Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-01-10


l. Tanning the hammer. Q Curly Bills trick,
qrst position. 3 Twirlng the gun. 4 Curly
till's game, last position.
This has been brought about by that quick
ness which is essential among people who
don't trouble the law 10 take care of them,
but do it all themselves. The question often
arises between two men, (Which of us Is to
der The matter is settled by the time taken
by each TO lodge bullets in the others person.
Scientists have measured personal equa-
tion," which is the time taken for the brain
to convey an order through the nerves to the
muscles and for the muscles to execute the
order. Perhaps the western cowboy will
soon bring his firing down TO so fine point
that his personal equation" will settle the
matter. Then he need only end to some
college professor To measure IL and the other
fellows, to know whether to arrange his af
fairs for departure from the world.
When the self cocker came out it bid fair
to be immensely popular. About this the
aforesaid writer says:
THE makers of pistols thought they had
produced a perfect weapon-one that met all
the demands of gentlemen in the killing line
when they devised the double-action revolver,
and for short time the self-cocker had a
great sale on the frontier. A few years ago
no Texas cowboy or ranger, no Colorado
sheriff, Arizona rustler or Panhandle tough
considered himself correctly dressed unless he
had double action frontier six shooter or
two at bis belt.
''But time developed the imperfections and
shortcomings Of the self cocker. Theoreti-
cally, It seemed perfect, but in actual use it
developed dangerous tendency to get out
Of killer. Its mechanism was too complicat-
cd and delicate. After little wear of the
lock, when gentleman desired TO assassinate
an acquaintance, he was likely TO be disap-
pointed by the failure Of the trigger to carry
the hammer back to the proper notch or
perhaps the cylinder would forget to revolve,
and the acquaintance would have time to in
sert knife into his stomach or cave in his
head with n club which was very unsatis-
factory. Thus the self cocker incurred the
deep displeasure OF the fighting men.
They jeered ut its eccentricities, abused it
for its little weaknesses and discarded il from
their toilet. The windows OF pawnshops and
second hand gun stores were filled with large,
dangerous looking double action revolvers,
which thereby were made familiar to the
eastern tourist and the globe trotter. The
faster the cowboy and tho sheriff threw away
these guns the more firmly fixed became the
belief In the lay mind, so to speak, that the
frontier, because that style OF gun was most
frequently seen in the deal rs windows.
While the western gun fighter was ordering
plain, single action revolyerS, the makers
were diligently unloading their stock Of COM
plicated self cookers on the tenaerfootn
But where life depends on n fraction of a
second the man whose life il mt stake will
naturally be hunting for some way OF steal
ing march on his antagonist. Some one
Interested improved upon the makers method
In the single action pistol by what is called
flaming the hammer" This is holding the
weapon firmly gripped, with the forearm
pressed against the side of the body for stead
iness and keeping the trigger back against
the guard with tho foretlnge. so that it
never engages with the hammer and rapidly
striking the thumb-ear OF the lmmer with
the edge Of the left palm. This discharges
several shots in quick succession. The trick
was first introduced in New Mexico. Ex-
travagant yarns have been told about the
unerring precision with which the cowboy
will shoot by flaming the hammer but
these stories are exaggerated The trick does
quick work, but not accurate work
'In 1881 a cowboy named Bob Sinclair
worked the new trick in Albuquerque. For
some reason or other he had concluded that
Jack Riley was an improper person, and that
the continued existence of Mr.. Riley was an
impertinence not 20 be tolerated Wherefore
he famed the hammer at Riley There Is no
doubt that MIR. Sinclair made a great deal Of
noise In very short time. His performance
on the six-shooter was rhythmic and inspir-
Ing, and the sweep Of his left hand was a
poem. A carpenter shingling the roof of the
new hotel received one bullet in his right
heel; some glassware behind the bar Of the
corner saloon was broken an Indian card
party behind "a lumber pile two blocks up the
street was dispersed with the loss of one buck;
fourth ball inserted itself in Mr.. Sinclair's
left foot, and the other two escaped in the
confusion and are still at large. After the
smoke Of battle had cleared away Mr.. Riley
picked up n board and swatted Mr.. Sinclair
on the ear"
It is not claimed that this is the "Mr. Riley
they speak of so highly" but he deserves ali
tbs encomiums any one OF the name ever re-
ceived
"When the novelty had worn of this
trick, the writer goes on, 'the men who car
ried guns for business purposes and bad q
serious aim In life, viz, the shortening Of 1t
for other people-the men who were not en-
amored OF mere noise and pistol pyrotechnics
took the triggers out of their guns or
lashed them firmly back against the guards,
thereby throwing them out OF commission.
The adoption of the triggerless gun made
necessary the requirement Of skill in new
methods Of handling the weapon.
The first and most obvious scheme was TO
work the hammer with the thumb In the or
binary way, letting the hammer slip and fall
when the aim was secured Anybody who
tries this for the first time will discover that
IL Is not easy Ia shoot where he looks or TO
hold the weapon steady. In quick firing, the
pistol Is raised and carried back over the
shoulder, and then thrown sharply forward
and downward The thumb, grasping the
hammer, cocks IL during the downward
movement, and when the barrel l. at the de.
sired position the hammer is released and the
weapon discharged.
"a revolver can be fired very rapidly In
this manner, but no great accuracy of aim
can be- obtained A novice would find it diff
cult 10 hit n door at twenty feet, and an ex-
pert Is doing pretty well to hit within the
outlines OF man at ten PAGES The cowboy
who can hit an oyster can at ten feet, throw
ing the pistol down In the manner described.
h a rare bird"
This II the trick that n lannon's scoundrel
called Curly Bill" practiced ON a sh.r,sy A.
Tombstone. Bill being ordered by Sheriff
White TO give up his weapons, took a self
eker from his belt and handed IL toward the
M butt foremost. just as the sheriff.