Morris tribune., 1886-02-17
HUNIILIATED COWBOYS.
The Lesson That Was Taught Them by an
unnhtrusiYa TenderEoot.


There have been great many sto-
ries told OF the reckless daring and
abandon of the cowboy. Ho 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 sot of conventionalities,
the non-observance of which means
violence without process of trial. The
typical cowboy must be fearless, ready
to shoot at q moments warning, wild
in his makeup and language, and
ready to perpetrate joke on a stem
derfoot" at any time.
But there is often considerable brag-
gadocia in the cowboy, and good illus
tration of this fact was told a Sentinel
reporter by 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 good many daring
deeds performed and coarse jokes per-
petratcd by cowboys" said tho agent,
''but l will tell you of a little incident
where the wind was taken out of three
cowboys by a determined, fearless
tcnderfoot.' 1t happened only 4ast
spring. l WAS then station agent and
telegraph operator for the Northern
Pacific Railroad company ut q place
near the Montana line. 1t was not
much of place, as it consisted only
of a depot, house or two, and sa-
loon.
"One morning 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 q
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 his
clothing and shoes. He then drew out
an old newspaper, leaned up against
the side of the depot with one foot pro-
iected 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 undertonc. Presently one
of them-a big siX-footer-left the
group and began to saunter carelessly
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 moment, then placed it
back where it was. The cowboy pass
ed back to the other two. They all
chuckIed and joined in the loW-toned
| conversation.
''Soon the cowboy started out again
On a 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
ierked 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. just
as he was about to raise his foot to
plant it on that of the travelling man,
the latter looked up quickly ana said
- See here, there is my foot, and it's
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 l will
kill you.
"Such yolley staggered the cow.
boy. He looked at the foot, and then
at the small possessor, and finally
moved off without stepping on it. An
other consultation followed.
The travelling man calmly read his
paper few minutes, and thea took
from his sachel three apples. He look
ed at them a moment, and suddenly
threw them few feet into the air and
then quickly drew revolver, fired
rec shots, splitting each apple into a
zen pieces before they reached the
g! ound. He replaced the cartridges
in .he empty chambers of the revolver,
am returned it to his pocket.
The cowboys witnessed the act
with out saying word, and soon, COM
plet, ly cowed, turned and left the de-
pot. The travelling man told me after
they eft that he would have killed the
three If them had the fellow stepped
on his foot again, and think he would,
as he was quick as lightning. He
then sh ,wed me a medal he carried,
which h won as being the most rapid
and one Of the best shots in New York.
The story simply illustrates that there
is sometil les a great deal of fictitious
valor and 1aring about the cowboy. y
MiLWdukee Sentinel.