The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-07-14
A cnAncs SHOT.
fAs STRENGTHENING Man Relates . Wss'
ern ktory.

y strengthening Man Relates . Wsss
ern story.
The Strengthening man sat In one
corner of the smoker and hadn't much
10 say while xhe drummer and the west
ern real estate man were telling theii
storieA He reused, however, after Q
peculiarly peculiar o by the drum
mer.
aThat reminds me" he said, "of some
thing hat 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 us gam
blers and ~greer!e., toughs and tender
feet One of these tenderfeet was the
most cowardly fellow, in some ways.
ever saw, and how he had ever come
to such q place l couldn't unr
derstapd. lie was afraid Of every
body, and a boy could bulldoss
him. but he was bright-minded,
with a fine turn for business, and
was honest. A pistol was o horror to
him, add he wouldn't take a drink OF
whisky under any circumstances, which,
by the way, required considerable cour
age. In his Ease it did, at least, IS IL
efterward turned out, for n day &c
refused TO drink with the ugliest, moS
dangerous man We had. and a row Oh.
sued. The tough whipped ont a pistol
and would have killed the fellow, br'
some ono caught his arm, and the othen
rucn went down on his kLees and beg
| ged for his life. 1t was no good, how
ever; the tough was druh': and WA
determined to kill him, and, to prevent
an open murder, some ono suggested
that they fight It ont in the street, and
. revolver was put into the hands oil
fhe tcnderfoot. He didn't know how
10 handle the gun at all, and while one
man showed him what to do, four OF
Eve moro held the tough. Then
they were put ut ten PAGES
aud a more abject, sacred specimen ]
never saw than that tenderfoot. lie
Nald hardly stand up and his pistol
Vobbied abont as if it swung to a
string. The tough enjoyed 1t moro
than anybody else. for he felt sure ni
his Victim. After he had watched the
khSr-ring wretch a momen' he pulled
up his gun, and at the same time the
te1deT.oot pulled his up and tried tc
ain It. Then. bang went The tough.
eua aud almost simultaneously fol
lowed the report of the tenderfoot's
T1se tough dropped like a shot OK. ant
We tenderfoot threw up his right hand
md howlcd with pain and fear. vi
rushed mp and found the tough dead
with q bullet through his heart. anc
the tenderfoot with his fingers F.1t
band bruised and bleeding, but no
seriously injured. The bullet from thu
tough's pistol had struck the trigger OF
TIE t.nderfoot's and discharged it with
fatal result
The strengthening man had ep
parently no more TO shy and his lis
teners looked at each other question
ipgly.
The drummer coughed suspieionsly
MAY l ask" he said, show it hap
pened that the tough's bullet didn'
take the tenderfoot's finger of befor'
It reached the trigger of his pistol?"
simple enough" replied the strange
looking man frankly; she didn't hav'
his finger on the trigger; he had it +
the trigger guard, and he would hav,
been pulling on 1t vet, TO make the xur
90 off. il luck hadn't been against the
tough"
The strengthening man relapset
into his former silence and nobody had
the cheek to try to tell any more ssories
Detroit Free Press.