The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1881-09-08
WHOLE NO. 1885.

the markSman has driven the brass
button into his body; but are not sat
isfied that he has won the bet, for
they cannot tell if it is in his heart.
well. never mind. boys" says the
murderer. May be | didn t quite win
it. | move We give the twenty dol
lars to the church" Which is car
ried unanimously. as no one in the
crowd wants any sort of button driven
into his heart.
One living on the frontier for any
length OF time hears scores of such
tales, and. from the character of the
cowboys" and desperadoes, he knows
no reason to suspect their truth.
These men all carry arms, and they
practice so constantly with them that
they are as certain of hitting their
mark as the great rlhe-shot is of hit
ting the glass balls thrown into the
air.
The question that suggests itself to
my mind is this: Are we in danger
of becoming as reckless of human life.
as the years roll on, as the ''cow-boys"
of the plains? If the mass of peace
loving citizens, who never think of
firearms, could know the number Of
pistols carried by boys and young
men, could see their practice with
them, and hear their slang talk and
swagger, they would fear it.
Every young man must have his
pistol-pocket in his pants. All the
custom work is made up in this way,
and all the young men as they buy
this necessary article of apparel,
thrust their hands into the pistol
pocket, to assure themselves that they
are reg lar made"
1t an expose Of these pockets could
be made, the most knowing of us
would be astonished at the number of
revolvers, of all pa terms, loaded with
ball cartridges, carried by young men
everywhere in the country.
The East is no exception whatever
to the assertion, nor is New England
excepted in the East.
At a little post-office town in Con-
necticut. so quiet and demure you
would think you had come to the ru-
raj OF all rurals, so sedate and old
fashioned as to suggest the times of
long ago, when as yet there WAS no
revolver or locomotive or telegraph
the nineteenth century trinity-I
stopped at Il small store. where calico
and spices. wooden goods and tobacco.
candies and cartridges were in confu-
sion on the shelves. and. after talking
with the store-keeprr awhil... [ point
I'd to the cartridge. snd ask ID: DO
You not find those things rather un-
profitable stock?"
H smiled, and answered: That's
about AS profitable line as there is in
the trade. | suppose sell more dol
lars worth of -four and pork: but
that's pretty good trade
why. those are pistol cartridges.
Are they not?''
oh! yes. Look AT them. They're
reg'lar."
But the people about here don't
carry pistols. Do they?"
He eyed me moment quizzically.
and then said: Il guess, if you should
see the boys pockets empticd out at
night, you'd find revolver in-weli
say two-thirds of them
How do you know? Do you sell
them TO the boys?'
Il know because they show them
when they come to buy cartridges. ]
don't sell them. They buy them from
firms which advertise to send them by
mail"
What do they pay you for them P"
"Oh! anywhere from one dollar and
fifty cents to about four dollars. ac-
cording to the size and finish"
when the boys get then, what do
they do with them? They don 'tshoot
anything with them. Do they?"
well, they practice at marks
good deal and shoot at birds; and, if
you think they can't shoot, you are
mistaken. I've seen 'em hit pieces of
paper three inches square twenty feet
off. It's no secret about here that the
boys carry 'em. May be their NAM
mics don't know about it; but they all
do"
Now, what is to be the result of this
almost universal practice of carrying
arms concealed? Will it cheaper
human life and expose it to greater
dangers?
A friend said to me, the other day:
Il was in pistol factory in Norwich
last week, and they said they could
hardly supply the demand. And what
do you suppose five-shot nickel-plat-
ed revolver costs them?"
| guessed one dollar.
No. Sixty-eight cents. I don't
wonder that every boy has one. /
only wonder that there are not more
accidents and crimes than there are"
The mania to possess revolver is
spreading, and the number carried is
constantly multiplying.
What will the influence be upon
our civilization, when every boy has
one In his pocket and is anxious to try
its shooting qualities after the style Of
the Western desperate?
LYME. CONN.