Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1895-07-05
TURNER AND HIS GUN
DOUBLED Eek, THE COWBOY, AND
HIS MODEST RECORD CLAIM.

How He Showed His Dislike For a Horse
man who Rode at a Trot-Finaliy Hi
Spirit Was Conquered by a Mild Man
nered Soldier with winchester.
Now and then 'bad man" tries t.
cultivate something which he mistakes
for humor. One Of these devotees of lev
ity used to haunt the cattle range o.
western Kansas, and every fall anC
spring he appeared in Dodge City at the
general roundup. Every time h,
came to town he left some proof of {
facetious mind, and was very sure of be
ing talked about by every idle man ant
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 & Loughrain 4
brand, and he being one of their best
riders. In fact, Turner might have beer
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 a cowboy. He
didn't care for money. Any wages going
were acceptable to him. But when the
cattle got rounded up and there was hall
a day escape from the tedium of labor
Eek Turner wanted his fling. And he al
WAYS went into town and had it.
Now, a 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 tc
be thought Of,
One Of Eek Turner's pet bits of hui
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 see
horsemen go by on tho trot. 1t was in a
cowboy country, and cowboys galloped,
whether or not they were IN a 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 a 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 a very good
horseman. 1t was possible, as Eek OBJ
served, to ''see daylight under hin" ev-
cry time he rose in the saddle. And the
glimpses of that recurring daylight
provoked Eek to bit Of pistol practice.
Il bet, :" said he, watching the rider
and reaching for large revolver, pretty
we'll back ON his belt, Il bet l can shoot
between him and the saddle and never
touch a feather.
He had been drinking in so decorous
a manner as to be dangerous, and so nc
one interfered. The rider was half q
block away when Eek fired, and the
bullet must have gone true, for the rider
passed on unconscious, while a sign di-
agonally across the street was shattered
by the shot
He tried it again later IN the day and
fortunately-miraculously-escaped the
infection of injury. Dodge City talked
about Doubled Eek and his new joke
all summer, and i'll the autumn he came
in and tried it again.
The first shot he made he hit a man
in the leg and was very indignant be-
cause they would not give him another
chance, assuring the crippled victim 1t
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 the
other two shots that interfered with ne
gotiations-that and the trottlng mans
persistent endeavor 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 drives - which
had been the life of western Kansas, and
Eek Turner lost his occupation. Hewent
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 III repartee ana shoV
on the END OF Eek t1 NUM- sant t "lte ~ a ns