Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-02
GIVING HIM A CHANCE.
A Bit of Western Chivalry Which
Was Quite Uncalled For.

Speaking of the tales of chivalry," said
a government Official whose duties some
years ago took him to points in the far
west, to Star reporter, Il heard of one in
a locality once visited which for uncall-
ed-for chivalry rather exceeded the limit"
But chivalry is not one of the things
that can be exercised to excess, is it?" in
terrupted The Star man.
wait till have finished my story and
then I'll leave the question to your own
ideas of it and let you settle it to suit your
self. 1t happened. in this locality I men
ton. that there was bad man. as there
is, in greater or less degree, in all of those
western localities, or, for that matter. In
every new locality, at whatever point of
the compass it may be situated. Well,
this bad man had killed nobody knew how
many people, and had run the gamut OF
crime generally before he struck this neigh
borhood, and the people there. most of whom
were trying to get out OF the old way OF
doing things. gave him wide berth, and
did as little as they could to provoke his
wrath, and did as much as they could de-
Gently to get him to move away.
But the place seemed to suit him and
he wouldn't leave. Then it wasn't long
by threats, turning himself loose in the
streets and shooting up the town, and now
and then banging somebody through the
leg or arm and narrowly missing the same
sort of dose himself. The people didn't
want to spoil their reputation by lynching
him, for they hadn't had lynching for a
couple of years and didn't want to have
any more. Neither did any of them want
to shoot him down in cold blood, because
they proposed to be law-abiding.
Nor yet did they want to assassinate
him, for that was cowardly and sneaking,
al they would give wolf half chance
for his life. Still. it was necessary for the
good of the community that the bad man
be put out of it, and finally five patriotic
citizers fixed upon plan. 1t was carried
out one day after the bad man had done
more deviltry than usual, and one or two
prominent citizens were laid up at home
for repairs, and the bad man held pos
session of a saloon and was treating all
corners to the owners liquors. The five
patriotic citizens, armed to the teeth, walk
ed quietly into the saloon and tackled the
proffered treat and he got ugly and began
to swear.
Now said the spokesman, firmly, you
let up on that. We are here to settle with
you; we ought to shoot you down in your
tracks. but we are going to give you a
show; you've got two guns and we've got
ten; you may get one of us or two, per-
haps, but in the end our combination will
needed rest: 1t may come a little hard on
You, bat you can never say we didn't give
you fair chance; get ready; one. two,
three, fire.
And the firing commenced. The bad
man was game, but, IS had been announced
the combination was too much for him, ard
when the smoke cleared away he was dead
and two of his five assailants were in the
same fix. Two good men were gone, but
the bad man was with them, and the COM
munity felt better. Now" concluded the
official, what have you to say about an
excess of chivalry?"
HE should have been lynched," said The
Star man with promptness.