The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-07-10
TURNER AND HIS GUN
ooOsLG-l gck, TIC COWBOY, AND
Hs wopesr RECORD CLAIM.

How lie showed fiis Dislike For n Horse
man who Rode at Trot Finally fris
spirit Wa. Conquered by n MIA Man
ncred soldier with q winchester.
Now and then bad man" tries TO
cultivate something which he mistakes
for humor. Ono Of these dovolces OF lev
ily used TO haunt the cattle range 81
western Kansas, aud every fall and
spring he appeared In Dodge City ut the
general roundup" Every time he
came to town he left some proof Of u
facctious 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. Loughrains
brand, and he being one of their best
riders. In fact, Turner might have been
foreman il 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 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.
ative of the owucr-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 sc,
horsemen go by on the trot. 1t was in {
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 hin
violently So that when he came dow
Main street one day and saw rathel
well dressed man go by trotting ant
rising with the motion Of his horst
Eek called general attention to the spec
tacle.
Really the trotter was not very goot
horseman 1t was possible, as Eek OBJ
served, to zee daylight under him. ev
cry time he rose in the saddle And tn,
glimpses Of that recurring daylight
provoked Eek to q bit Of pistol practice
81 bet" said he, Watching the ride
and reaching for large revolver, prett.
well back on his belt, 81 bet can shoe
between him and the saddle and neve
tonch feather.
He had been drinking in so decorou
manner rs to DO dangerous, and so N
one interfered The rider was half
block away when Eek fired, and tn
bullet must have gone true, for the ride
passed ON unconscious, while sign di
agonally across the street was shattere,
by the shot.
He tried it again later in the day an,
iraculously-escaped tn
infection of injury Dodge City tallle,
about Doubled Eek" and his new jok
all summer, and in the autumn he cam
in and tried it again.
The first shot he made he hit ma
in the leg and was very indignant be
cause they would not give him anothe
chance, assuring the crippled victim
was an accident, and urging him t
mount and trot past just one time more
rising no higher than he had done, an
guaranteeing TO put three shots out c
five between him and the saddle or bu
the drinks for the crowd.
q. But it was the uncertainty about tn
other two shots that interfered with ne
gotiations-that and the trotting man
persistent cndeavor to enjoy the freedom
of his own pistol arm while Eek re
manned in his presence.
Eek thought it was funny, and tha
hallucination grew on him till he &C
into trouble When the wave of ''Texa
fever" swept over Kansas in 1880, kill
ing off SO many of the Kansas cattle,
state law stopped those "drives" whic
had been the life of western Kansas, an
Eek Turner lost his occupation. He Wen
farther west and south and tried to shoe
the top off mans plug hat in Colorad
. Springs because he insisted the fashio
was two inches shorter than the ma
was wearing.
AT La Veta he took exception to tn
suffering sound occasionally made b
an electric lamp and went about shoe
ing the carbons in two till the cit
marshal engaged in repartee and She
, off the end of Eck's thumb, alleging Q
a sufficient reason the fact that no ma
with two good thumbs could be a rea
ly bad man." Eek replied in kind, an
there were no applicants for the positio
: the marshal's demise left vacant until
was known that Eek had left that regio
and gone to Arizona.
! At Fort Wingate he had the misfo
tune to shoot into an ambulance drive
by very mild hammered private so
der, who pulled up winchester an
crippled Eek for life, destroying the us
funess of both shoulders and incidenta
ly putting ont his right eye.
After that Eek Turner went to FLA
staff and developed remarkable hab
of winning ut faro and taking care
:, his money. He confessed to record
five men slain, but he was given cred
: for twice as many ON account of h
well known modesty, and when he iina
ly opened boarding house for seame
in San Francisco he permitted all Il
turbulent habits of his cowboy life
drift away 10 forgetfulness. New Yoi
Herald
A Distinction without = Difference.
T;nLlatc-I want INV wife IN ha