Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-07-22

Now and then bad man" tries TO
cultivate something which he mistakes
for humor. One of these devotces of lew
| ity used 70 haunt the cattle range Of
western Kansas. and every fall and
spring he appeared in Dodge City at the
| general roundup Every time he
came TO town he left some proof Of a
Factions 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 - Double l. Eek, " the duplicated
capital being Leonard a. Loughrain S
brand. and he being one of their best
riders. In fact, Turner might have been
foreman if he had cared for the position,
for he could ride well. 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 cowboy. He
didn't care for money. Any wages going
were acceptable to him. But when the
cattle got rounded up and there was half
a days escape from the tedium of labor
Eek Turner wanted his fling. And he al
ways went into town and had il.
Now, foreman cannot do these
/ things. He must stay by the herd all the
time, preserve a clear head and firm
| place in the saddle. He is the represent
| alive 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 APP
pearapce displeased him and shoot just
near enough tn them TO express his sem
timents. He particularly disliked to see
horsemen go by ON the trot IL was in a
cowboy country, and cowboys galloped,
whether or not they We're in hurry.
And il the rider had a habit of iris
| ing" ia the stirrups, as conventional
trottsrs often do, Eek Turner hated him
violently. So that when he came down
Main street one day and saw q 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
horsemap. 1t was possible, as Eek OBJ
served, to 'see daylight under him. ev-
| cry time he rose in the saddle. And the
| glimpses Of that recurring daylight"
provoked Eek to bit of pistol practice.
II bet, said he. watching the rider
and reaching for large revolver, pretty
well back ON his belt, II bet can shoot
between him and the saddle and never
touch feather
He had been drinking in so decorous
A manner as to be dangerous, and so no
one ipterfered. The rider was half a
block away when Eek fred, 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
ortunately-miracplo usly-escaped the
infiction 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 made he hit q 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 10 put three shots out Of
! five between him and the saddle or buy
the drinks for the crowd.
But it was the uncertainty about the
! other two shots that interfered with ne
/ gotiations--that and the trotting mans
persistent endeavor to enjoy the freedom
J 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,
state law stopped those "drives" 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 the
suffering sound occasionally made by
( an electric lamp and went about shoot
ing the carbons in two till the city
marshal engaged in -epartee and shot
off the end Of Eck's thumb, alleging as
a suffice. as reason the fact that no man
with tw: good thumbs could DO real
ly bad .aan. " Eel replied in kind, and
there were 90 app cas- s For the position
the marshal's demise ess vacant until it
was known that Eek mad 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
der, who pulled up a winchester ana
crippled Eek for life, destroying the use
fitness Of both shoulders and incidental
| " putting ont his right eye
After that Eek Turner went 70 Flag
staff and developed q 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
well known modesty. and when he final
" opened boarding house for seamen
in San Francisco he permitted all the
turbulent habits Of his cowboy life to
drift away to forgetfulness New York
u--~I1