The Indiana State sentinel., 1889-01-09
A BAD NAN WAS D0BSON
BUT HE MET HIS MATCH AT LAST,
And Only the Kindness of Friends Saved
Him From Dying With His Boots On
"Reminiscences of California When
Everybody Wont Wen HeeIed.

Everybody w ont w ell deeled.
"This is the man who killed Jim Dob
son." said my friend, as we crossed
Twenty-third-st. at the junction of Broad
way and Fifth-ave the other afternoon.
This, says New York Herald reporter,
recalled the life and death OF one of the
worst men that ever set foot on the Pacific
coast.
Every town in California, Nevada and
Colorado, especially in their early days,
has had its terror. Jim Dobson was for
many years the terror" OF San Francisco.
He was a hydra-headed terror" too.
Wherever there were races, fairs, billiard
matches, prize fights, or excitement of any
kind Jim Dobson was there. He had
killed several men and attempted to kill
many more. He would no more hesitate
to shoot at man than ct a cat. He never
paid for anything and was generally well
supplied with funds, although he never
did q stroke of work. Honest men
summed him, and many OF those who
knew him feared him. His associates
were Of the lowest of both sexes.
in one of his shooting scrapes. during a
debauch some twenty years ago, his aim
was so inaccurate that he emptied the
seven chambers of his revolver in irving
to kill his adversary, without hitting him.
Throwing his revolver on the floor he ex-
claimed -
''Here. YOU -----, you shoot. IN
be - if can"
When Rudolph went to San francisco
about nineteen years ago TO play John
Deery for the billiard championship of
America an audience of nearly 5000 per-
sons gathered in the Mechanics pavil-
ion to witness the game. OF course Don
son was there. He had bet heavily on
Deery. When it became apparent that
Rudolph would win-he having but 16 to
90, with the balls in hand, to Deery's
166-Dobson stepped up to the table just
as Rudolph was about to shoot, and grab
bing one OF the object balls threw it at
random among the audience. Some one
caught it--On the nose. Although Deery
was the favorite the audience wanted fair
play Cries of ..Put him out" proceeded
from all parts OF the hall. Turning to the
audience, Dobson said:
'There amt here who can
put me out If any one attempts it I'll
put daylight through him"
No one attempted it. The ball was
| brought back and placed on the table and
Rudolph ran the game out.
These are only two instances OF many
of a similar nature, but they will suffice
to indicate the mans desperate diposi-
ton. 1t was about a year later
that he met his death-very un-
pectedly, too, for his slayer was a
sz+ !ic+ ~
some repute They had met at fancy
ball about a week previously. Dobson,
who had been "bucking the tiger" that
night with Indifferent success, asked for a
loan of $40, which was refused. With an
opprobrious epithet the ruffian told the
man who had dared refuse to comply
with his wishes that he had better keep
out of his way in the future, as he would
kill him on sight.
''Oh, I guess Frisco is large enough to
hold us both" was the calm reply"
On the following Saturday the two men
met on Montgomery-st., near Market
Dobson stepped up to the other man and
calculated:
AZ thought ! told you to keep out OF
my way, Now I'm going to kill youl"
And he made motion as if to draw his
pistol.
'You wouldn't shoot an unarmed man,
would your" inquired the billiardist,
calmly.
"Well, if you amt heeled you go and
heel Yourself YOU for the
time time meet you I'll shoot you any
how"
The billiardist, knowing the desperate
character of the man whose enmity he had
incurred, procured a pistol forthwith.
He then went to the Occidental hotel and
played few games of billiards. On going
out he saw Dohson half a block distant
coming toward him. Thinking he had
been seen, he knew it would be useless to
retreat, so he waited Dobson's coming in
the vestibule When the latter had got
within few teet of him the billiardist
stepped out and fired two bullets in quick
succession into Dobson's body before the
latter had time to cock his revolver. Dob
son dropped on the sidewalk, exclaiming:
Il never thought you'd do this
"Well," said the other, 81 thought you
would, and so | made up my mind to get
ahead of you if could"
Dobson was then carried into a drug
store across the street.
"Pull NY boots off, he said family to
the bystanders, and as soon as this was
done he expired.
He had often been told that he would
die with his boots on" as is generally
the case with desperadoes of his ilk in the
west, but even in this he cheated public
opinion.
The man who thus rid the community
of Jim Dobson's obnoxious presence was
not only promptly acquitted, but even
made a hero OF by many and compli-
mented by some of the daily papers. /
who had seen Dobson on a Calistoga
train compel the conductor 10 give him
change for $50. when he had given him
only SO for his fare, always looked upon
the killing as an act of self-defense and