COLONEL SHARK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 170, 7 June 1872, Page 6

COLONEL SHARK.

I was raisedia the land., where ..the sun don't set,.. .j And the men aint crook-neck squashes; I can see as fur as most I've met, . And know what almighty bosh is. I guess I rile when I see a snake, And I jedge a dog by his bark, I'm putty considrable wide-awake: So I do admire at my own mistake In the matter of Curi'nle Shark. The Cunnle lie was the pride of the pWe, And his ways were most amazin'; The hair was singed from his cheeks and face With etarnal powder-blazin'; His skin was cover'd with red tatoo Like a. tree with a streak'd-up bark ; He'd been ripped and'riddled till all was . blue— '' 1 ' - ■■■ •"* You'd star' a spell if you heard a few Of of Cuimle SMrk.' One eye was glass, and the other reklj, His cheeks were scarred and bony, r A bullet had blown away his heel, So he limped on an iron pony. For hands he'd only a thumb on his right, And nothin' else to remark ; 5 c With his lei, I guess, he used to fight, And to see his style was a pleasant sight, For a cu'rous man was Shark. The Cunnle lie. had a hickory, stick, AH notches you couldn't number", For lie took his knife and he made- a nick When hfe sent & man to slumber ; He notched it neat as an almanack, Or a ledger kept by a clerk | 'Twas " Blood arid thunder! stick slick! crick crack!" . : 1 : r And he wiped his tools, and he turned His back To nick the slain, did Shark.

His style in the street -was sl sight to see, Arid, the way'd be cleared politely, And. he d chaw and stvagger and spit so free, With his glass eye glaring brightly. At the bar he'd, stand, and the.paper read,' As ready to bite as bark. And the folk would whisper, they would indeed, x "Ah I there's a man whose ,no punkin seed !"■ The pride o* the-place was Shark.

What hed he done? Why, he'd fought and bled, ' And was ready lite.and early ; He shot his own brother as dead!as lead On a pint of honor, fairly. He'd never flinch, and he paid his. way, And .he never drew in the dark; He'd been known to sarse six men in. a day— j Arid sure as ever there rose a fray, Why, in went Curinle Shark'. -

Though. _ the t bullets were thick as Hail, ■ someliow : " He'cl keep as fresh as a tulip, Then out. he'd,come.and mp^, his,brow,. And call for a sherry-julep. His life by a sort of charm was kept, And the smartest missed their mark ; So when on the shady side he stept," 1 To the other side creation crept; At the sight 6' CunHle Shark.

The Cunnle drank with his friends down • : here, 1 V" And let 'em pay for the liquor; But his way with' strangers was rayther : queer, r Sharper, I guess, and quicker. When a stranger enter'di He'd 1 ril£ a few, And hii brbw would wnhkle dark : " Stranger," he'd say. '- ril liquor witfr • . you!" T : " And if the poor cuss said, " I'm derned if you. dq," .: - ' • •-- "' W%, in went Cunnle ; Shark..

There was a man !—Jest the sort o' grit You don't raise out of Ameriky, Honest and ready, lickity split, For white man, nigger, or Cherokee; And useful in bringin of Cain tti book When thieyes were begirihin' to lark ; And the Sheriff of Grizzly, R. S. Ropke, Was the only party that, dared to look In the eye of Cunnle Shark.

Whenever the (Sheriff had work on hand, And a dern'd deep case to.tunnel, He'd load his... persuaders and dress up • grand, . ' And send up town for the Cunnle; Then off they d slip, and the tliieves pursue, '• • And hunt 'em light and dark, And livin' or dead they'd nail the crew; And drunk for a week they'd be, them two, The Sheriff and Cunnle Shark. Now, when two. men are partieklar great, Of the same proud liesli and feather, The same free airih, by a kind o' fate, Won't hold them both together.

And it camfe • ' .'" 'cOCkS,' 7"'.. • : ; : •' . • T ''Or<:f '.•" ;All flitter," flutter, and squ^rk, JEffgan to fret in the same old Box"; And eacli grew sarsier in his'socks, The Sheriff and Cunnie Shark;, 1

Friends they had been and wal content; But the best o'" weather'grows windy,' ' And they saw the chaps "wherever thev went:. ; ; ••••': '• . • ; Xi6okt out' by rights for the shindy"; To funk because they were bosom' friends W oti'ld be to miss; the marki ; : ; ' And.so, for to serve the public ends, To Cheriss s store each parfy weiidfsir The Sheriff and Gunnle Shark,

•Wal, how it riz, and which side began, I-know no inore'n a nigger^o : •• But' the Gunnle "he clean ript up his man Before he could . touch a'trigger-; r " And R. S. Hooke, for a partin'' spell," Made this yer dyiri' remark; ' • ' " Curinle, yur hand !" (theii he flopp'd arid fell) - ;. : . : A . •<i . "OP all the game critters that's out o' heU The gamiest is' Cfunnle Shark?'" ? >" ;

■ So ; Cunnie Shark was left alone : For our particklar glory,' And he stalk'd about, and the. place was his own, And was praised in song and story ; "And when the Sheriff had run*his race," : And been snuffed like any sparlc, It soon was settled'ih all 'the pla'ce That the Sheriff's post, as an act of grace, Should go to Cunnie Shark.