Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-13
he SHOWED NO FEAR FOR DEATH.
Though Covered With RevOlyers, the Reek-
less Man Invited His Would
Be ASSaSSinS to Drink
HOW He CALLED DOWN A MURDERER.
The Life Of Man in Danger Saved by the interference
Of the Train Robber
!FRoN A STAFF CORRESPONDENT.


place was then mere mining camp and 1t
held little the worst crowd Of men 1 ever
saw Oh top of earth. Rube was only fair
specimen.
Gas is usually the case in such remote
places, peopled by such fellows, there was
practically no law save what is carried In
every mans belt or bootleg. The deadly
Winchester was always within easy reach,
day or night. No man stirred out, after
night especially, unless he was a walking
arsenal. Shootings, stabbings and episodes
OF that nature were of constant occurrence.
AssassinationS similar TO those of Clayton
and the more recent attempt upon Brecken-
ridge, we're common, though, owing to the
insignifcance of the principals, very little
would be heard of such events,
DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON.
81 don't believe there was man of that
gang that worked for me but had been shot
or stabbed himself or had shot or stabbed
somebody else. We had a graveyard out
there in the hills and believe three-fourths
of its permanent residents had died with
their boots on. OF course, things have
changed since then and Silver City is now
quite respectable place.
''This Rube Burrows drove team. He
was great rawboned, strapping fellow, with
a cold blue eye and a nerve like iron. His
last adventure in breaking jail showed the
sort of man he was Tor nerve. l don't
believe that fellow cared anv more for death
than you would care for missing your dinner
hour. Two men as tough as he was, who
had long nourished a grudge against Rube
and were waiting an opportunity to get even
with him without danger to themselves, one
night suddenly poked brace of 44's plump
into his face. Rube was leaning against
the bar and rejecting on the uncertainties
OF playing faro by systems There was a
game in full blast at the back and Rube
had just been cleaned out This pair of
rufians caught him just that way.
RUBE'S GOODNESS.
"Well, Rube never moved a muscle
never so much as an eyelid. Those fellows
thought he would go for his gun-and Rube
was devilish quick on a trigger-but he
didn't. If he had tried that he would have
been riddled. The unexpected always hap
pens. So it did then. Rube looked them
straight in the eyes, and the pistols might |
have been SO many cucumbers so lar as be |
was concerned. Then he laughed con- |
up three drinks.
81 never saw such nerve! His presence
ofmind was wonderful Nobody understood ]
better when to fight and when not to fight
than Rube Burrows. 1t was instructive.
He realized in a second that men who do
not shoot at once will probably not shoot at
all unless compelled to do so.
''What was the result? Why, Rube |
afterward shot both OF them, killing one.
The other fellow skinned ont
''Yes, we used to have high old times out
there then. The boys always treated me
pretty well. got shot only four times.
After one of these scraps and while nv
right arm was still in a sling, 1 walked into
a saloon and up against hard crowd. One
of this gang, man named Setter, had as
sassinated man in cold blood.
A PLUCKY DETECTIVE.
"The victim was an old man and was in
his front yard unarmed at the time, while
his slayer was in hiding, and from his am
bush put two loads of slugs through him
with a double-barreled shotgun. That place
was 10 place to serve a warrant you'd bet
ter believe, but Hot Springs detective
named Larry Hazen, a relative OF Phil
Armour's, came out there at the instigation
OF the members of the old mans family to
hunt mp the murderer. 1 was driving from
OU
miles(. and picked up Hazen. l told him
he would 90 to certain death, but he was a
plucky fellow and insisted on mis- dangerous
project. | gave him the protection of NV
house at Silver CitY-my house was reg
ular tort.
Now, knew pretty well if the gang got
wind Of the fact that this detective had ever
been my accidental companion, let alone a
member OF my household, they'd probably
shoot my head off and permit me to explain
But 1 was firmly convinced
that nobody knew anything about the man,
and thought if thev did find it out after
ward it would be when he had gone. He
had assured me that he merely came to hunt
up evidence of the murder and would leave
the arrest TO other authority.
FACING DEATH.
"Well, when l sauntered into that saloon
and saw the looks thrown nv way real
lied at once that [ was a suspected man,
Salter himself, the murderer, stood right
there face to face with me. To saw was a
trife hustered is putting the thing mildly.
My heart stopped beating for few seconds
and when 1 observed peculiar movement
Of Salter's right arm L expected it to stop
beating forever, for he had clever trick of ]
3 knife up the sleeve.
Il knew that knife was there when he
moved over along the bar toward me Just as
well as If l had seen it. In fact. l saw it in
my imagination cleaning through the coat.
knew that man would no more hesitate to
shove that blade between my ribs than he
would 10 kick dog. But almost any man
put IN corner will face death unfinching-
~. de wouldn't hunt up d9nger-would
probably run if he had chance-but being
In tor 1t and no escape he will usually de-
Felop nerve enough to face the music. That
IS the way l felt [ asked Salter to have a
irink and invited the others to join me- ]
1 don't drink he replied, gruffly. I
This was considered sufficient provocation {
,ut there to kill a man, you know. But in 8
stead of resenting his refusal in that way, !
-etorted IN the familiar rough language Gus 1
omary among that sort OF men: ,
BURROWS AS A PEACEMAKER.
iAh, go to Take some whisky, YOU $
bloody Har-put out that black bottle herep I
" L say | don't drink he repeated
Be careful Of my arm v
"Rube Burrows stepped up. He had two s
Dig pistols strapped to him. 1t was a cold I
lay, but he had no coat on and his erav a
lannel shirt was thrown open at the neck c
displaying his hairy breast. He was tullv
alf head taller than me, and looked down
ven on Salter, who was powerfully built
nan. And usually ne was cool of manner i
lmost frIgid. 1 was very nearly frigid nv {
eli, you can bet. To tackle this murderer
With my one arm In a sling was quite =
nough. Rube Burrows was equal to n =
OZen ordinary men when il came to blood
{ was at once apparent, however, that Sal
er was uncertain whether Rube was going s
D stand by him or stand by me, or whether O