Omaha daily bee., 1884-07-26
FE ON THE BORDER.
Dressing a Boy as a Woman aud Taking
The CONSEQUENCES,
Going on With the Circus with Two
Dead Men Under tho Seats What
the Boy Turned Out to Re
Cor. New York Sun.

Cor. New York Sun.
TOMBSTONE, July 1.-The arrival of
strol.ing frontier circus in this town tn,
other day brought together two old rims
men who had not met before in severs
years. Dan Dement,, now laid up her,
temporarily, was once the manager o
a circus in which Henry Tsllifer, a per
former in the concern at present exhibit
ing in this city, was clown. Tho wa,
they came to be separated was developed
in the course of an extended comparison
of notes at the hotel tho other evening
The performance at the circus now her,
was in full progress. The striped mul,
had Just been led around the ring for
young woman to mount, ant
the clown, who had got of
a few jokes with a local applica
cation had taken his position on a barre
to await developements, when . voic'
was heard from one of the top seats,
as that you, Hank Tallifer2"
Everybody turned toward the speaker
who proved to be Dement,. He was
standing up with his head, which other
wise would have gone into the canvas
slightly inclined. The clown jumped
down from his perch, and looking up tc
the man Who addressed him answered:
That's the name | used to carry"
Come up here, then, and shake"
The clown made his way up to Dement,,
recognized him in time, and after a hear.
ty interchange of salutations, resumed
his place in the ring. When the perform,
arcs was over, the two men met at the
hotel and renewed their acquaintance
"How did you know me with my paint
on2' asked Tallifer.
"Know you! I'd know you in Alaska.
Your voice wasfsfamitiar in the first
place, and in the second, that gag OF
yours about the placer digging gave you
away. / hadn't heard that joke since
the time the landslide struck US at Las
Animas."
A crowd quickly assembled on the
porch of the tavern, and, all hands hav'
ing had something in the way of liquor,
Dement, observed: "We meet some very
queer men in this business. Now Tall
fer aud l campalgped it in this country
when there were precious few people
here but Indians and prospectors. We
were broken up finally, and have't seen
each other until now. The circus that
we were with was organized over in
Sonora, and VIZ drifted northward until
finally, we got across the line into the
territory. We had what was considered
a good show in those days. l was the
manager and the ring master, and some.
times | did a little tumbling. | sold
tickets, too, and bossed things generally.
Talliter was the clown. There were two
or three other performers, besides a few
who did the heavy work and
took care of the stock. One of the per-
formers was a young man named Den.
ming, We picked him up in Sonora, but
we didn't play him much. In those days
nobody asked where anybody came from
He was there. We wanted a man, and
he said he could do a few acts and could
learn others, and 30 we hired him. He
kept pretty quiet most of the time, but
that.was not unusual in this country"
"'He did good work for us until we
the line. When we struck Amer.
lean soil he began to drink. AT Brst his
was not enough to bother us
much, but the night we opened at a camp
near whore Calabasas now stands he
took us all off our feet. We had about
200 men in the tent, and the first ride
around had been completed. had been
tickets, and, having finished that
business, went into the dressing-room
and was preparing to make my appear
ance in the ring when / heard q couple
shots, followed by two more. There
WAS nothing extraordinary about that and,
although | must say | was somewhat sur
| was just going out to soc what
the trouble was, when Tallifer here came
running into the dressing-room, with his
eyes bullying out, and gosped:
"Denningl'
"'Well, what's up2" says I, drunk
81 ran out into the ring just in time to
see Denning In full costume, with a re-
volver in each hand, make a Jump for
the seats on the left of the dressing. room
door, The tent was full of smoke, every
body was yelling, and most of the men
had guns in their hands.
"'Fair play! shouted somebody, and
then all took up the cry, and there was a
perfect roar, fair play!
BOTH MEN KILLED.
~ must confess that | was speechless.
| did not know what to do, to say, or to
| did not have to wait long. The
whole thing was done in an instant al
most, There was a great scattering in
the vicinity of Dsnning, Then came
two shots so close together that they
sounded almost like one, and a second
later there was another report. The
smoke ohscured the combatants, and for
a few moments no one could tell wheth-
er tho trouble was over or not. Just
then some Of the fellows on the top seats
ralsed the canvas a little, and the wind
coming in the smoke wassoon~d disappeared.
At the foot of the seats lay Denning, his
white and gold tights and spangles
covered with blood, and his revolver by
his side. | raised him a little, but
he was dead. There could be no ques.
ton about that.
Whats all this about2' / asked.
"Who did it2 Where is it,
"Three men were carrying a rough