The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-05-24
TERROR TO BANDITS
The eanauipary Record Of . Quak-
Or In Arizona.
IL Never Murdered . NaH but Ne Had
KILLED Many . One In PsffoFmang
the Duties of His once ~
Sheriff.

The beSt-knOwn man In Arizona to
day." . traveller remarked who hac
Jus: returned from that territory, "iI
Commodore Perry Owens, who hal
been sheriff Of Apache county, city
marshal of Winslow. and is now one o.
the guards of the Wells-Iargo express
across Arizona He is an Indianian
who went to Arizona fifteen years ago
had long talk with him the Other
day rs he rode on the train, his Win
chester rife and couple of navy skies
within easy reach.
when he learned that was also q
Hoosier," writes q contributor to the
Indianapolis News, land knew his
people, Quakers, who live near Carriers
burg. in that country, we were At once
on the best Of terms. When / asked
him if the report was true that he had
removed from active life more men. by
the Winchester line, than any other
man in Arizona he looked panied for q
moment Then he answered.:
"T was raised a Quaker, but out
here, You see, q man can't work at that
1t amt suited to the Arizona climate.
have done a good deal of shooting,
but It has all'been necessary and in the
limo of my official duty. never muir
dered . man in my life, never My
good mother, back in Hendricks conn
ty, every now and then writes me q
letter. She sees these newspe Ger re-
ports and she misunderstands them.
You ask if I've ahot one hundred men?
Well no. I haven't-that is, unless
you WANT to count MexicanA I've
only killed fourteen white men and
wounded fifty-three. Some Of them
died after they were wounded. but
that was the fault of the doctor.
"'You ask what episode Of this kind
I consider the most exciting in my ex-
perience? These events are all more
or less exciting, but I think the live
lest of these affairs took place over at
Winslow, when was sheriff. had .
warrant for the fellows arrest. and
had written for him to come In and
surrender. He didn't even answer my
letter. which wasn't treating with
proper respect my official position. So
after awhile went after him. He was
at his mothers house. q double
log cabin. built in L-shape tied my
horse and went to the house. As I
knocked on the door IcsuRht q glimpse
OF two faces at a window AZ my back.
The door opened about q foot. and the
man / was after stuck gun out. let
drive with my Winchester. and as 1
heard him drop fred over my shout
der through the window. The second
load caught two, killing one and shat
tering the arm of a younger brother
] knew there was still another man in
the house, and that it was dangerous
to remain on the porch. jumped out
into the open ground, and, as did SO,
saw a man sheltering himself behind
a blackboard. ran few steps and
uncovered him. When took account
of stock there were three killed and
one wounded. There were no further
hostilities. The coroner took charge
of the effects, as didn't think it would
be proper for me to act under the cir
The whole affair took
place inside a minute.
81 don't drink. don't gamble, and
I haven't ever been favorite with the
women. Most of the fellows who are
shot get it because they want some
woman TO think he's a bad man.
They put on Mexican spurs. a SOM
brero, and cut-throat outfit and start
in for trouble. The coroner finds them
with their boots on.
81 knew young fellow up at Will
liams', nervy little chap. never said
much, but when it came time for work
he could get his revolver ont a. quick
az anybody. But he was a perfect gem
tleman. There was only one thing he
was afraid of-that was dying with his
boots o. One day, by some kind Of
could never be explained
he got into difficulty with Mexican.
and the Mexican shot him We saw no
wns hit hard, picked him up and carried
him into a saloon. We asked Dan il he
nad any last request 70 make. In =
faint whisper-we could barely hear
the said: Boys, take my boots Of"
As we did so q smile broke over his
lace, and ne went out like an angel"