pistols, as it was only a day or two 



