St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-05-28
Arkansas William.

aUelY clICun1SIdUCeu
Arkansas William.
EXCITING STORY OF A TERRIBLE WEST
ERN DEsPERADO's LAST ENCOUNTER.
From the Detroit Free Press.I
There are dozens of men in Michigan
who will remember meeting Arkansas
William, the Great Gulch terror in
Julesburg, Col, Denver, Laramie ard
other places in the territory dozen
years ago. He was shooter, a slasher,
an Indian killer a government scout, Il
cleaner-out of mining camps, tornado
when he struck town, and a double
jointed son of dynamite generally.
All this he told us and sought to impress
it on our minds, and it came to pass by
and by that whenever he crowed we all
cackled. We'd have bet all the horses
in the first cavalry against an Indian
dog that Arkansas William was match
for any four tribes of Indians on the
plains, and we'd have backed him
against all the other terrors, tarantulas,
wild cats, Rocky Mountain lions and
bowling bears between Omaha and
Frisco. True, we never saw him shoot,
IL,
drag out, but it be him because he said
it was. 1t was an impressive sight to
see him stalking around with il rifle,
two revolvers and bowie strapped to
him, and, heavens! how he could yell
1t was enough to make every mule at
the post tremble to hear Arkansas Will
liam utter his -whoOp-the same
one he uttered, he told us, when he
rode down 200 Pawnees and scattered
them to the four winds. How many of
us bought his tin-types at 50 apiece will
never be known, but he was more ca
ger to sell them than to take the war
path. When the Michiganders left Col
Orado, William was hankering to lay in
winter supply of $50 scalps, seven
barrels of gore and harmful of ears
and noses, and his wild war hoops
followed the regiment for more than
two miles.
The other day something was heard
to drop in the Black Hills, and Arkan-
sas William, the Great Gulch terror,
walked in upon a mining camp, and in
thunder tones inquired what sort of a
graveyard they had there. When they
tremblingly answered they had none at
all, and that all the men were in the
best of health, the terror mounted a
barrel, tapped his arms and cried out {:
"NO graveyard here No place in
which to lay my victims Wh0op Pm
the Great Gulch terror I'm the gigan-
tic graveyard starter of the Big West !!
Pll tie both hands behind me and fight
your whole town.
They tried to coax him not to. They
even offered him Is cents to go softly
away and leave them alone. Indeed,
they offered to write him variety play
in which he as the hero should kill 155
men inside of an hour and half, but he
would not go. Arkansas William could
not be bought with gold, and he had
fame enough.
Well, when they realized that he
wanted blood, and must have it, wea
zen-faced, fiat-chested, thin WASTED
man from Cass county, Mich, who
weighed about 100 pounds, offered him
self as sacrifice. He had never fought
anything or anybody, and he was :
tame and humble that The men used /.
wipe the grease off their knives on his
brick-cOlored hair after the close of a
meal. He crawled out of his tent and
said he'd as soon fight as not. He had
just received letter from home to the
effect that his wife had run off with a
blonde tin peddler, and now lie didn't
care to live longer.
'Him He! That mani That tooth
pick :! Why, I'll make hash of him in a
second !" roared Arkansas William, as
he caught sight of his victim.
Yes, he would do that very thing,
and that would stat graveyard. He
threw dewn his rifle, put off his revolv-
els and crowed for blood. The little
man didn't crow any, but he logged
out a wicked big knife, drew a hair
across the edge of it, and said he'd
do the best he could. The terror crowed
again, and told how many men he had
killed, but the weazen-faced man cut
another hair with his knife. The terror
finally offered to let him off on account
of his consumptive look, but he would
not be let off. He wanted to die then
and there. Then the terror wanted a
fair show. He wanted to go up the
trail and come down to the attack OF
the run. That was his best hold, and
the way he had always fought. The
little man was perfectly willing. All he
wanted was fight to the death, and be
didn't care how he got it. Arkansa.
William started up the trail, but halted
and returned and said:
"BOy, Pm the Great Gulch terror
and Pve put 1913 white men and ovel
600 Indians under the sod. But Pm ne
monster. Something in your face
touches my heart. I'll give you on,
more chance to draw off and live on"
The Cass county man wouldn't TAX,
it. He didn't want to live since his wifi,
went back on him, and moreover h,
was mad for the first time in his life, ant
wanted to see how he would act in
fight.
Every well-get ready to die ~ yell
ed the terror, as he backed up the trail
He was backing and splitting on hi
bowie-knife and getting an awful lool
on his face when last seen. The miner
waited for the rush, and expected ever,
minute to hear his yells, but they cam,
not. Three-fve-ten minutes Slipped
away, and then they investigated. Ar
kansas William was nowhere to b.
found, but they saw a man mile ava,
:, heading for Deadwood, and making tn
earth ache as he passed over it.
SDecimen Beauties of Poluua,,u