Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1895-07-27


man Who Rode at Trot-Finally His
Spirit Was Conquered by "A Mild Man
nered Soldier with II winchester.
Now and then a bad man" tries to
cultivate something which he mistakes
for humor. One of these devotces of lev-
ity used to haunt the cattle range of
western Kansas, and every fall and
spring he appeared in Dodge City at tho
general roundup" Every time he
came to town he left some proof of
facetious mind, and was very sure of be-
ing talked about by every idle man and
most of the busy ones who remained
when the rush was over.
His name was Eek Turner, though
Dodge City will best remember him by
the title Doubled Eek, the duplicated
capital being Leonard & Loughrains
brand, and he being ono of their best
riders In fact, Turner might have been
foreman if he had cared for the position,
for he could ride we'll, and there were
few more expert with the rope and prob
ably none who could bear fatigue and
hardship more patiently than he
But the trouble was he wanted recon-
pense for the dull life of a cowboy. Ho
didn't care for money Any wages going
were acceptable to him. But when tho
cattle got rounded up and there was half
days escape from the tedium of labor
Eek Turner wanted his fling. And he al
ways went into town and had it,
Now, q foreman cannot do these
things He must stay by the herd all tho
time, preserve a clear head and firm
place in the saddle. He is the represent
ative of the owner-the custodian of
much wealth-and dissipation is not to
be thought of.
One of Eek Turner's pet bits of hu-
NOR was to pick out people whose ap-
pearance displeased him and shoot Just
near enough to them to express his SEN
timents. He particularly disliked to sec
horsemen 90 by on the trot. 1t was i'll
cowboy country, and cowboys galloped,
whether or not they were in hurry
And if the rider had habit of iris
ing in the stirrups, as conventional
trotters often do, Eek Turner hated him
violently. So that when he came down
Main street one day and saw rather
well dressed man go by trotting and
'rising' with the motion of his horse
Eek called general attention to the spec
tacle
Really the trotter was not very good
horseman. 1t was possible, as Eek OBJ
served, to ''see daylight under him" ev-
cry time he rose in tho saddle. And tho
glimpses of that recurring daylight"
provoked Eek to bit of pistol practice.
81 bet, said he, watching the rider
and reaching for large revolver, pretty
well back Oh his belt, II bet can shoot
touch feather.
He had been drinking in so decorous
u manner as to be dangerous, and so no
one intcrfered. The rider was half
block away when Eek fired, and the
bullet must have gone true, for the rider
passed on unconscious, while q sign di-
agonally across the street was shattered
by the shot.
He tried it again later in the day and
mately-miraculou tho
infliction of injury. Dodge City talked
about Doubled Eek and his new Joke
all summer, and in the autumn he came
in and tried it again.
The first shot he mado he hit a man
in the leg and was very indignant be-
cause they would not give him another
chance, assuring the crippled victim it
was an accident, and urging him to
mount and trot past just one time more,
rising no higher than he had done, and
guaranteeing to put three shots out of
five between him and the saddle or buy
the drinks for the crowd
But it was the uncertainty about tho
other two shots that interfercd with me-
gotiations-that and the trotting mans
persistent endcavor to enjoy the freedom
of his own pistol arm while Eek re-
manned in his presence.
Eek thought it was funny, and that
hallucination grew on him till he got
into trouble, When the wave of "Texas
fever" swept over Kansas in 1880, kill
ing off so many of the Kansas cattle, a
state law stopped those 'drivcs" which
had been the life of western Kansas, and
Eek Turner lost his occupation. He went
farther west and south and tried to shoot
the top off mans plug hat in Colorado
Springs because he insisted the fashion
was two inches shorter than the man
was wearing.
AT La Veta he took exception to tho
suffering sound occasionally made by
an electric lamp and went about shoot
ing the carbons in two till the city
marshal engaged in repartee and shot
off the end of Eck's thumb, alleging as
a sufficient reason the fact that no man
with two good thumbs could be real
ly bad man" Eek replied in kind, and
there were no applicants for the position
the marshal's S demise left vacant until it
was known that Eek had left that region
and gone to Arizona.
At Fort Wingate he had the misfor-
tune to shoot into an ambulance driven
by very mild hammered private sol
dier, who pulled up winchester and
crippled Eek for life, destroying tho use
fulness of both shoulders and incidental
ly putting out his right eye.
After that Eek Turner went to Flag
staff and developed Il remarkable habit
of winning at faro and taking care Of
his money. He confessed to record of
five men slain, but he was given credit
for twice as many ON account of his
we'll known modesty, and when he final
ly opened Il boarding house for seamen
IN San Francisco he permitted all the