DANNY'S OWN STORY BY DON MARQUIS TO MY ... - Pink Monkey

an 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' artist, Looey?--and a
justice of the peace over in Iowa fined me five
dollars for being on the street without a muzzle.
Said it was a city ordinance. Talk about the
gentle Rube being an easy mark! If these country
towns don't get the wandering minstrel's money
one way they will another!"
"It's your own fault," says Looey, kind o' sour.
"I can't see it," says Doctor Kirby. "How did
I know that all these apple-knockers had been filled
up with Sykes's Magic Remedy only two weeks
ago? I may have been a spiritualistic medium in
my time now and then," he says, "and a mind
reader, too, but I'm no prophet."
"I ain't talking about the business, Doc, and you
know it," says Looey. "We'd be all right and have
our horses and wagon now if you'd only stuck to
business and not got us into that poker game.
Talk about suckers! Doc, for a man that has
skinned as many of 'em as you have, you're the
worst sucker yourself I ever saw."
The doctor, he cusses the poker game and country
towns and medicine shows and the hull creation
and says he is so disgusted with life he guesses he'll
go and be a preacher or a bearded lady in a sideshow.
But Looey, he don't cheer up none. He says:
"All right, Doc, but it's no use talking. You
can TALK all right. We all know that. The question
is how are we going to get our horses and wagon
away from these Rubes?"
I listens some more, and I seen them fellers was
really into bad trouble. Doctor Kirby, he had got
into a poker game at Smith's Palace Hotel the night
before, right after the show. He had won from
Jake Smith, which run it, and from the others.
But shucks! it never made no difference what you
won in that crowd. They had done Doctor Kirby
and Looey like they always done a drummer or a
stranger that come along to that town and was