Omaha daily bee., 1888-07-12

Dakota Bad lands and to whom the
gruesome subject had been suggested
by Il reference to the Maxwell case;
talking about murder rs a fine art |
am reminded of the perfection to which
the safe and scientific Staying of ones
fellow-men was brought many wears ago
in the northwest, and which opened my
eyes not Il little to the methods of the
mining men among whom | went to live
when | first visited the Black Hills.
Now don't understand me rs invcighing
against the west and its border life. or
criticiaing for criticisms sake the code
of morals of the pioneers. Far from it.
The country of which | speak is
misrepresented enough, and its
manners held up to gliding
public by reckless writer's too often for
me to strengthen the impression that
the frontiersman is normally n cut
throat. What do want to say is that
there is no more dangerous man on
earth than the citizen of ii frontier town.
when he becomes absolutely convinced
that he must have the life of an enemy.
Times are changing now and the period
is passing away when each one set him
self up for an all-sutfcient Judge of per-
sOnal right and wrong. People go TO
law where they formerly reached for
the handiest weapon, and Blackstone is
resorted to oftener than the bowie
knife. But it was different when / first
went west, say when the Home Stake
mines We're pillaged Of their first big
pay dirt, and l must confess that my
heart failed me until grew accustomed
to the new order of things. Mind you,
/ am not speaking OF desperadoes.
but of men who made n murder
q necessity when confronted by
some stern situation, and who
would go to work in the most. cold
bloodcd manner imaginable in order to
attain their end. 1t was very terrible
to my inexperienced mind when Jim
Waters, we will call him, for I don't
wish to revive unpleasant recollections
up at home, shot down II man who stood
high in our little community of miners
and traders few miles to the north Of
Sturgis, in little town that has long
since been abandoned. Waters had
made up his mind to kill his enemy and
how do you suppose he went about it?
Why, in true western fashion, for he
had no desire of having his neck
stretched for his pains. The party OF
which his foe was II member was work.
ing Il claim just across the ridge from
us, and one fine morning Waters saw
his man slowly. walking along the
summit of the rise, AK in hand,
looking for iirc-wood. His mind
was made up in an instant
and he quietly left camp in the direc-
tion of his enemy. We could hear moth
ing of the quarrel. The first thing that
we knew was that Walters had turned
and was running at full speed, pursued
by the man whom | was aftcrward con-
vinced he had deliberately started out
TO kill. The puisuer gained little
and raised his axe as if to strike, and
then we saw Waters turn and halt.
There was little puff of smoke, the
crack of IA siX-shootor, and the man with
the axe was dead. Self-defense, wasn't
it! OF course that's what the witnesses
swore and what | swore, though we felt
in our hearts that Waters was a cold
blooded murderer. | merely tell you
this to illustrate what | call western
tactics The west is my home now,
and | loyeit, but | recognize its faults,
and am only too glad to see the tide OF
tenderfcet setting our way.