Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-03-20
Mill Kill

Among The white scouts were numbered some
of the most noted of their class. The most
prominent man among them was "Wld Bill,
whose highly varied career was made the sub
iect of an illustrated sketch in one of the pop
ular monthly periodicals few years ago.
wild Bill was a strange character, Just the
one which novelist might glOat over. He was
Painsman in every sense of the word, vet I'M
like any other Of his class. In person he was
about six feet one in height straight as the
straightest of the warriors whose implacable
foe he was; broad shoulders wel-iormed chest
and limbs, and face srikingly handsome; a
sharp, clear blue eye, which stared you straight
IN the face when in conversation; finely
shaped nose, inclined to be aquiline; we'll
turned mouth, with lips only partially concealed
by handsome mOustache. His hair and COM
pleXion were those of the perfect blond. The
former was worn in uncut rngletS, falling
careessly over his powerfully formed shoulders
Add to this figure costume blending the i'm
maculate neatness of the dandy with the eX-
trayagaut taste and style of the frontiersmau,
and You have "Wild Bill" then as now the
most famous scout on the Plains.
Whether on foot or on horseback, he was one
of the most perfect types of physical manhood
ever saw. or his courage there could be no
question; it had been brought to the test on too
many occasions to admit of a doubt. His skill
in the use of the rife and the pistol was uner-
ring; while his department was exactly the op-
poslte OF what might be expected from man of
us sutiOuuuiil4ss IL WIS tuIlEGlN Tree from all
blusTer or Dravado. He seldom spoke of him
self unless requested to do so. His CONVERSE
ton, strange to say, never bordered either on
the vulgar or blasphemous. His influence among
the irOntiersmen was unbounded, his word was
law; and many are the personal quarrels and
disturbances which he has checked among his
comrades by his simple announcement that "thiS
has gone far enough" if need be followed by the
ominouS warning that when persisted in or re-
newed the quarreler "must settle it with me"
wild Bill' is anything but a quarrelsome
man; yet no one but himself can enumerate the
many conflicts in which he has been engaged
and which have almost invariably resulted in
the death OF his adversary. | have personal
knowledge OF at least half a dozen men whom
he has at various times killed. one of these be-
ing at the time a member of my command.
Others have been severely wounded, vet he al
wavS escaped unhurt. On the plains every man
openly carries his belt with its invarbe APP
pendages, knife and revolver, often two of the
latter. "Wild Bilr' always carries two hand
some ivory.handled revolyers of the large size;
he was never seen without them. Where this is
the common custom, brawls or personal diff
culties are seldom if ever settled by blows. The
quarrel is not from word TO blow, but from
word to the revolver, and he who can draw and
fire first is the best man. No civil law reaches
him; none is applied for. In fact there is no law
recognized beyond the frontier but that of
Knight makes right" Should death result from
the quarrel as it usually does, no corOner's jury
is impanneled TO learn the cause of death, and
the survivor is not arrested. But instead of
these old-fashioned proceedings, a meeting of
citizens takes place, the survivor is requested to
be present, when the circumstances of the homi-
eide are inquired into, and the unfaling verdict
of "ustfable," "selEdefence," etc. is pro-
nounced, and the law stands vindicated. That
justice Is otter deprived of victim there is not
doubt. Yet in all of the many affairs of this
kind in which "Wild Bill" has performed part
and which have come to my knowledge there is
twelve fair minded men would not be pronounced
in his favor.-Gen. Custdr, IN april Galary