When Everybody Knew by Raymond S. Spears

Name: When Everybody Knew
Author: Raymond S. Spears

In Boxelder, a gigantic, drunken stranger calling himself Rearing Bill of Big Buck Hill terrorizes Court House Square. He fires his revolver in saloons and streets, smashes lights and glassware, frightens horses and townspeople, and gains a reputation for coming from a particularly bad country. Most people flee or submit to him, though Flat Face Dink wins his temporary favor by serving him an unusually large whisky glass. As Rearing Bill grows louder and more violent, City Marshal Pete Culder is summoned but never appears. In the Happy Medium, Bill knocks a bartender unconscious for giving him too small a drink. Later, in Squint Legere’s barroom, he encounters Odd Jobbing Det Linver, a friendless, ragged man whom everyone mistreats. Bill beats, kicks, and threatens to kill Det, enjoying the terror of a helpless victim while the spectators remain afraid to interfere. A quiet stranger named Benson, who has spent the evening reading a weekly paper, recognizes Bill as a woodsman rather than the feared Bad Lands outlaw he claims to be. Benson calls him a skunk and walks directly toward him without a weapon. Bill instantly changes from a savage bully into a frightened, pleading man, recognizing Benson as “Mister Benson” and insisting that he had only been fooling. Benson slaps him, takes away his revolver, drives him backward with the gun, and fires beneath his feet until Bill runs from the barroom, mounts his swayback horse, and flees up Snake Creek. The townspeople marvel at Benson’s courage. Squint Legere learns that Benson is Robert Benson, known as Patient Bob, who had gone to school with Rearing Bill in Minnesota. Once the crowd realizes his identity, they conclude that everyone should have known he was formidable.

By Raymond S. Spears · First published 1911 · Genre: Western Fiction, Humorous Fiction, Frontier Fiction · 3,484 words

First lines

Of course it was easy to understand Patient Bob's handling of the bad man.

A swaggering monster of a man, with long, tangled black hair, a cascade of blue steel whiskers and sunken caverns for eyes, thundered on thick soled boots into the Many Moons Barroom where he surged with long and eager strides to the center of the three man width of liquid counter. As he approached, those between him and his apparent point of destination spread swiftly to right and left.

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Genres

Western Fiction — The story is set in a rough frontier town of saloons, horses, revolvers, gamblers, and local marshals, with a confrontation shaped by Western codes of toughness and reputation.
Humorous Fiction — Its exaggerated descriptions, comic dialect, outsized villainy, and the abrupt deflation of Rearing Bill's fearsome image create a strongly humorous, satirical tone.
Frontier Fiction — Boxelder and the surrounding Bad Lands are portrayed as isolated, law-light territory where public order depends on individual nerve and personal authority.
Adventure Fiction — The narrative centers on escalating danger, gunfire, intimidation, and a climactic physical intervention by Benson against the armed bully.

What this Textopian page supports

When Everybody Knew is listed on Textopian as a short story by Raymond S. Spears, dated 1911 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Raymond S. Spears
Date: 1911 CE
Language: English
Genres: Western Fiction, Humorous Fiction, Frontier Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Action Fiction
Length: 3,484 words
Structure: 1 section, 74 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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