The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-04-07
A shoI.
~ ssrasgs-LookinE Man Relates . We
ern Seory,

-
~ strengthening Man Relates . Wss>
ern ssory.
The strsug~looking man ss4 in one
ecsner Of the smoker and hadn't much
. say while she drummer and the west.
sm real estate man were telling their
storieA He reused, however, after .
peculiarly peculiar ono by the drum
met.
THAT reminds me" he said. "of some
thing that happened once in . min
ing town in the Rockies, during the
good old times when everything wa
new out there. Like every mushroom
municipality. we had among rs gam
blsrs and greeuies, toughs and lender
feet One Of these tenderfeet WAS the
most cowardly fellow, In some waya !
sver saw, and how he had ever come
10 such a place I couldn't I'M
derstand. Eo was afraid OF every
body. and . boy could BULLDOGS
him, hut he Was bright-minded
with q hne turn for business, and
WAS honest A pistol wss . horror -
him. and he wouldn't taxa . drink q
whisky under any circumstances, which,
BY the way. required considerable eour
age In his case II did, at least, rs II
sfterward turned out, for one day ks
refused to drink with the ugliest mosA
dangerous man VIC had. and q row On.
sued. The tough whipped but . pistol
and would have killed the fellow. but
some n caught his arm. and the other
man went down on his knees and beS>
ged for his life. It was no good. how.
sver; the tough was drunk and was
determined to kill him. and, tn prevent
an open murder, some one suggested
that they f1ht il ont in the street, and
. revolver MAS put into the hands Of
the tenderfoot. He didn't know how
to handle the gun at all, and while nj
man showed him what to do, -four OF
ave more held the tough. Thea
hey were put ut ten paceA
and . more abiect, sacred specimen I
ne~er saw than that tenderfoot lie
suald hardly stand up and his petol
oo6bled about rs il II swung to .
SastaS. The toagh enjoyed It moro
ksa saybody else. for he felt sure Of
~ sisttm- After he had watched the
ai~afnR wretch . momen. he pulled
- Ms gun. and 1t the same time the
tesA9Esot pulled his up and tried 70
elm T. Then. bang went the tsugh's
g~s snd almost simultaneously fol-
isvsd the report Of the tenderfoot'a
re tough dropped like . shot OF. and
~ tsnderfoot threw up his right hand
0A bswled with pain and fear. We
NsAeA up and found the tough dead,
vita Q bullet through his heart, and
TIE tcNderfoot with his fingers and
kaad bruisei and bleeding, but not
sevioaIy injured. The bullet from the
ta9h's pistol had struck the trigger Of
the teuderfoot's and discharged it with
fatal result."I
The strengthening man had ap
Arently no more TO say and his lis
tene1 looked at each other question.
lngly.
The drummer coughed suspiciously.
May / ask" he said, ''how It hap
pencd that the tough's bullet didn't
take tho tenderfoot's finger of before
It reached the trigger of hts pistol?"
"Simple enough" replied the strange
looking man frankly; 'hc didn't have
his finger on the trigger; he had It on
the trigger guard, and he would have
been pulling on it yet. to make the gun
20 of. If luck hadn't been against tho
tough"
The strange-looking man relapsed
into his former silence and nobody had
tire cheek to try to tell any more ssorieA
Detroit Free Presa