| The Legend of
Handsome Harry As told by Bob Walters on or about the spring of 1910 The stories old and so's I. So I'll try and start at the beginning. My first memory of seein' Handsome Harry Callahan was a doozy that's likely why I remembers it so clear. We was sittin in front of thew General Store, me and Bart and ol Sammy and like it was out of a parade or somethin' here comes a big white horse with a curly mane and just prancin'. Yup dust a flyin and people gawkin and Handsom Harry was sittin that horse so purty you da though he was leadin a parade. There was more silver on that geldings gear that in these hills. Yes Sir he was quite a sight. Everybody just knew him for a gambler as soon as we saw him and it wasn't surprise that as quick as he took care of that horse he headed straight for the Commercial. That's still the best place in town for gamblin' and in them days you could buy yore own table so aas the gamblers could purty much run their own game. Like I said Harry got lots of attention when he rode into town and all the ladies was whisperin and makin a fuss bout how gallant he looked for my money he was just play actin' but what'd I care if it made some chatter for the women folk it was awlright, lord knows there weren't much here to get um cluckin'. I kept thinking how as sometimes its best to have a little less show so as you don't call attention to yoreself. Problem with attention is that folks notice the bad right along with the good but they're likely to remember just the bad. If I was to study that humans nature I'd said Handsome Harry was full of good and bad but as it turned out none of that mattered much. But that's not the story so's I'll get back to it. Harry'd been here in Elko fer about three maybe four days he'd had quite a winnin streak and them games had gone all through the night almost to mornin'. It got told how as when ever he won a big pot he'd lean back and light up one a them big ol cigars, guess that's how he celebrated. He was looking a little tired come about sundown and he finished a hand and pushed away from the table, excused hisself right and proper and wandered outside to get a breath. I member cause I was sittin right here with the back of my chair agin the hitchin' post. That sun was goin down but it was real harsh on the eyes. So I'd turned myself around. Yep I saw him clear the door and just as he pushed it ta the side he caught site of Miss Barbie. She went sashayin' by and lordy what a looker she was. So pretty nd fresh with a smile that put the sun ta shame it was so bright. Well Harry took one look and I'd heard tell of how it happenes but I'd never seen it before. That hombre was thunderstruck. I counldn't see Miss Barbie face too good under that bonnet but I knowed she gave a little start when them two looked at each other but she kept right on walkin. Harry took up step right next to her like it were the most natural thing in the world. In them days a lady didn't talk to no stranger specially a gambling man. So Miss Barbie she walked a bit faster but Harry kept right up. By the time they was just getting outta by hearin Miss Barbie let out a giggle and I knowed right then there was gonna be trouble. Ya see Miss Barbie was spoke for by Eddie Thatcher. And Eddie was just mean I knowed him since he was a boy and he had a mean streak in him a mile long. He was quick ta temper too and once he set his jaw that was that somebody was gonna die. I never know what Harry and Miss Barbie said and I never knew whether it was the truth bout meetin but the story got told so often that if it could have some grains a truth. Seems that Harry'd stole a kiss and set up a meetin with Miss Barbie. Whether there was ever a meetin planned or not them wggin' tounges got the story back ta Eddie and he was so fired up that nobody could stop him. He straaped on them guns and took off fer the Commercial. The folks down stairs didn't pay him much mind as he wandered in so he just kept walkin to tha stairs and on up he went, he was standin in the vestibule when Harry rounded the corner he had a big cigar in his hand and was headin fer the third floor. Harry tapped Eddie on the back and asked him if he know where a certain numbered room was. Eddie didn't give him a chance to draw a gun he just stared firin; and yellin about his girl Barbie. Harry layed out and bleedin was the first thing we seen when we headed toward the shots. I bent down ta see if I could help him but he were gut shot and there ain't no helping that. Then I saw Harry's lips move so I leaned down a might closer and all he said was tell her I counldn't find the room. Tell her I love her. Then he tried to get something in his pocket and he just didn't have the strength so's I reached in to his pocket thinkin' maybe it were a cross or somethin' but that weren't what I dug outta his pocket. By jove it was a legal piece of paper and it read Harold Callahan and Barbara Foster and it were a Marriage License. I looked up at Harry and he was gone. I showed it to Bart and Ol'Sammy and it was like we all thought it tagether we started runnin lickety split toward Miss Barbie's place but we was too late Eddied got there first. Miss Barbie looked so purty standin there in that weddin dress and holdin on to that ring like it was the only thing left in the world that made any sense. That was enough to make any grown man cry and I'm not ashamed to say I did. We buried Harry the next day and Miss Barbie stood there like the proud lady she was. Not long after that she pulled up stakes and she and her Daddy headed outta town don't know to where. Eddie ended up getting hisself hanged somewhere up in Montana seems like he took a dislike to a County Sheriff that was just a sight meaner than him. It's been some years now but that white geldin of Harry's is still stabled at the Livery a few folks have tried to ride him but he just bucks em off nd heads toward the Commercial to wait fer Harry. I hear tell every now and again that horse starts kickin up his heals and raisin holy hell down at the livery and almost always in a day or two you'll hear from somebody stayin or working on that third floor of the Commercial that some handsome looking fella carryin a big cigar tapped em on the shoulder and asked for room 343 then before they can answer he just up and disappears kinda spooky like and all that's left is the smell of cigar smoke real strong. It's like I said Harry was likely a bit of good and a bit of bad but what he had was the kind of love for Miss Barbie that don't get buried and he's probly gonna spend a good part of forever tryin to find that gal. As for me I mosey on over to the Commercial ever now and again and I head on up ta the third floor and I bring a wildflower with me just like the one Miss Barbie had in her hair that day and I hang it on the door of room 343. It just seems like the respectful thing to do. |
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