Empty Bottles by Raymond S. Spears
In Boxelder, Frank Hesbern, a large, awkward traveler, enters the One Way Thru Saloon seeking a clean empty quart bottle. Cock Eye Baer, the bartender, and his patrons treat the request as a joke, assuming Hesbern needs a bottle nipple. Hesbern explains that an old woman at the strollers’ camp needs the bottle filled with warm water to ease a newborn baby’s stomach ache. Though the explanation is simple and charitable, Cock Eye spreads the story as a comic anecdote, and townspeople repeatedly stop Hesbern to ask about the bottle and laugh that it is “funny.” Puzzled by the mockery, Hesbern eventually asks Cock Eye why obtaining a bottle for a suffering baby is amusing. Cock Eye reacts with anger, tells him to mind his own business, and later presents the exchange to his saloon customers as an insult and a threat. City Marshal Pete Culder and the drinkers encourage Cock Eye’s suspicion, deciding that Hesbern looks dangerous. On a crowded Saturday night, several men report that Hesbern has bought two quarts of liquor at another saloon and has been seen pouring it out. Cock Eye interprets this as evidence that Hesbern is pretending to drink while preparing for violence. Armed with a revolver, Cock Eye leaves through the alleys to confront him. Two shots are heard. By dawn, Cock Eye is found dead on the path toward the strollers’ camp, shot in the chest; his own gun has fired once. Culder finds Hesbern gone from the camp, though Hesbern’s wagon and horses remain. The sickly husband there explains that the camp’s bottle warmer had broken, and Hesbern had gone uptown for a larger replacement. He returned with a two-quart bottle, kissed the baby, asked whether the family would manage without him, and then rode away after receiving supposedly important news. The authorities convene an inquest but avoid resolving who killed Cock Eye or why. That night, the men at the One Way Thru mourn Cock Eye as a witty, generous, square-dealing friend. They fondly repeat his original joke about Hesbern needing a nipple for the empty bottle, without recognizing that their ridicule, gossip, and fear had turned an act of help for a baby into the fatal conflict.
By Raymond S. Spears · First published 1923 · Genre: Western, Crime Fiction, Mystery · 3,503 words
First lines
What use had any six foot man for an empty one quart bottle?
A rather large, awkward man shambled into the One Way Thru Saloon, sidled over to the bar and addressed Cock Eye Baer, the mixer. His voice was so low that Cock Eye leaned to hear and then asked for repetition of the nearly voiceless words.
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Genres
- Western — The story is set in a frontier-style town of saloons, wagon camps, marshals, cattle drovers, homesteaders, and badlands, with regional dialect and a violent showdown central to its action.
- Crime Fiction — Its plot culminates in the killing of bartender Cock Eye Baer, followed by an official inquiry into the death and suspicion directed at Frank Hesbern.
- Mystery — The narrative leaves the precise circumstances of Baer's death unresolved, inviting readers to infer whether Hesbern killed him and why the authorities avoid fully pursuing the answer.
- Frontier Fiction — The work portrays an unsettled, rough social environment where transient workers, campers, informal justice, public rumor, and saloon culture shape people's lives.
Tags
fiction · novel · literary fiction · drama · alcoholism · addiction · substance abuse · recovery · personal struggle · family relationships · social issues · psychological conflict
What this Textopian page supports
Empty Bottles is listed on Textopian as a short story by Raymond S. Spears, dated 1923 CE.
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- Work type: Short story
- Author: Raymond S. Spears
- Date: 1923 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Western, Crime Fiction, Mystery, Frontier Fiction, Tragedy
- Length: 3,503 words
- Structure: 1 section, 92 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for Empty Bottles by Raymond S. Spears
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