The Man of Last Resort by Melville Davisson Post

THE Emporium of Crawley was not quite a trading-place as the Greek / root of the word would indicate, unless transactions in which the / unwary bartered his gain for experience, and the great unscrubbed of the / Southwest pitted their wage against the riot of dissipation, could be / held to partake of the nature of commerce. It was a fad with Crawley to / assert that his Emporium was a clearinghouse, -- a rather grim jest, heavy / with truth. Indeed, all the currency of this primitive land seemed to / pass, sooner or later, through the mammoth establishment of First Class / Crawley, and in season and out of season as the dollar went through, a / portion paused and remained in the fingers of the proprietor. And for / this, also, -- as the common-law pleader would put it, -- truth clung to the / pet declaration of Crawley.

When the population gathered night after night under the roof of his / Emporium, their troubles came also; and when the smoke grew thick and / the tanglefoot whiskey began to assert itself, there were other things / to clear up beside matters of currency. Matters of consequence and / matters of no consequence were cleared by the same rapid, drastic / measures. Bad men here decided who was the worst or the best, as they / were pleased with the term. The henchmen of rival cattle kings submitted / the vexatious question of a brand on a stray heifer to this court of / instant resort and quick decision, and other concerns of the citizen, / affecting perhaps his truth, or honor, or ability for a vice, were / determined suddenly and for all time without the wrangling of counsel or / the tedium of courts.