The Press., 1895-11-28
A DEAD SHOT.

They called him Tex in lieu of any reliable information as to his proper patronymio, and he bobbed up in that miscellaneous assortment of humanity that hocked to Leadville in the first flush of the silver excitement. Tex was an Apollo of the plains, mere boy, with long yellow curls, blue eyes and 8 woman's complexion and with frame that lowered six feet in his stockings He had been member of an immigrant train in his tenderer years, which the Indians had attacked and wiped out of existence. Tex had been adopted by the tribe and had spent some years in this savage society, until General McHenry, commanding regular troops, one day swooped down on the camp and seized Tex and restored him to civilization. And then Tex became a cowboy. That was his history down to the time that he went to Leadville and becamesa ta- miliar figure about the gambling houses
 Everybody, with the possible excep- tion of the parson and few women and children in camp, in those days wooed the fickle goddess of fortune in roulette or at faro, poker and even keno, and Tex's occupation as professional gam bier did not lower his social standing by one degree. As a matter of fact, Tex was 8 great favorite. He was big, kind hearted boy, with quiet manner and good natured smile, but, Withal, 8 mana man, too, capable of being aroused at times and in that condition one of the most dangerous men in the west.
 One day Tex sat down in The Gold Room, 8 popular resort on Chestnut street, to little game of poker. The stakes were high, and Tex was steadily losing. When he discovered that his partner was playing with a double deck Tex put his hand on the jack pot and called the other cur. That party whipped out six shooter, but lay dead in his tracks with 8 bullet hole through his heart before he could bring his pis- tol to level Tex was such an expert with his gun!
 Bret Harte relates that the gamblers in Tuttle's grocery calmly continued their game the day that French Pete and Kanaka Joe shot each other to death over the bar in the front room. The game in The Gold Room on this occasion must have been less absorbing in inter est, for the crowd made rush for Tex, who calmly turned around at the door and quietly advised his pursuers to re- sume their peaceful occupations at the table if they did not want to fill com mon grave over on the other side of Capitol hill And very wisely the crowd acted on Tex's advice. And 80 the mat ter apparently blew over without any serious annoyance to the young man, who continued to walk the streets in his leisurely way, obviously none the worse in conscience for having assisted in the premature taking of of a dishonest gambler. How many men Tex in his short but eventful career had killed no body knew, but his bearing on this oc- casion indicated that he was no novice. He was greeted respectfully by passerS, and he smiled as benevolently and kind ly upon those he cared to notice aG though the process of shooting man through the heart was an accepted act of ethical propriety.
 And nothing more would have come of it if people had not begun to'twit Town Marshal O'Connor on his failure to do his duty. The marshal had nc hankering after Tex's society, no vault ing ambition to arrest him. Tex had been somewhat informal in his admin istration of justice. He might have waited for his opponent to shoot first, and then allowed the regularly elected justice of the peace to try the case aft erward, but Tex, in his youthful mex.