The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-06-02
A SHOT.
fhs strengthening Man Relates . Wess
ern Stor-.

fhs STRENGTHENING Man Relates . Wsst
ern Stor-.
The strengthening man sat In n
corner of the smoker and hadn't much
70 say while she drummer and the west
ern real estate nan were telling he'll
stories. He reused, however, after .
peculiarly peculiar one by the drum
mer.
THAT reminds me-" he said, "of some
thing that happened once In o min
ing town in the Rockies, during the
good old times when everything was
new ont there. Like every mushroom
municipality, VIC had among us gam.
blers and grcer:es, toughs and tender
feet One of these tendcrfcet was the
most cowardly fellow, in some ways, ]
ever saw, and how he had Y come
to such a place ! couldn't un-
derstand. lie was afraid Of every.
him, hut he was bright-miuded
with a fine turn for business, and
was honest. A pistol svas a horror to
him, and he wouldn't take a drink Of
whisky under any circumstances, which.
By the way, OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES cour
sge. In his case it lid, at least, as il
aftcrwarG turned ont, for Oae day r.
refused to drink with the u"IicSt. NOS.
dangerous Il we ha1. and i row az.
sued. The tough WHIPPED out 4 pisto,
and would have killed the fellow, h--
some one caught his arm. ana :hn othCl
mGn went down 1n his l:r -rS and big
ged for his life. II was no COOL. low.
ever: the toigh was Grrn!: an! WAS
determined 10 kill kim, and. t. prevent,
an open murder, srrnc one suggested
that they fight it ont in the .trect. and
3 revolver vas put into the hands Of
the tenderfoOt lie didn't know hou
10 handle the gun at all, and while one
man showed him what to de-. four OF
Eve more held the t"ngh- Then
tkey were put at ten PAGES
aud a more abieci, sacred s~p"ci:n"I. i
never saw than that tcnlr- Dot. lie
s0ald hardly strni up and his pistol
sobbled about as if i: swung to a
Sring. The toHgh enjoyed il more
thau anybody else. for he felt sur Of
his victim. After he h d watched the
skis .ring wretch Z mnnCn' he pulled
up his gun. and at the sane tine the
'esder:oot pulled his up and RED to
aim It Then, bang went the t9ugh's
gun and almost simultaneously FOL
lowed the report Of the tcGGerfoo:'s
Ibe tough dropped like 4 shot OK. and
Tie tenderfoot throw mp h. i ut hG-|
and howled with pain AMI fear. We
rushed mp and found the tough dead.
with a bullet through his heart, and
the tcndcrfoot with his fingers I'D
hand bruised and bleeding. but not
seriously injured. The bullet from the
tough's pistol had struck the trigger Of
tie tcnderfoot's and discharged it wiGE
fatal result
The strengthening man had sp
nrently no more TO say and his lis
tencrs looked a: each other question
lngly.
The drummer coughed suspi-ionsly
MAY ! nsk." he said, chow 1t hap
pencd that the tough's bullet didn't
take the tenderfoot's finger off before
1t reached the trigger of his pistoI?"
simple enough" replied tine strange
looking man frankly; "he didn't haTt
his finger on the trigger: he had it n
the trigger guard, and lie would have
been pulling on it vet, to make the IAN
go off. if luck hadn't been against She
tough"
The strengthening mar released
into his former silence and nobody had
the check TO trS to tell any more s:orieA
Detroit Free Press.