Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-04-30
STUDY OF WESTERN BAD MEN.
An Old Character Dressed up
With a New Name.
NE USUALLY Halls FROM THE sOUTH,
some Noted HAD Men who ave Died
with Their boots M The careers OF
wnd mn ana uen. Thompson
lint Mnstcrson ana lis Long
list OF Victims,

Thore is a general impression, particularly
IN the cast, that the lawlcsa fronuersman IA
comparatively recent addition 20 our orlm-
inRl classes. This is a mistake. Eyer since
We have had q frontier, ever since there has
been any part OF our country so sparseiy
settled as TO be practically out OF the reach
or control Of officers OF the law, we have had
this element with us, but It's types have va
ried with tho Improvement IN firearms and
tho nations general advance,
It is mistake to suppose that the lhwiess
desperate Is a peculiar produc, o the inr
west, He is found in greater numbers in
tho settled parts OF the south and west than
In the mining camps and pasture lands OF the
west As a matter Of fact we have no From
tier at this time, and have had none since
tho transcontinental railroads brought the
near east aud the far west within six days OF
each other. The people Of tho southern
mountains aud Of western Texas are not
naturally more vicious than those OF other
parts of our country, but living In sparsoly
settled communities, whore school-housea
are impossible, where reads arc ruta, whore
agriculture Is pNctiocd In IN IT, most print
tive forina, and whore the word claw Is an
echo and itsNuthorlty shadow, mon have
kept up the barbarous custom ~ carrying
firearms. Thero arc parts Of the south aud
southwest to-day whore men regard the knife
and revolver as much articles Of dress "a
their hats aud buots-more 80, indeed, iof
there arc seasons whom man might traNe
with safety without boots but he would
hardly think It healthy TO do 80 without his
customary pistol.
Since the revolutionary days elpeopl'
who settled along the Appalachian range, par
ticularly IN the southern slave states, hay'
boon distinguished for their lawlossness. !
IS only the other day that tho country VIZ
horrlned by tho recital Of the IIatneli-McCo,
ioud, when scarcely month went by withou
the recital OF murder. II was 30 With th
y IIatnold-Tulcr ieud in Kentucky, whor
: Judges were murdered on tho bench, an
g sherlns were made targets by the men the
tried to arrest. These mountain dosporadoo
a were so strong as 10 set the authority {
n governors at defiance and the story OF the
- barharities presents record IA cruel an
b, brutal as anything recited In tho most luri
n history OF Indian nassacres. A the count
d becomes moro settled, schools will be estnl
le llshed and law and order will take the pla'
Of that violence which has SO long distli
gyished the sparBely settled portions Of II
south and west.
The western bad man ia therefore not
- new character, but an old character, under
ID new name. who finds tho methods OF mu
q der modified by his environment quart
Mt Of century ago. or Immediately after Z
70 war, tho western desperate. who was
1t yariaby a gambler, and at times fght'
ell was, physically, at least most plcturosq
its character. William Haycock, or "Wid,B
ell. as he delighted to be called. was a iine ty
iet OF this class. while connected with the &c
eminent survey in 1867, met this man