The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-08
WILD WESTERN ROMANCE.
When the Halo is Dissipated Very
Commonplace Reality Remains.
From the Kansas CITY Times.

II Aolu the Kansas lily lu4c5s
'Some Of the stories that are printed
in the newspapers about the tough char
acters that infest the Indian nation would
do credit to Munchauseu were he alive"
said a gentleman who is visiting in the
city from CaddO. l. T. "Of course" he
continued, Il do not mean TO say that a
good many Of the stories are not true, but
you may safely bet your last copper that
the greater part of them are fakes, and
rank fakes at that. For instance, the
other day read an account IN a Chicago
newspaper of a game of poker alleged 70
nave been played in a saloon at CaddO
The principals of the game were
SMOOTH faced young fellow with a sallOw
comp LeXion, a half-br Indian with
viclous-looking eyes that 'glittered' as
the paper said, 'ominouslY,' two cow
puncherS and a one-eyed terror They
all wore big pistols and drank bad whisky.
The game ran smoothly along until a
JACK pot was called. The bOyish young
fellow pulled a roll of money from his
belt and Laid 1t on the table. Then he
placed his pistol beside it. The other
players did likewise. The deal passed
around twice before the pot was opened.
Inc man with but one eye opened ii for
500 All the players stayed and the
ooylsh young fellow tilted it $50. Every
body saw the tilt and called for cards
Well, TO cut long story short. the play
ers see-sawed back and forth until every
body had dropped out except the kid and
tine half-breed and the One-eyed player
The table was burdened with the money
OF the players. The half-breed raised
the kid 10 his last cent.
1 haven't got any more money! said
the KID, but I've got two ponies. outside
that III put up
This was agreeable to the half-breed
and the one-eyed man, and the ponies
were led into the saloon. 1t was a show
down.
i've got three kings and a pair of
hves, said the one-eyed player.
And I've got four SKIES said the kid,
reaching for the pot.
Hold on there said the half-breed,
I've got four queens
That's good said the kid.
The players arose from the table, and
the half-breed invited everybody up to
have a drink. While the crowd was
drinking success to the lucky half-breed,
the kid quietly led one of the ponies out
side, and springing into hesaddle, dashed
away. The half-breed, so the paper
stated, with curse, ran into the street
and fired at the fleeing kid, who laughed
back at him
"'You can win Tom Kings money, Bit
ter Creek, but you can't win his Daisy
Bell
And Tom King, the female COW thief,
escaped in the distance. That is what
the Chicago paper said.
AS matter of fact, no such game was
played between Tom King and Bitter
Greek, and you may be sure that if it had
been played and Tom King had lost her
heet-footed pony that she would never
have tried to steal ii from Bitter Creek
Because Bitter Creek is one of the most
wonderful pistol shots in the Indian ma
tion. Had he shot at Tom King he would
have brought her down, but those people
never shoot at each other. They select
their victims from among the deputy
marshals and the deputy sheriffs, or the
ranchers. There is bond of sympathy
between them that BINDS them together
as closely as outlaws and desperadoes can
be bound. Bitter Creek is simply an or
binary Indian, in whose veins flows the
blood of some white renegade, or squaw-
man, as they call them down there He
is quiet and peaceable so long as he is
SOBER. When he is drunk he poses as a
terror
People are afraid of him because he is
merciless and is lightning on the draw.
He can shoot the eye out of hawk with
pistol, and 1t is the knowledge of this
ability TO do so that makes people hest
tate to run up against him. Tom King is
d young woman VINO dresses IN male al
tire. She never did anything of note, I'M
less it was to steal few cows and break
jail once or twice But it's no trick to
get out Of the average Jail in Oklahoma or
the Indian Territory. They are mostly
wooden affairs, cheaply constructed and
poorly guarded Then the novelty of a
female COW thief touches the romantic
disposition of the cowboys and the deputy
sherihs, and they really have never made
a determined effort to run Tom King to
earth
No, sir you may safely rely upon it
that one-half the stories of desperate
deeds of desperate characters that come
from Oklahoma are drawn from the i'm
aginatiOn of some romancer, who, per-
haps, was never nearer Oklahoma than
the Kansas border, and whose knowledge
of the country comes from close appli-
cation TO his geography. The other half
perhaps, is true, but generally fearfully
distorted.