The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-16
"RATTLESNAKE JIM"
HE WAS A BAD MAN WHO DWELT
IN ARIZONA.

Missed.
From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
Speaking = bad men from Bitter
| Creek" said Cob David Aston Of Ari-
IONA, Il knew a young fellow IN Tucson.
in the early days OF that town, who was
my ideal Of a bad man. don't mean
that he was one Of those fellows who are
always looking for trouble; in fact. he
was almost always trying 10 keep out
OF trouble. but he was a chap who. when
forced TO fight. shot first. and never
talked about 1t afterward. He's dead
now. poor fellow. HIS life has been writ
ten, and there it no monument to bis mem
ory but when he passed in his checks
the men Of Tucson gave him the biggest
funeral that town ever saw.
Jim Dupree was the name of.this par
ticular bad man. and he came from some
where In Kentucky. The title OF Rattle
snake Jim" was conferred on him shortly
after his arrival in the territory, owing
to circumstance which I am going to
relate and the name stuck to him TO the
end II was an appropriate one too. for
like the rattlesnake, he was harmless un-
IA aroused, and then he was death TO
anything that crossed his path.
Tucson was only a frontier village OF
camp when Dupree arrived there. Talk
about tepderfeetl lie was the greenest
specimen OF the class ever saw. lie was
about % years old at the time, with face
as smooth as a girls and blue eyes that
looked mild enough until he was aroused,
and then they could fash blue fire. His
whole life until he left Kentucky has been
passed on farm, and really he did not
know enough to go in when IL rained.
He would accept any sort of wild yarn
as gospel truth, in fact, he was too ig
norant TO distrust anybody.
The fellow had left home with few
silver dollars in his pocket and change
of clothing tied up in a handkerchief, to
seek his fortune in the west. 1t was an
accident, / suppose, that led him to Tue
son, as he had no definite idea Of where
he wanted to 90 or what he was going to
do when he got there.
As soon as he struck town the boys
gathered him in. They had no end of fun
with him for time. He apparently did
not know enough to get in out of a cyclone.
Some OF us were sorry for him. aud tired
to help him out, but instead OF appreciat-
ing our efforts he seemed to take kindly
TO the rough fellows who were all the time
playing pranks on him.
He did not have a gun, and such thing
as showing fight when the jokes were
rough apparently never entered his head.
For week the boys had fun with him,
and then, as they were getting tired of IL,
they decided to get r.d of him. When Du-
pree finally made up IS mind that he would
go to work. and began 20 make inquiries
about places to prospect, the boys put
up final job on him. They sent him out
TO some wild hills about thirty miles away,
where no one had ever been able 20 find
any paying ore, and the whole country
was ovcrrun with rattiesnakes ana Apache
Indians
Some of as tried TO warn him, but he
would not listen TO our advice. We did in
duce him, however, to buy a pistol and a
rifle before ne started out on the foolhardy
prospecting tour, from which no one eX-
pCcted him to return alive.
THE boys who induced him TO go out
told him to come In at the end of the
week for a fresh supply Of provisions and
to report his success. Then they nred a
parting salute, and two of the bullets
from their pistols went through his hat
brim; but he did not seem to mind that in
"a week passed and Jim did not re-
turn. No word had come from him, and
by the middle of the next week the boys
were sure that ne had fallen a victim to the
rattlesnakes or the Indians. But, at the
sugges ton of Bill Atkins, who remarked
that luck rarely deserted a fool, ii was de-
cided TO send out a searching party to
make sure of the fate of the young tender
foot. A score of the boys who We're loaf
ing around town volunteered FOR the eNpe-
dttion. A days ride brought us to the
hills where we supposed Dupree had
started in to prospect. We camped for
the night and early next morning started
out to look for the trial.
TN an hour we began to find dead
rattlesnakes. There had been long spell
of dry, hot weather, and that had brought
ahe reptiles out of their dens i'm swarms
in search of water 1t was soon evident
that snake destroyer had been around
there. The dead reptiles lay around IN
heaps. In a distance of three miles or
SO we counted more than 400 of them.
Some had been shot, but the great major
ity had been killed with sticks or stoues.
T." Say, boys! suddenly exclaimed At
lxins, who was in the lead. I'm bet this
snake-lSilling is the work of that tender
foot galoot, He learned to kill sna---ls on
the farm, and 1t looks as if ne had exter-
minated them in these parts.
Atkins was right. 1t was not long until
we found where Dupree had been pros
pecting, and q little further on in the
hills we came across a deserted camp.
Look here, boys, the Apaches have
cleaned him Quit shouted Joe Smith, who
was the first to reach the deserted camp
and diSmount.
Sure enough, there in the soft ground
were the prints of at least a score of
moccasined feet On closer examination
we found a lot of empty shells lying on
the ground, which showed that there had
been some fighting. We took UP the trail
of the Indians expecting 10 find the scalped
and mutilated body OF the young tender
foot close by. a hundred yards from
camp we came across the bodies of four
Apache warriors lying close together.
sWell, maybe those fellows who had
chased Dupree up into the hills didn't
stop and look at each other then.
| '''Guess there Is some hight in that chap
after ALL remarked Atkins. with some
thing like respect in his tone.
I'VE followed On the trail, and half a
| mile away we found two more dead
| Apaches. 1t was evident now that there
had been a running fight, and that our
| tenderfoot had been taxing "A lively part
in it. The body OF the lndLans locked as
| if they mad been dead at least two days
but when we moved forward again it
was with more caution. lou see the
whole affair so far had been such q sur
prise to every one in our party, we d.d
/ not know what to expect.
we followed the trail for ten miles
| and in that distance found two more
dead Indians, making a total OF eight.
Then the tran led into a narrow ravine
that was walled on both sides with high
/ cliffs that even a mountain goat could
| not climb. A mile up this ravlne one of
! the boys who was scouting a. little ahead
| of the main party came running back
and reported that he had seen the smoke
cot a camp fire only a short distance
away.
I'VE dismounted, and creeping forward
/ cautiously, soon came in sight of a camp
/ fire behind a big bowlder that lay out
/ in the middle of the ravine. Sitting by the
I tire with his back against the bowlder
| smoking a pipe, was Jim Dupree the
! young tenderfoot. We ali ran forward
I and began asking questions at once. Jim
4 was glad enough TO see us, but not for the
Z reason we at FIRST imagined
! Say, boys I'm starving EN- outr was
/ his first remark when we asked him to
I explain the situation.
/ "When we said we did not understand
| he explained that three days before on
! returning TO his camp, ne found that ten
| Indians had taken possession of il during