Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1870-02-18
CALIFORNIA -RevGHs.
MsRxRmAINv


A curious feature of California life
was the breed of desperadoes she rear
ed and fostered on her soil, and after
wards distributed over adjacent terri
tories through her vigilance commit
tees, when she had had enough of
their exploits. These men went arm
ed to the teeth with moilstrous revolt
vers and preyed upon each other
Their slightest misunderstanding was
settled ON the spot by the bullet; but
they rarely molested peaceable citizens.
They robbed and gambled and killed
people for three or four years, and then
died with their boots on" az they
phrased it; that Is, they We're killed
themselves = almost invariably = and
| they never expected any other fate,
and were very seldom disappointed.
Sam Brown, of Nevada, killed six
teen men in his time, and was jour
| neying towards Esmeralda TO kill a
seventeenth, who had stopped the
breath of friend of his, when party
of law-abiding citizens waylaid him,
and slaughtered him with shot-guns,
! Mourners Were exceedingly scarce ut
his funeral. IL is said that Sam Brown
called for drink at the bar of the
| Slaughter House, in Carson City one
morning Ia saloon so nicknamed be-
cause so many men had been killed In
| it), and invited a stranger to drink
with him. The stranger said he never
drank, and wished TO be excused. BY
the custom of the country, that was a
deadly insult, so Brown very properly
shot him down. He left him there
and went away, warning everybody to
let the body alone, because 1t was his
meat; he said. And it is said, also,
that he came back after awhile and
made n coffin and buried the man him
II self-though L never could quite be-
lieve that-without assistance.
Virginia was full of despcradoes, and
some of the pleasantest newspaper re-
porting ever did was in those days,
because reported the inquests on the
, whole lot of them, nearly. We had q
, fresh one pretty much every morning.
! Toward the last it was melancholy t.
/ see how the material was running
r short. Those were halcyon days
1 don't know what halcyon days are
E but this is the proper expression to us'
I'M this connection, i believe.
Jack Williams was one of the hlclIi
est of the Virginia City desperadoes.-
/ | He killed a good many men. lie wa
/ a kind-hearted man, and gave all Gus
4 tom 10 u poor ulucfltkcf VINO was tiA
a ing 20 get along. But by-and-by some
4 body poked q double-barreled shot gun
; through a crack while William wa
@ sitting at breakfast, and riddled hin
: at such rate that there was hardl.
e enough of him. left to hold an inques
j. on-and then ne poor undertaken
e best friend was gone, and he had {
e take In his sign. Thus he was striekel
o i'm the midst of his prosperity and haI
piness--for he was just on the point {
e, of getting married when Jack WI
l. liains was taken away from him, an
of course he had TO give II up then.
Ii Is said the first twenty-six grave
i'm the cemetery Of Virginia City WEI
those Of men who died by the bulle
And the first six in another of thO'
~ towns contained the DO lies of a dcsp
RADIO and five of his victims-and the
i'm the bosom of his family, made dei
N 10 him by the ties Of blood, he cahnl
~ sleeps unto this day.
as AT the Rocky Ridge station, In d
" Rocky Mountains, in the old days
III overland stages and pony expresses,
had the gorgeous honor OF breaiSfas
ns ing with Mr.. Slade, the Prince of ,
ut the desperadoes who killed twent
~ six men In his time who used to c
y off his victims ears and send them
70 keepsalxes 10 their relatives and W
hu bound one OF his victims, hand a
o'' foot, and practicCd on him with his
a volVer for hours together---n pr0cel
w ing which seems almost mexcusat