The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1891-12-18
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TCourier Journal.f


T. lay the Bt-ou Munchausen.
may i1fs soul rest in peace, was some
thing of liar, and in our time the
Hon. Tom OchiItree, of Texas, has
achieved pre-eminence in that line,
but both Of these distinguished gentle
men. together with Louisville's own
Joe Mulhattan, must take back seat
and hide their diminished heads,
when Mr. Edward. Wakefield, of
England, walks into the ring and
announces that he will tell a few.
Mr. Wakefield is as yet unknown TO
fame, but his maiden effort is big
with promise.
Mr.. Wakefield has contributed to
The Contemporary Review, lead
ing English magazine, an article
which he calls '"The Brand OF Cain"
devoted to the murderous instincts OF
Americans. We do shoot now and
then, and sometimes life, is lost, all
Of which we grieve over and condemn,
but one must read Mr.. Wakefield's
article to know how very bloodthlrsty
we are, for he informs his readers
that there is no law in this country,
as every man avenges his own wrongs
with the knife or pistol.
Mr.. Wakefield is especially severe
upon the lawyers, every one OF whom,
he saws, keeps q revolver in a pigeon
hole of his desk, and knows when to
use it. He asserts that the habit OF
killing is not confined to any class or
condition of life, aud an ignorant
reader would infer from what he
writes that battle might occur at
any time in the dining-room at Del
mOnico's, and one-half of the audience
at Boston theater might suddenly
draw it's revOlvers and begin popping
away at the other half.
Mr.. Wakefield relates number OF
remarkable shooting scrapes" which
somehow or other have never gotten
| into the papers, and his own advent
ules with men who carry pistols were
very interesting. On one occasion,
while riding on Southern railroad,
when the train stopped for dinner,
| Mr. Wakefield, as he got of, asked
two men next to him to keep HE seat
for him until he came back. The
sequel should be told IN Mr.. Wake
fields own words as follows:
"When returned to the car 1 found
| a tall, gaunt man, in a broad SLOUGH hat,
apparently about to take my seat, but
| yet not actually taking 1t. glance at
| my acquaintances opposite showed ms
why he hesitated. Each of them WAS
with his left hand, while his. right
9rasped a revolver. covering the i'm
truder, Time being Short they were
drinking their coffee while they kept
| the Britisher's seat
t'The tall stranger politely retired on
my appearing, the others put their re-
| vofvers in their hip pockets without any
| remark and we resumed our Journey
| What amused me most OF all, though
| was a glimpse got Of sOlemn-look-
| ing old man about half way down the
j car. who had drawn out from some
! where an enormous, antiquated, ivory
handled siX-shooter, and was nolplhg
it up with his finger on the trigger,
festivlty that might arise He looked
so DISAPPOINTED when it all ended IN
nothing that felt quite sorry for him. =
We have no doubt that il this hap
pened several years ago, as We pre-
Isume 1t did, the elderly and disap'
pointed gentlemen was Jesse James
in disguise, aud Mr., Wakefield does
not know TO this day what a narrow
escape he had.
tinued the narrative of the strange
things that he saw. He did not tell
about the herds OF buffalOes running
wild in the streets of Chicago and st
Louis, OF the atrocious manner In
which a squad of COmanche indiana
scaIped and killed New YOrk's Foul
Hundred, nor of the time when 8
| band of outlaws came down from the
AlIeghanies, captured and carried of
Congress and held it for a ransom
While Mr.. Wakefield is stretching
his blanket, he should 'let he
stretch"
b. 1t is pleasure to note that one lead
ing London paper refuses to swallow
the stuff. and says that the COntem
porary Review has evidently beef
imposed upon.