West of the living room was the bedroom, and in front of that was another room occupied by a milinery store and living room, which was owned by a Mrs. Ferguson.

Thoelecke had a brothe'r at North Platte, who occasionally shipped hay to Sidney, and Julius attended to the distribution. Sam Fowler was then sheriff, he having succeeded Mose Howard who had resigned. He had a deputy named "Cottontail" Strater, a fearless man possessed of a desire to see a little more law enforced. On the morning in mind he visited Thoelecke's place for the purpose of negotiating regarding some hay.

Fowler and "Cottontail" had "stirred up

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

the animals," as the saying went, and the gamblers vowed vengeance. By some arrangement the duty fell upon one named McDonald to get rid of "Cottontail," and on that morning he entered the store after Strater, and. pulled his gun. Strater had just time to duck, and he clucked into the living-room of the Thoeleckes. Getting a grip on his gun he started for the front room again, when Mrs. Thoelecke took a hand. She was a strong woman weighing about one hundred and eighty pounds and she seized the diminutive deputy sheriff and forced him into a chair. She then opened the door, and McDonald, thinking it was the returning deputy, dropped his gun upon her. She was absolutely fearless, and he discovered his error in time to prevent homicide. Still bent upon his purpose, he turned out of the door and ran around the millinery store towards a side door of the kitchen. But here Mrs. Thoelecke again met him, and demanded that he leave the place "like a gentleman." The story of the event spread like a prairie fire. The gamblers gathered in force on the corner in front of Tobin's saloon, and condemned Mc- Donald for his fiasco ending of the affair.