02649cam a22003853u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000430011324500290015626400510018530000470023633600260028333700260030933800360033549000690037150000310044050800540047152012580052553400670178365300180185065300200186865300420188865300550193065300500198565300520203583000690208785600640215685600430222078539UtSlPG20260610134824.0mcr n260607r20261920utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aTuttle, W. C.q(Wilbur C.),d1883-196910aHelped by a horse doctor 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2026  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aProduced from the Mid-October, 1920 issue of Adventure magazine.  aRelease date is 2026-04-24  aPrepared by volunteers at BookCove (bookcove.net)  aHelped by a horse doctor by W. C. Tuttle is a humorous Western short story written in the early 20th century. The tale lampoons frontier boosterism through a comic fraternal-lodge and life‑insurance scheme that snares a hot‑tempered cow‑town and turns petty feuds into farce.

Narrator Ike Harper watches his pardner Magpie Simpkins launch the “Loyal Legion of Lizards,” a bogus benevolent order that sells $5‑a‑month policies promising $500 at death. During a day when Piperock’s new city council erupts into a rolling gunfight, Ike hustles applications from feuding townsmen—mayor Wick Smith, Mighty Jones, Judge Steele, Buck Masterson, Pete Gonyer, and the pious “Old Testament” Tilton—each eager to profit if a rival dies. That night, at the Mint Hall, Doc Milliken examines the candidates; only peaceable Dirty Shirt Jones passes. The initiation devolves into pranks—cayenne‑dusted boots, a blindfolded bullsnake, and a bungled toss from a window—while a battle‑minded goat named John L. scatters the crowd and finally eats the lodge charter. Doc returns the money, noting Dirty passed because he wasn’t mad at anyone, and the grand scheme collapses in slapstick ruin. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cNew York, NY: The Ridgway Company, 1920  aShort stories  aWestern stories  aMen -- Societies and clubs -- Fiction  aSimpkins, Magpie (Fictitious character) -- Fiction  aHarper, Ike (Fictitious character) -- Fiction  aPiperock (Montana : Imaginary place) -- Fiction 0aProduced from the Mid-October, 1920 issue of Adventure magazine.4 uhttps://archive.org/details/adventure-v-027-n-02-1920-10-1840uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78539