St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-10-30
FRONTIER WEAPONS.
The cotcboy's Taste for First GLASS; Pocket
14rtiilery-The Sherif,s Shotgun.


-srtitIeyy-The Sherif,s Shotgun.
Correspondent Globe -Democrat
was in FL Paso the other day, having
gone up in the stage, as the line between
Las Cruces and Ell Paso is washed out.
While in town dropped into large store
on Ell Paso street, which enjoys the reputa-
uon OF selling more arms than any other
house in the city.
While your correspondent was inspecting
the glittering array or pistols of all kinds
which filed half dozen show cases.
young fellow of about % entered.
lie was dressed in approved from
tier style, sombrero it would take three
days TO walk round the rim of, white
handkerchief tied loosely around the neck,
Dlue shirt, pants stuck in his boots, and large
Mexican spurs upon his heels, jiDgling as he
walked. He wished to buy ''gun," in the
expressiveness and laconic tongue of the
frontier ''gun" is revolver, rifle is
called by the name of the maker, and the
weapon of the sportsman, uncurtailed of its
lair proportions, is known as a shotgun.
Selecting from. a case a handsomely
mounted 45-caliber revolver, the clerk said
'How would you like this! 1t is the newest
thing out-a double-action forty-five."
'Ain't worth row of beans. No man
'cept tenderfoot wants that kind of thing.
Give me an old reliable all the time. Ye see,
man that's used to the old style is apt to
get fooled-not pull her off in time-and
then he'll be laid out colder'n a wedge.''
He was handed out a single action of the
same model, which after carefully examining
| be proceeded to cock and fire, tWirling the
pistol around his forefinger and cooking and
pressing the trigger the moment the butt
came into the palm of his hand. After some
little ''kick'' about the price the weapon was
paid for and the customer left the store.
''There are few men," observed the clerk
as his customer left, ''that can do that trick.
l have been ten years on the southwest frou-
tier, among the worst classes, and don know
more than half a dozen. 'Bill the kid
could do it, so can Pat Garret, former sheriff
of Lincoln county; so can Dan Tucker,
deputy sheriff of Deming. Curly Bill could
do it the best of the lot, and that is how he
killed Sheriff White at Tombstone"
A TREACHERoUs TRICK.
''How was that!" queried the correspond
ent.
'Well you see, Curly Bill was trying tc
paint the town red, and White heard of it,
and going UP to him covered him with his
six-shooter and told him be had got to give
up his gun. Bill handed the gun out butt
first, but kept his finger inside the guard, and
as the sheriff reached for it he gave it that
peculiar twist you've seen, turned her loose,
and the sheriff passed in his checks -
''DO you sell many of the bulldog pis-
tols2''
eyes. They are chiefly bought by railroad
laborers, tramps and boys. Men who are
used to the country either buy calibre fl
or carry A or 45 in shoulder scabbard -
''What is that:''
swell, it is pistol scabbard with a strap
passing over the right shoulder and supports
the pistol under your coat on the left side.
1t enables you to draw while a man is think
ing that you are only looking for your hand
kerchief. The bulldog is a poor pistol,
shoots wild and can't be depended upon foI
over fifteen feet. The great trouble with all
these pistols is that they are hard on the
trigger. The boys getov this by having
the catch filed down. The pistol of the cow
boy is as fine on the trigger as were the hair
triggers of the old dueling days"
A SPECIAL WEAPON.
81 want to show you a kind of shotgun
that has limited use," continued the clerk,
and he led the way to the back of the store
where about half dozen double-barreled
shotguns were standing in rack
They had all been cut off short
the barrels being only obout two feet in
length, but otherwise they were perfect
''These guns are prime fayorites with sheriffs.
deputy sherifTs, United States marshals and
officers of the law generally, and when they
get the drop on you with one of them it's q
case of throw up your hands, no matter how
much sand you may have. They are very
handy, and you can stow them away under a
buggy seat with ease. Wells-Fargo's messen-
gers all carry them, and at a short range they
beat rifles and six-shooters all to hades. II
was armed with one of them that Horn, who
was deputy sheriff at Lordsburg, took in
Curly Bill. Bill was riding out of the corral
and Horn had stationed himself Just bv the
door-post. AS Bill rode out he covered him
and called to him to throw up his hands.
Bill only glanced at the weapon and I'D
went his hands. Had it been a six
shooter he'd have taken chances A darn
fool went and rode through the dining-room
in the railroad hotel at Deming flourishinp
his pistol and frightened the lady passengers
bound west nearly into fits. Dan Tucker
found the fellow up the street, covered him
with her and called ''hands up" The blasted
idiot made motion for his six-shooter and
Dan filled him chuck full of buckshot He
failed to get there Eli and now peacefully
sleeps beneath the daisies.
BUT FEW ACCIDENTS.
81 notice that you have fewer accidents
from firearms in the west than we have in
the east, which, considering that every man
carries gum seems extraordinary
ut is not. The men who are alway.
handling firearms are the most
careful with them. I'd like to see YOU
point pistol or shotgun at a cowboy, and
he'd make you drop it so quick 'twould
make your head swim. There used 10
be good many accidents, though, a few
years ago, when the boys were in the habit of
carving the full six loads in their gnns and
trusting to the safety catch to avoid any dan
ger Sure as the gun dropped on the ground,
off she went. A hunter got shot this way.
Now nearly every fellow carries one chamber
empty, with the hammer resting on it, when
of course no jar can discharge it.
''Some of the cowboys, - said the dealer in
conclusion, "are regular dudes about pistols.
Nothing will do them but gold and silver
mounted and ivory handled weapons. Rich
Mexicans are more given to to this STYLE than
even Americans. The truth is that nickel
plated and silver-plated revolvers are not the
best on the plains. The reflection of the sun
on the white metal surface of the barrel is
fatal to accurate shooting"
Jim Blaine's HaudIin SopIfstry.
In his speech at Detroit, the other even.