The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-02
TWO KINDS OF BAD MEN.


TWO KINDS OF BAD MEN.
Ono Is Dangerous and tho othor IL En-.
tircly Harmless.
'tHad men in tho west break into twt
GLASSES" said a gentleman, late of Silver
City. ''Iho sure enough ana the imitation
bad man. Ono is a killer, the other simply
busters, Tho two sorts look alike, tall
alike, garb themselves in big hats, belt
guns on their hips, swear, and guzzle the
throbbing whisky OF the region. and follow
each others suit from first to LAST fol
which reasons it is hard to. tell the real
thing from the counterfeit. The "a sure
bad man from the plated Fellow 10 70 teSt
them as fast az presented.
"Russian Bill, who, in the early SOS, was
a rustler In the valley OF the San SIMON, ~
Arizona, and a a 0ingularly industrious
horse and cattle stealer OF that shaaeiess
q great talker, and--hsar him tell it--had
Allied more graves than an epidemic. ~ Is
doubtful however. il he ever drew human
blood, and the other 'rustlers' similarly re-
gardsd him as y man of no courage. II
turned out \ case OF the maybe \ the
~peacocks with the Russian though, foI
one evening the impulsiys denizens OF
Shakespeare, Ariz., took Bills word for
ID and inc~ontinontly hung him dc bene
esse. The Russian had company, though,
for they stretched another gentleman, time
and tree the same, yclcpt Sandy klng.
There was no discount, however, on King:
One could have taken a brace n bit and
bored clear through King. and struck moth
ing but clean-strain game. King and Rus.
sian Bill were together on the occasion OF
their apprehension and taking off, and
were decided specimens of the two types OF
bad men. X
"Blll, as a name. has been the property
of a good many Of the fighters Of the west.
frequently some affi1 or prefix Went with
it to keep the blood believed Bill from get
ting all mixed up. There has been . Curly
Bill, a Wild Bill. u Navajo Bill. a Buffalo
Bill, a Poker Bill, a Cheyenne Bill, a French
Bronco Bill. a Canadian Bill, a Monte Bill,
a Butcher Knife Bill n Bill Bonney, or
Billy the Kid, that ! have known Of.
Cheyenne Bill was and is one OF the
false killers referred to, and always trying
to run a blazer upon some tendertoot,
and scare him to death. Ration, N. NJ,
munity. rise early Of a Sunday morning,
and, as l once, back in '83, came ont of the
hotel in tho s. II and early morning of that
holy day, l heard a voice over on the next
street raised to a point between a threat
and a command. My attention was at
once ubtfHCL6us anu RottlAk Vuu WAOAV L
sec l found Cheyenne Bill in slow
threatening pursuit of a reluctant ten
who had come in on the train the
night before. What the row was about !
didn't know. 0
"'Stop whar you be or I'll pull on your
commanded the vaporiah Bill In a fierce
tone, his hand on his s%ix-shooter II fol-
lowing along after the stranger some two
rods behind.
'To give the tenderfoot his due, while he
walking ava from Bill, he appeared
moro disguised than scared, and while he
said nothing and did not turn on his would
be captor, nevertheless he received his or
lers to halt with becoming contempt and
straight on. j..
Except for my presence Cheyenne and
his victim had the tow to themselves,
Jack Hixenbaugh, the marshal, and the rest
If the citizens being sensiblv in bed. l had
seen q Chinaman run Cheyenne around once
over in Trinidad, and knew there was no
more to be feared from him than from tho
calf on the range, and. shouting over to
him, I so informed the person from the east
advised him to go after the doughty
Cheyenne and pull his head off. The ten
had about made up his mind to do
it anyhow, and my vote settled it. He
burned and started for Bill; whereupon
that person at once lost all his valor and fed
The tenderfoot caught up with
him, however, and eased his suroharged
soul by three or four f~orceful and very
kicks. This seemed to do both
and the shorthorn a world Of good.
and the former avoided the filth by plung-
ing up a stairway. The tenderfoot wanted
to charge after Bill and kill him COM
but I urged a different view and
out the fact that Bill took his guns
with him and that if he found himself cor
1ered he might shoot.
Curly Bill was another of the %riotous
desperate sort. His range in 81 AMI
80 was southwestern New Mexico and
Arizona. No one knew where
Curly Bill hailed from, but if there's truth
Scripture, where he was going was plain
all. He was reputed, whom | saw him, to
lave killed nineteen men. and had the air
If one who was looking hard for a chance
% make it the score. Curly Bill has found
lis grave somewhere out in the arid wastes
1e patroled, as nothing has been heard of
lim for some ime."-Kansas City Star.