Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-08-08
WILD WESTERN TACTICS.
Perfection to Which Murder as a Fine All
 Was Brought hY n Miner.

Perfection to Which Murder as a Fine Art
 Was Brought by a Miner.
 Talking about murder as Q fine art" said 4. J. Pleasantop, who lives up near the Dakota Bad Lands, to St Louis Post Dis patch reporter "talking about murder as fine art am reminded of the perfection to which the safe and scientific staying of one's fellow-men was brought many years ago in the Northwest, and which opened my eyes not little to methods of the mining men among whom went to live wheE first visited the Black hills. Now, don't under stand me as invelghing against the West and its border life, or criticising for criti- cism's sake the code of morals of the pio- neers. Far from it. The country of which I speak is misrepresented enough, and its manners held up to gibing public by reck- less writers too often for me to strengthen the impression that the frontiersman is normally q cut-throat. What do want to say is that there is no more dangerous man on earth than the citizen of frontier town when be becomes absolutely convinced that he must have the life of an enemy. Times are changing now, and tho period IS pass ing away when each one set himself up for an all-suficient judge of personal right and wrong. People go to law where they formerly reached fer the handiest weapon, and Black stone is resorted to oftener than the Bowie knife. But It was different when l first went West, say when thesHome Stake min CTS were pillaged of theirtirst big-pay dirt, and must confess that my heart failed me until grew accustomed to the new order of things. Mind you, 1 am not speak ing of desperadoes, but of men who made of murder a necessity when con- fronted by some stern situation, and who would go to work in the most cold-blooded manner imaginable in order to attain their end. It was very terrible to my lnexperi- enced mind when Jim Waters. we will call him, for don't wish to revive unpleasant recollectionS up at home, shot down man who stood high in our little community of miners and traders a few miles to the north of Sturgis, in little town that mas long since been abandoned. Waters had made up his mind to kill his enemy, and how do YOU suppose he went about ltf Why, in true Western fashion, for he had no desire of having his neck stretched for his pains. The party ofEwhich his foe was member was working sa claim just across the ridge from us, and one fine morning Waters saw his man slowly walking along the summit of the rise, axe ln hand, looking for fire-wood. His mind was mada up in an instant, and he quietly left camp in the direction of his enemy. We could hear nothing of the quarrel. The first thing we knew was that Waters had turned and was running at full speed, pursued by the man who I was afterward convinced he had deliberately started out to kill The pursuer gained little and raised his axe as Ii to strike, and then we saw Waters turn and halt. There was a httle puff of smoke, the crack of a siX-shooter, and the man with the axe was dead. Self-defense, wasn't its Of course that's what they said at the trial That's what the witnesses swore and what swore, though we felt in our hearts that Waters was cold-blooded murderer. ! merely tell you this to illustrate what 1 would call Western tactics The West IS my home now and love it, but recognize it's faults and am only too glad to see the tide of tenderfeet setting,our way"