The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-11-11
INUNDATED COWBOYS.
The Lesson That Was Taught Them by a
Cuobtrusive Tenderfoot.

The Lesson That Was Taught Them by an
Uuobtrusive Tenderfoot.
There have been a great many sto-
ries told of the reckless daring and
abandon of the cowboy. He is an
American production. and at the sound
of the word cowboy the mind reverts
to some western locality where law
and order are unknown, and are sup
piled by rude set of conventionalities,
the non-obseryauce of which means
violence without process of trial. The
typical cowboy must he fearless, ready
to shoot at a moments warning, wild
in his makeup and language, and
ready to perpetrate joke on ten
derfoot" at any time.
But there is often considerable bragg
gadocia in the cowboy, and a good illus
tration of this fact was told a Sentinel
reporter by a station agent, who had
lived in the west for many years and
had been in the employ of various rail-
roads in localities where cowboys were
numerous.
Il have seen a good many daring
deeds performed and coarse jokes per-
petrated by cowboys" said the agent,
''but | will tell you of little incident
where the wind was taken out of three
cowboys by determined, fearless
'tenderfoot' 1t happened only last
spring. L was then station agent and
telegraph operator for the Northern
Pacific Railroad company at place
near the Montana line. 1t was not
much of place, as it consisted only
of depot, house or two, and sa-
loon.
Zone morning a travelling man ar
rived at the depot by stage from up
north somewhere. He had a small
sample-case and sachel He was be-
low medium height and rather slight,
but was very neatly dressed and wore
a silk hat. He was travelling for a
New York jewelry house. He was
about an hour early for the train east,
and he opened his grip on the plat
form, took out brush, and busted bis
clothing and shoes. He then drew out
an old newspaper, leaned up against
the side of the depot with one foot pro-
jected in front of the other, and began
reading.
meanwhile, however, three cow
boys had sauntered up to the depot.
They all eyed him closely and watched
his operations. When he began read
ing they huddled together and talked
awhile in an undertone. Presently one
of them-a big six-footer-left the
group and began to saunter carelcssly
about the platform with his head in
the air inspecting the posters on the
building and the cornice. When he
got around where the travelling man
stood, he lifted his big brogan and
planted it firmly on the jewelry mans
foot. No apology was made. The
travelling man merely looked up, drew
his foot back a moment, then placed il
back where it was. The cowboy pass
ed back to the other two. They all
chuckled and joined in the low-toned
conversation.
soon the cowboy started out again
on similar round, gaping at the roof.
When he reached the travelling man he
tried to bring down his coarse boot on
the extended foot. The travelling man
jerked his foot back suddenly, and the
brogan came down with a thump on
the platform. Another conference and
chuckling followed. Finally the cow
boy set out on the third round. JUS
as he was about to raise his foot tc
plant it on that of the travelling man,
the latter looked up quickly and said
- See here, there is my foot, and it:
going to stay there. You step on it
if you want to, but | want to tell you
that before you can get off of it | will
kill you.'
''Such volley staggered the COW
boy. He looked at the foot. and Their
at the small possessor, and finally
moved off without stepping on it. An
other consultation followed.
The travelling man calmly read hi:
paper a few minutes, and then tool
from his sachel three apples. He look
ed at them moment, and suddenl,
threw them few feet into the air anl
then quickly drew revolver, tiree
three shots. splitting each apple into q
dozen pieces before they reached the
ground. He replaced the cartridges
in the empty chambers of the revolver,
and returned it to his pocket.
THE cowboys witnessed the aci
without saying a word, and soon. com
pletely cowed, turned and left the de-
pot. The travelling man told me after
they left that he would have killed the
three of them had the fellow stepped
on his foot again, and | think he would
as he was quick as lightning. He
then showed me medal he carried
which he won as being the most rapic
and one of the best shots in New York
The story simply illustrates that Their,
is sometimes great deal of fictitiou!
valor and daring about the cowboy. -
Hillcdukee Sentinel
What the Star Tells.