The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-27
EDITING A TEXAS NEWSPAPER.
What Happened to a Young North
erner in Borderland.
From ne Weir Y01.k sta

FROM me Ner YORK NTdf.
Sitting in the lobby of the Hoffman House
last night entertaining a party of friends
with amusing accounts of his adventures i'll
the Southwest was tall, slender young
man with light hair, blue eyes and a sandy
moustache, about % or % years
of age. He was introduced to
Star reporter as Joe Norris, a nephew Of
the late ex-Sherif VIM. G. Conner. Joe is a
New York boy, but he left home when
about 10 years old, armed with a dag
ger and toy pisto, and without the lnowl-
edge or consent of his parents went to Texas
to annihilate the Indians who were then de-
vastating the frontier of that state.
Gone night in camp dispeled my blood
thirsty DESIRES" Joe candidly confessed.
During the night pack of coyotes scented
some fresh meat hung up in camp. They
| squatted on the prairie at a little distance
from where | lay shivering on my saddle
blankets, ard set up a chorus Of such I'M
earthly yelps and bowls that | imagined all
the Indians in the country were charging
us in a body. 1t was the first time | had
| heard anything of the kind. My hair
stiffened with fright, and [ let out a yell
that made the other fellows jump up and
| grab their guns in a hurry. They could
| sleep through a coyote chorus, but my
scream was too much for them. When
matters were explained there was general
| laugh at my expense, and the wag of the
camp sarcasticallv nicknamed me- Coyote
Joe 1t was pretty hard, but it was deserved
| and appropriate, for q coyote is an animal
easily frightened"
Norris drifted down to the southwestern
frontier of the Lone Star State, and some
how or other was induced to embark in the
newspaper business. He started paper at
| Eagle Pass, and had rather queer expert
ence w tn one of the most desperate of the
! many desperate men in that locality "a the
| time. The adventure is best told in his own
words;
"At that time" said he, eagle Pass, or
| Paso del Aquilla as the Mexicans call it,
was infested with gamblers, horse thieves,
| desperadoes and all the other adjuncts of a
! frontier town. Now it is an entarprising
| city, peopled with law-abiding and energetic
| citizens. Yves Bruden'S saloon was the
resort of the worst clement. In fact, it was
| quite generally known that gang of wet
horse dealers made the place heir head
quarters Wet horse traffic consists in
stealing the animals in Mexico and swimm-
| ing them across the Rio Grande to sell III
| Texas, and vice versa.
! shortly after taking charge of the Times
l began publishing a series of articles on the
| side of law and order In one of my attacks
! on horse thieves several names were men,
| toned, notably that of one Kingfisher
| This fellow, it turned out, was a regular
| mankiller. After the a. tlcle appeared the
Office was honOred by number of callers
| all habitues of brudens saloon, who, after
| giving me glowing acc UNITS of King either,
proves, left me with the comforting assur-
ance that he would shoot me full of holes
when next he came town.
AS a matter OF course. | was dubious rs
TO how the thing would end. Kinglishel
was d dead shot, and was not fond Of shoot
itg at all. Yves Bruded had a carpenter
make plain p ne coffin, and it was sent t.
me with kingfsher's compliments. 1t WIS d
| terrible strain on a fellows nerves, but
when a week passed without bringing King
fisher to the front, | began TO breathe freer
"One afternoon a handsome young fellow
of mild cast of cOu tenance walked into
the office and asked for the editor. Aft
carefully sizing him UP, was al home HI
seemed for moment to be sizi & us up, too
Then we grew soc.able. / showed hlu now
the types were manipulated, forms LOCKED
up, papers printed, etc, and concluded by
asking him TO subscribe. He locked at m,
oddly for moment or SO. Then, throwing
out couple of Mexican dollars, lie said
with a grin:
"'Send her along, pard.
Then asked his name, so that | could
enter it on the list
'KingfSher. was his reply.
you can imagine how I felt. The floor
refused to open up and let me through, and
my body firmly resistel the efforts of my
will to resolve it into invisible atmospheric
particles; the only tn ng l could and die
succeed in doing was to work up an arti
fetal smile. Kingfisher noticed my embar-
IA sment, and holding out his hand, said
laughingly:
"'Say what you like about me, boy. And
if you want to call other folks names, dc
that, too. If they don't like it, refer 'em to
me-
THE fact that was shaking hands with
a no Sc thief din trouble nv conscience
| just then. Kingfisher admitted that he had
hunted up the Office thinking there was a
man at the head of it, in which event its
Inore'n likely the.e'd a-been a matinee. He
wasn't around jumping on stripiings. The
! latter sentiment was pleasantly reassuring,
l remember While l remained in Eagle
Pass the Times had 10 warmer supporter
right or wrong, than KingGsner. lie was
killed by Ben Thompson in tho Vaudeville
I eater in San Francisco aboat five years