Читать книгу Vigilante Days and Ways. The pioneers of the Rockies; the makers and making of Montana and Idaho онлайн

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After Mayfield’s death Cynthia entered upon that career of promiscuous infamy which is the certain destiny of all women of her class. It is written of her that “she has been the cause of more personal collisions and estrangements than any other woman in the Rocky Mountains.”

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Some men are villains by nature, others become so by circumstances. Hogarth’s series of pictures representing in contrast the career of two apprentices illustrates this truth better than words. Both commenced life under the same influences. The predominance of good and evil is exhibited by the natural tendency of one to overcome all unfavorable circumstances by close application to business and by virtuous associations, and of the other to idleness, vicious indulgences, and corrupt companionship. The one becomes Lord Mayor of London, and in the discharge of official duty passes sentence of death upon the other.

The wretch I am now about to introduce to the reader was one of those hideous monsters of depravity whom neither precept nor example could have saved from a life of crime. Boone Helm was a native of Kentucky. His parents emigrated to one of the newest settlements in Missouri while he was a boy. The rough pursuits of border-life were congenial to his tastes. He excelled in feats of physical strength, and delighted in nothing more than a quarrel which brought his prowess into full display. He was an inordinate drinker, and when excited by liquor gave way to all the evil passions of his nature. One of the exploits recorded of him was that of hurling his bowie-knife into the ground and regaining it with his horse at full speed. On one occasion, while the circuit court was in session, the sheriff attempted to arrest him. Helm resisted the officer, but urging his horse up the stairs into the court-room, astonished the judge by demanding with profane emphasis what he wanted of him.