02713cam a22003733u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000430011324500250015626400510018130000470023233600260027933700260030533800360033149000650036750000310043250800540046352014710051753400670198865300180205565300200207365300230209365300260211683000650214285600700220785600430227799900190232078524UtSlPG20260610134824.0mcr n260607r20261919utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aTuttle, W. C.q(Wilbur C.),d1883-196910aJay Bird's judgement 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2026  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aProduced from the April 3, 1919 issue of Adventure magazine.  aRelease date is 2026-04-22  aPrepared by volunteers at BookCove (bookcove.net)  aJay Bird's judgement by W. C. Tuttle is a humorous Western short story written in the early 20th century. Set on a hard-luck cattle outfit, it satirizes ranch life and romance as a desperate need for a cook collides with small-town gossip and cowboy scheming, unleashing a comic parade of would-be cooks and brides.

At the Cross J, glib cowhand Chuck Warner decides to solve his boss J. B. “Jay Bird” Whittaker’s miserable cooking by angling him into marriage. With Hen Peck and barber Ricky Henderson, he hatches a letter-writing plan offering high wages—and a hint of matrimony—to local cooks. Meddling by Muley Bowles and Telescope Tolliver, plus a mail mix-up, brings a swarm of women to the ranch—professional cooks, a widow, a stern brother guarding his sister’s honor, even a Native couple delivering a “bride”—and triggers fistfights, porch-smashing chaos, and visits from rival foremen, the sheriff, and Doc Milliken. Doc clears the place by yelling “smallpox,” then the truth lands: Jay Bird’s line about giving “a thousand dollars if I was married” meant paying off a breach‑of‑promise claim, not a bounty for finding him a wife, and Ricky had mailed the wrong batch of letters. In the coda, Jay Bird admits he sent Ricky the insulting “barber shaving a pig” valentine—calling them even—as the chastened crew watches the matrimonial stampede disappear down the road. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cNew York, NY: The Ridgway Company, 1919  aShort stories  aWestern stories  aCowboys -- Fiction  aRanch life -- Fiction 0aProduced from the April 3, 1919 issue of Adventure magazine.4 uhttps://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/PU/ADV_1919_04_03.pdf40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78524  c119242d119242