Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-03-11
HOW ENGLISH DIED.
OLD TEX" BENDER TELLS A YARN
OUT OF HIS EXPERIENCES.

The Quiet Stranger Who Won the Respect
of the Cowboys-N ,thing Ever Learned
of His Past-The Bullet Intended for
Another Went Through Ills Heart
The Palmer house had two guests who ar
tracte.l no little attention from their appear-
ance They wore tho regulation broad
oriinIned hat, their hair was long and about
Their waist was the belt that, when Oh their
native heath, carried IA small arsenal These
strangers were two genuine scouts from the
pIlins ana had seen much service One Of
them was TEX" Bender, scout who had
been one of Col. Drum chief aids in the chase
for Colorow. the Ute chief. Bender was
found In n talkative mood, and the drift of
conversation turned uoon instances of people,
OF whom nothing was known more than, per
haps, nickname, losing their lives and leav-
ing no chance for friends or kindred even
knowing what had become of r,em
These cases are more CON non than ons
would think" tho scout said, "and many Of
them make the saddles kind of n story
Upon being urged to spin yarn Bender
related the following Incident:
HE WAS A TREASURE.
Scouting" he said, ''has been more of a
pastime with me than anything else My
main interest on the plains is cattle raising,
and the story shall tell is one that occurred
on ranch. One day a young fellow came
into our camp looking for job. His nation
allty was so-clearly marked that at his first
appearance he was greeted with the rough
but hearty salutation Of Hello, Englishr He
was English without any doubt He said he
had been tramping for long time had been
to any number of camps, but had found them
all full, and he wanted to go to work badly.
Well, we needed ano her hand Just then, SO
we took him, though it was with rather an
idea that he was something of a tenderfoot.
In this we soon found ourselves mistaken. II
was mildness and evident gentleness of
character that had given the impression.
English had been on the plains long enough
to know his business. but the roughness, the
oravado that so many acquire had passed
him by without Il mark. The days were few
before we found we had treasure-at least
he was such TO the fellows who were always
willing soma one else should do what they
ought to do, and Engliih was so good natured,
SO willing, that at first | arm afraid he was
imposed upon dreadfuly, but before long he
sort Of crept into our hearts, and we felt most
as though it was wicked to take advantage of
his good nature
Our camp was pretty tough, and we
didn't ordinarily stop much on account of
things being wicked, but we let up on English
just the same. You see, he had done every
boy In camp more or less favOrs. When one
fellow was sick English did all his share of
the work and his own. too, and then tended
the sick chap nights, staying awake to give
him his dope regularly. There was hardly
one of us that didn't owe English money.
He always said he had no use for it, and said
1t, too, with q sadness that made fellow feel
there was bitter heartache behind all his
make believe cheerfulness. At first the boys
used to guy poor English, and ask him ques-
tions about his home and all that kind OF
stuff, and have seen the tears start in his
eyes Us he turned away and left the crowd
English certainly had history, and it was
undoubtedly sad one He got so he would
seldom sit in the cabin with u.s. but would go
away by himself, not in any morose spirit,
but he always seemed afraid the boys would
speak TO him of thir gs he did not care to
hear l said awhile ago that we were pretty
tough; | guess we we're no worse than
most of the fellows out there, but we did play
cards to beat anything.
THEY'D DONE ENOUGH SHOOTING
Ono highland yol can bet / shall never
forget it-there was a game going on. One
fellow had been losing right along for several
days and had got pretty sore. This night
his luck was as bad, OF worse than it had
been, and he lost all his money, and, In fact,
about everything he had, and his anger got
the upper hand Of hin. One fellow seemed
to have been moro lucky that night than all
the rest of US, and very naturally the fellow
who had lost felt part tcularly bitter toward
this chap, and in a moment of rage he said
the thing that neyer-sImong us fellows-fails
to bring out gun. Ee said the winner had
nhn fll ell II a.
suit Of such charge, his pistol was out as
soon as the words, and in a blind rage he
fired Close as was his intended victim, his
anger unsteadied his arm and he failed to hit
him His position was such that he faced the
door OF the cabin. This door, unevenly hung,
would, when opened, swing to of its own &C
cord, and III the excitement OF the moment
no one had noticed ths door open and close,
but before a word coul1 be spoken there came
to us the sound of fall and groan.
1.-TWO at least of those who sat there In
kind OF awe stricken wondernent, a. the
smoke circled in clouds around the room,
heard that noise. They jumped to their test
and passed outside The rest OF US were too
much excited to notice anything except the
combatants; both had their guns out now
and had jumped for shelter, each eager to
pepper the other, but before another shot
could be fired an occurrence took place that
made US instantly forget our excitement Of q
moment before. The two boys who had gone
out returned, As they pushed open the door
It could be seen they were carrying some bur
den. In q moment they were in the room,
and one Of them said, in a voice sad and col
suln: Boys, l guess you have done shooting
enough for one night. Do you see what you
have doner They laid the form they were
bearing gently down upon the floor and we
all rushed forward to zee who it was It was
poor English. He hao been sitting all alone
while we were caroustng and had just at
tempted to enter When bullet, intended for
another, went through his heart. English
was dead, and all we knew of him was the
nickname we had ourselves given him He
had never told us of his friends, and we could
only bury him and put slab at the head Of
bis grave, ON which was scrawled as best we
could the one word ''English." Perhaps his
friends or relatives are still waiting for him
to return. They will never see him, nor will
hundreds of other friends see those they are
hoping and expecting to see. They lie In
lonely graves on the open plains, unmarked
except by nicknames. Chicago Herald.