Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-05-27
HE OF THE SILK MASK
JACK STARR, THE FAMOUS DEsPER-
 ADO. RECENTLY KILLED.

Titory-Nobody Ever Saw His Face Which Was Disflgured.
 John Starr is dead Starr first ap- peared i'll the Chiekasaw Indian country III l862 or thereabout. One peeuliarity about the man was the singular way he had of shading the upper portion of his face and eyes with the rim of a 6 inch sombrero, while the lower part of the face was always covered by heavily lined mask of silk. Xhis mask caused the man to be known as Starr of the Silk Mask
 No one ever saw Starr without his hat and the mask At first he was a boomer, and the boys were all anxious to sec the "color of his eyes, :" as Dan Darrell said when he tried to pull the silk mask to one side. They buried poor Dan the next day.
 No one paid much attention to Starr after this until he suddenly turned up in No Mans Land at Bear City in 1888 and opened gambling den called the Half Way House. Ben Smith of Colo rsdc, who played there GIG night, said it ought to have been called the "sure pop" place As Ben thought of his losses he began to drink. Finally he strode up to where Starr was dealing faro and reached for the sombrero "Silk Mask Jack" always wore. The man at the faro table made one quick pass and shot Ben dead. There was an uproar and d cry for vengeance, but when the noise subsided and the body of the dead Col oradian had been carried from the room the man with the silk mask was still coolly dealing the cards
 During the days preceding the open- ing of the Cherokee strip Jack Starr act ed as go between with Kansas border sheriffs, who were willing that all sorts of gambling devices should run if the operators put up $50 each every morn ing. It is said that Starr collected $f,- 900 every day in an hours ride along the long line of wagons, tents, shaeles and dugouts.
 Johnny Dodge, "Flat Nose, " as tho boys called him, allowed that "a man who hid his face" had no right to collect money, and he refused to pay toll "Flat Nose" was buried that night.
 When the rush came for claims, John Starr had big roll of cash and secured good farm near Wharton. This place was near Perry and was q gambler paradise. Here the man with the mask'' fiourished for months Eventually Starr began to develop into q sort of detective, and one night was shot in the back by some would be assassin Nellie Bell was girl who had made q race for home and got claim next to Starr's. She al= ways appeared to have sneaking regard for the man who hid his face, and when heswas reported to be dying she had him taken to her home and began to nufse him. In the end Starr recovered. Then it was that people began to notice q change in him. He quit gambling and killing and began to dress up. The mask, however, he still elung to. That was where the mystery lay, and this fact made him famous.
 About year ago he disappeared, after first selling his claim. Shortly after Nell lie Bell also disappeared. Later on came rumors that the two were living togeth- CT in the Creek country, and there they were lost sight of until few days ago, when they came to light again i'll a sen- sational manner.
 When the announcement was made recently that John Starr had been shot out near Eufala, no one paid much at- tention to it. Bill Smith, a deputy mar shal, stated that he thought Starr had been stealing cattle.
 And l know Nellie, too, :" said the deputy. "She has been living with John quite time. No, I'll tell you secret that has been kept for years. Starr was really quarter blood Cherokee, but did not exhibit much sign of his blood. He was well educated. In a trouble with some of his people he was shot in the lower part of the face, and part of the jaw was torn away. The wound was neglected and healed ill very insight ly manner. Starr was vain and proud. He became embittered at his dishgure ment and turned gambler and desperate. Then he was shot and met Nellie Bell, who fell ill love with him. They never married, but she is out on the ranch and miss my guess if she don't develop into another Kate Daniels, or rather, Rocky Kate, who led the female boom
 
 ago. "-New York Times.
 Would Cut Off His Nose to Spite His Face.
 A cynical Frenchman has proposed to abate the theatrical hat nuisance by hay ing men and women sit on different sides of the center aisle of playhouses. For ourselves we would suffer all the discom- fort possible rather than consent to such separation The charm is not in the play, or the dinner, or the scenery, as the case may be, but in the company i'll which any of them is enjoyed, New York Evening Sun.
 
 A Coming Joy.
 That was a wise man who said the rich man who can afford to have eucum- bers all the year around does not know how good the first cucumber tastes to the