The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-08-07
Philadelphia Press
LIFE On THE FRONTIER.
PEN Pictures Of some of the Wen
Who Shoot TO HAiII

lis funny how Whiskcy Scrapes n
mans throat when he Is not used TO it -
The man who used this expression is a
character On the southwestern frontier
his name Is as familiar as a household
word. He was the terror ot the border
for many years, and has escaped lvnchinr
many times The lines which here intro.
duce him give his pet phrase when re
covering from spree. His throat WAS
doubtless too familiar with bad rum t. be
disturbed with anything less than a curry.
comb. He was standing leaning against
the counter OF bar-room in silver Civ.
New Mexico, as ne made the above quoted
remark. 1t was 4 typical frontier gin-
mill, and 1t was filled with strange char
acters. Here were two Indians sitting on
bench, 4 couple of drunken lreirhters
leaning against the wall, two regular
soldiers half drunk, two or three hunting
dogs, several Winchester rifles, a pile Of
Indian trinkets and half-waron-load of
specimens of silver ore. \ board covered
with a little red calico and a half a dozen
bottles stood for the bar
Curly Bill was a hard man, and As he
stood taking his whiskcy in this rude bar
room, he was perfect Specimen OF i
rustler. His rude makeup of rongh
pants stuck in his boots, blue shirt, lam-
ing red necktie and great S"mbrcro added
to bad cOuntenaucc much that was
picturesque. He had Il knife in his boot.
two siXshooters about his waist and was
ready for frolic of any kind, even at
the risk of his life lie was des-
perado OF the dangerous sort, and had
L Il L
credit for having stocked a private grave
yard and he was consequently hero.
The drink was hardly down before
Curly Bill whipped out his revolver, and,
for amusement, shot hole through the
top OF one of the trcighter's hats They
then all got to bantering each other about
their skill as marksmen, and, walking out
into the yard, they went to shooting ~i-
Yer half dollars out Of each other, fingers
at twenty PAGES Curly Bill soon tired Of
this monotonous excitement and asked
one OF the soldiers to hold up silver
piece. The soldier agreed, and twice he
sent his bullet against the coin, but the
third time. for pure I"Vilncrt, h Shot
the fellows front finger Oft. When the
soldier growled about the miss Curly
Bills response was: "Oh, damn it |
thought you had been soldier long
enough
This ended thi, quiet sport for the
dav. The men walked back III the saloon.
and walked up to the farther end Of The
town. \ few moments afterwards a crv
of fire was raised and the Gin mill where
Curly Bill and his companions were soon
burned to the ground. While the build
ing was burning the clattcr of horses
hoofs were heard, and Bill and his com
panions came riding up the street at a rat
tling pace, and the landlord with them
They stopped at another favorite bar
room, and the landlord who had been
burned out said "That cussed Curly Bill
got to shooting at the lamp AMI hit her a
little too low and it exploded. He will
pay the damages, though"
Drinks were ordered for all the motley
crowd in the bar-room and then they
went to play Spanish monte, the favoritc
gambling game in the rude West. y few
days after this Curly Bill barely escaped
hanging for horse stealing, and left for
parts unknown. To-day there is a price
upon his head in almost every territory.
He has been reported dead halt-dozen
times, but he turns up in unexpected
places to veX every community he strikes.
Where he came from and who he was be-
fore he became desperate no one
knows. But he seemed to have had
fair early training, and to have drifted
into his wild life from taste for adventure.
90 hush :" shouted long, lank
fellow, as he jumped upon a table filled
with rough men. The cause of his JOY
was the words of the dealer of the keno
bank, calling the number that made him
winner Of the pot.
81 am hard man, from Bitter Creek ;
| eats bar meat, weigh 1000 pounds,
smell like a wolf, and the whz of bullets
is music in my ear" yelled the fellow, as
he threw his sOmbrero off from his vii
lainous looking countenance.
One of the men who had been less for
tunate at the game hit him 4 blow under
the ear Just as he finished speaking, and
he fell like an OK He picked himself up,
looked quietly around the place, and then
said: ''Wcll, this is the most socable
community | ever struck. Come boys,
let's liquor
1t cost him five dollars to treat, but
the experience he got was worth it.
These two characters represent the two
different classes of men you find on the
border The man who shouted when he
won the pot at the keno bank was brag-
CART. He would boast of his great ex-
plots, of the horses he had stolen and Of
the men he had killed, and would swag-
ger around with an air that would scare
any one but brave man. But when he
met fighter he always wilted. He and
Curly Bill are fair representatives of the
two classes of hard characters you find
on the border. They all wear the broad
brimmed hats, dress alike and have SINH
lar ambitions Their open reckless life
gives them good health, despite dissipa-
ton, and their animal spirits often run
away with their sense.
Among these characters whom you dis
cover under the broad sombrero the Span
lard first introduced into the southwestern
territory, you find many peculiar char
acters-men who have been raised
we'll and who have had great opportuni-
ties as we'll as the cowboy, who grew up
to a wild life and took his lessons of eq-
uity, Justice and humanity from associa-