The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-12-15
OUTWITTED The SAhDlTS.

Mccoy Shrpar"'> adventure in IA Mountain
Pass .;ash at Acapulco.
IF YOU a.. long to travel alone in
this country .. i must carry tvs .evolv-
ers. but one of them may be worthless.
In fact, it may be better to nave one of
them of somewhat old fashioned make"
said Mr.. J. Y. Hawkins of Pueblo. Mex
leo. Mexico has improved marvelous-
" in the past 10 years, but bandits are
ttlli too numerous, and | can tell you
low TO protect yourself by relating the
experience Of ii friend of mine. His lam.
was Mccoy Shepard. and he was on his
way alone from Acapulco TO the capital.
1t is an easily followed trail. H. had
been over If once. and he spoke the l#:l-
guage very well. He had little thou4At
of danger. although holdB,s ;ge rr..l
mon enough III that route. uEs L. Nt:it
prepared for business. He pet i'll tn
holster IF his saddle IA "A CALLER revolver
loaded with cartridges that barely had
enough powder in them To blow the bul-
lets ont of the muzzle. and then i'll tie
small of his back he hung the haniipst
IS cal1ber lie could find when in Frisco
He was making a trap. and il worked
1T happened that as he was coming
down out of the main range three road
agents stepped from the rocks beside the
road and had him cornered before he
could whistle. They wer, armed with
s%hotguns as well as lna,hetes. but for
some reason did not shoot before they
spoke, as not infrequentls happens. They
invited Mae to get down. and he did per.
force. Then one of theIE took the big re-
volver from the holster
"'Gcod. It is big aid he.
"'Yes,' said Mac. Int its IA worthless
thing after all. Ine,e r want to kill any
one. ! only carry Il because ! must
make people thinn l an armed
THE bandits laughed at thar. 1t WAS
incredible that such Il pistol should be
worthless, and they said SO.
"'But, gentlemen. will put my hat in
the road, and you may shoot at it with
the pistol. The bullet will not go through
the hat
AT that he TOOK off his hat, a COR ,
geous Mexican affair that cost $50 in
Acapulco. and put it on a rock not 10
feet away, and stepped Jack toward, but ,
about five feet at one side of. the bandits. :
They Were interested at once. The idea
Wac novel 10 them. The man with the
pistol aimed deliberately and fired al tti.
nat. Then the tilr-t. ran II look AT the
effect of the slut. Macs turn - scot
had CONE. Whipping nut tin nf.ItoiIcei /
revolver, he shot W # liaH down H.
fore they could turn Iii him. Tn third :
did no more than turn round lefpfa H..
saught his dose is well. ,
..I..lElpT ,.x-7zs-r Iss4 O. els - let E.FE.- !
guns. hat ami aH-Aur at iowa III t.4r
shade Of Il rocl: and waited for saa." o.ur 7
TO ON along. He dbl uot even rrlpa..
his revolver, He had IT, make ont It -one,
case before the government Officials. and
he knew just now 10 ,iD it.
After All hour ct 80 Il native planter
with his servant calne riding along.
Have the goodness to inform theal-
calde that an American gentleman ha.
had trouble here with bandits. said he
to the native. and tie native did IA. r.
qlested of course. Three OF four hours
later came the aicalde of the next place
with half IA dozen soldiers. Mac told
his story briefly. and the alcalle noted
point of 1t with rhe corroborating
evidence OH the ground.
You Aave done we'll lie said. i
know the ra-cal> we'll. Yon have saved
cartridges for my soldiers by killing
them.
Then he stopped. He could not IN
how the big revolver had failed |
TO shoot through the hat. He thought
there was ON kind Of necromancy
about 1t. So Mae cut "A bullet from a
cartridge and showed that the usual
powder space was for the most part filled !
with "A cork. The alcalde turned the cork
OYER in his hand aud then said: I
Those wise Yankees. But they do
by s~ubtlety what We would do by yalor. I
Then Mac gathered up his hat and
revolver, mounted his mule and rode on
the alcalde, leaving the soldiers to
.ook after the dead bandits. Take nv .
word for 1t, and carry Il good gun ont of ,
'ight when travelling in Mexico, and an \
'ther n where all can see it."--New
York Sun.