Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-07-19
BOGUS WILDCAT BILL
"RATTLESNAKE OF BENDER'S FLATn
FOR REVENUE ONLY.
How He Made Money Laying For Pete
Smith Of Patchin's Ranch-A Game That
Worked Well and Paid Until q Black
Ebony Cane Appeared on the Scene.

Worked Well and Paid Until Black
Ebony Cane Appeared on the Scene.
"There was, a few years ago" said Ma
jor Hotchkiss, "a man at Badger Rock,
Mon, who joyed in calling himself Wild
cat Bill, the Rattlesnake Of Bender's Flat.
Not that that was his name, Of course, or
that his name was Bill, or even William.
or that, 50 far as know he had ever seen
a wildcat or would have known rattle
snake II he had met one, and am certain
there was no such place as Bender's Flat,
but this is what he was pleased to call
himself. In point Of fact, his name was
Earnest Wilberforce, or something Of that
sort, and he came originally from Bald
winsville, Conn, or some such mild, wild
catless and nonrattlesnake neighborhood.
''If the fellow had stuck to Baldwins-
ville fancy he'd have carried on a coun-
try store, and II his tastes had happened
10 run in that particular direction have
perhaps become a collector OF postage
stamps. He determined to take up the
vocation of desperate in purely CONNER
cial way. 1t Is unnecessary to say that he
had never shot a man, or shot at man,
or shot in the direction Of where any man
or other member Of the human race was,
or had been, or expected to be. Indeed
you couldn't prove it by me that he had
ever shot off gun or knew a trigger
from a trajectory.
"Badger Rock was at that time small
town engaged chiefly In the business OF
transferring people from the railroad sta-
ton to the stages which ran to certain gold
and silver mines. A great many eastern
people, capitalists and so forth, passed
through it, but few staid In the place more
than few hours.
Zone day, q half hour before the train
from tho east was due, the clerk of the
hotel was astonished to see this man en-
ter, clad in most striking cowboy costume,
wearing belt with two revolvers and
knife in it and carrying heavy double
barreled shotgun with the barrels sawed
off so that they were not more than foot
long, making weapon such as Is some
times affected by desperate characters,
treasure coach guards, deputy sheriffs or
other individuals engaged in turning their
hands against their fellow men.
"To the surprised inquiries of the hotel
clerk Wilberforce explained that he was
now Wildcat Bill, the Rattlesnake of Ben
der's Flat, and that all he asked was the
simple privilege of waiting behind the half
open door of the office for Pete Smith of
Patchin's ranch. The clerk had never
heard any of these names before, but as
there was no rule against it he consented.
1T was not long before the train arriv-
ed and an elderly and correct appearing
man alighted and made his way toward
the hotel He was, in fact, prominent
Boston capitalist, and this was his first
trip to the somewhat extensive region west
of the Connecticut river. AS he entered
the door of the hotel his eye caught the
muzzle of the shotgun, with it's two cav
ernous shafts, apparently about the size of
sewer pipes, which projected an inch be-
You'd the edge Of the open door. A glance
behind showed most murderous individ-
ual, breathing short, and with his fingers
moving nervously on both triggers. The
Boston man stepped quickly TO the clerk
and whispered
'Who-who Is that MANI
That's Wildcat Bill the Rattlesnake
of Bender's Flat, answered the clerk.
'Wha-what is he doing?
Waiting for Pete Smith of Patchln's
ranch, replied the clerk.
'Will-will he shoot him'
He will blow him into pieces-unless
Pete shoots first
" Is tho - tho - gentleman expected
soonf' went on tho man from the Hub.
" Pete comes in at 2:45 for drink
"The visitor consulted his watch and
found 1t was $3.50.
" is there no way to stop such terri
BILE thingY he inquired earnestly.
1.-The clerk shook his head. No. he re-
piled. Bill has shot 20 men, and you sec
he's got three cornered file in his mouth
now to file the twcnty-third notch in his
six shooter after he gets through with Pete.
But, added the clerk confldentially, per
haps he could be hired to postpone the OPP
Grafton for a few hours-say till after you
have left for the mines.
1.-THE upshot of it was that for $40 the
Rattlesnake agreed not to shoot Pete till
after O'Clock, and the Boston man again
drew full breath.
Naturally SO easy and rapid q way of
making money could not be left unculti-
waited, and Wildcat Bill became regular
thing behind tho hotel door at train time.
He divided profits with the clerk, and they
did q thriving business. His terlS for
consenting to postpone temporarily the
awful slaughter of his enemy varied from
So to 500, according to the means or ter
ror of the. subject. Only one attempt
proved total failure. This was In the
case of a rollicking youth from Louisville,
who sat down and announced that he was
going to walt and see the fun He was
finally tired out by the inexplicable failure
of Pete Smith to arrive.
1.-THE game was kept up several years
and would perhaps have been still going
on had it not been for an unfortunate acct
dent. One day man came into the office
with black ebony cane. Having valise
in either hand, he was carrying this cane
in horizontal position under his arm.
When the end of it poked around the door,
Wildcat Bill, the Rattlesnake of Bender's
Flat, mistook it for the muzzle of some
sort of a weapon, uttered an agonized cry,
dropped his own gun leaped through a
window and ran n half mile for safety. 1t
unnerved him to such an extent that he
never returned to his profession and final
ly dropped out of sight. New York
Tribune.
Working Under Pressure.
1t is said that the highest recorded air
pressure under which men have worked is
90 pounds to the square inch. Forty-flve