Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-09-20
WILDCAT BILL.

cat Bill, tho Rattlesnako of Bendcr's Flat.
| Not that that was his name, of course, or
| that his name was Bill or even William or
| that, so far as l know, he had ever seen
| wildcat or would have known u rattle
| snake If he had met one, and am certain
| there was no such place as Bender's Flat,
| but this Is what he was pleased to call
himself In point of fact, his name was
| Ernest WilberforCe or something of that
| sort, and he came originally from Baldins-
vile, Conn.,, or some such mild, Wildcat
less and nonrattlesnake neighborhood.
His finances became reduced, and the
time came when something had to be done.
| He determined to take up the vocation of
| desperate in purely commercial way. 1t
is unnecessary to say that he had mover
shot man or shot at man or shot in the
direction of where any man Or other MEM
| Dor of the human race was or had been or
| expected to be- Indeed you couldn't prove
| it by me that he had ever shot off gun
or knew n trigger from a cajectory. Badg-
| er Rock was at that time u small town en-
| gagged chiefly in the business of transfer
| ring people from the railroad station to the
stages which ran to certain gold and silver
mines. A great many eastern people,
capitalists and so forth, passed through it,
but few staid in the place more than q few
hours.
lone day, u half hour before the train
! from the east was due, the clerk of the hotel
was astonished to see this man enter clad
in most striking cowboy costume, wearing
a belt with two revolvers and knife in it
and carrying a heavy, double barreled
shotgun with the barrels sawed off, so that
they were not more than foot long, max
ing aweapon such as is sometimes affected
by desperate characters treasure coach
guards, deputy sheriffs or other individuals
engaged in turning their hands against
their fellow men.
1t is piece of ordnance which is sup
| posed to be loaded with inordinatc charges
of powder and irregular slugs of lead. 1t
makes an excellent companion for one
gentleman to wait around the corner with
for another gentleman who has been telling
about town that he (tho first gentleman)
is q liar.
To the surprised inquiries of the hotel
clerk, WilbGrforce explained that he was
now WildcNt Bill, the Rattlesnake of
| Bendcr's Flat and that all he asked was
the simple privilege of waiting behind the
half open door of the Office for Pete Smith
of Patchcn's ranch. The clerk had never
heard any of these names before, but as
there was no rule against it he consented.
1t was not long before the train ar
rived and an elderly and correct appear
ing man alighted and made his way to-
ward the hotel. He was, in fact, prom
inent Boston capitalist, and this was his
first trip to the somewhat extensive region
west of the Connecticut river. AS he en-
tered the door of the hotel his eye caught
the muzzle of the shotgun, with its two
caycrnous shafts, apparently about the size
of sewer pipe, which projected an inch be-
| yond the edge of the open door. A glance
behind showed n most murdcrous individ-
ual, breathing short and with his finger
moving nervously on both Triggers The
Boston man stepped quickly to tho clerk
and whispered:
'Who-who is that man9'
" That's Wildcat Bill the Rattlcsnako
of Bonder's Flat, answered the clerk
'What-what is he doing2'
"'Waiting for Pete Smith of Patchcn' S
ranch, replied the clerk.
'Will-will he shoot him?'
He will blow him into pieces, unless
Pete shoots first
"'Is Neutrality-suspicious. expected
soon| went on the man from tho Hub
Pete comes in at 2:45 for drink
1.-THE visitor consulted his watch and
found it was 2:3O.
=" Is there no way to stop such terri
bio thingY he inquired earnestly.
1.-THE clerk shook his head. NO, he
replied. Bill has shot 22 men, and you
see he's got three cornercd file in his
mouth now to file the twenty third notch
in his six shooter after he gets through
with Pete. But added the clerk conf
dentially, perhaps he could be hired to
postpone the operation for q few hours,
say till after you have left for the mines
1.-The upshot of it was that for $40 the
Rattlesnake agreed not to shoot Pete till
after 5 O'Clock, and the Boston man again
drew full breath.
Naturally so easy and rapid a way Of
making money could not be left unculti-
waited, and Wildcat Bill became regular
thing behind the hotel door at traintime
He divided profits with the clerk, and they
did thriving business. His terms for
conscnting to postpone temporarily tho
awful slaughter Of his enemy varied from
So to $50, according to the means or terror
of the subject Only one attempt proved a
total failure. This was in the case Of q
rollicking youth from Louisville, who sat
down and announced that he was going to
wait and sec the fun. He was finally tired
out by the inexplicable failure of Pete
Smith to arrive.
1.-THE game was kept up several years
and would perhaps have been still going
on had it not been for an unfortunate acct
dent. One day man came into the Office
with black ebony cane. Having valise
in either hand, he was carrying this cane
in horizontal position under his arm.
When the end Of it poked around the door,
Wildcat Bill, the Rattlesnake of Bender S
Flat, mistook it for the muzzle of some
sort of weapon, uttered an agonized cry,
dropped his own gun, leaped through a
window and ran half mile for safety. 1t
unnerved him to such an extent that he
never returned to his profession and final
lv dropped out of sight. TRUE Flag
One Woman's Pocket.
A lady in an omnibus travelling from
| Uictoria 70 tho month Of 7 oDdpy, n