Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1895-12-28
WAS VERY GOOD ACTING.
Cool SeIfPossession of Man About
to Be Hanged

| roundup. No Mans Land is that long
narrow strip of the Indian Territory
that prevents Northwest Texas and
Southwest Kansas from coming into
contact OF course, il is out of the
J jurisdiction of either State. and for
years Uncle Sans officials ZealOusly
avoided it for many reasons. Late one
afternoon the Sheriff of BrOncho COun-
" came riding into camp. inquiring for
Denny Murphy. The Sherif1"s sudden
appearance occasioned no surprise. for
a warning of the same had preceded
him fully three hours and. Us a direct
result, Mr.. Murphy, one of the best
cowmen in the whole outfit. rode calm
~ over the border and into the land
where SuDpOenaS came not and war
rants lost all their vitality
\ few days before the fugitive had
been on one OF his periodical tears
down in the little settlement OF CURT
| vile. and had been far more turbulent
and violatiye of the peace ana dignity
Of BronchO County than usual. He had
dubbed the piano player in French
Pete'S dance hall nearly to death with
the butt of his siX-shO0ter, had shot
out all the lights and window panes in
the resort: also three fingers from Pete'S
good right hand. and had then ridden
away, defiant, vOciferous and unScath-
ed. The after-clap was now present in
the Three Sevens' camp in the shape
of the sheriff and those documents that
begin SO sarcastically with the word
greeting" But. to Use Il slang phrase,
the outfit gave the sheriff the laugh. in
forming him that Denny had "mosey-
ed" that, as a cOWman. there was too
much doing for him to spend any time
attending to such minor affairs; that
the sheriff would have TO wait until the
roundup was over and he had better
get down. stake his horse and spend the
night, for it was getting late and Quirt-
vile was long ride back He was an
officer of experience and not given TO
chasing rainbOws.
During the winter just passed some
of the cowboys had been visiting civil
ization down in Fort Worth, and had at
tended the theater Their minds being
still filled with the SlOrieS OF the eXpe-
rience, they diverted the camp fire talk.
after supper, to things theatrical. This
| brought out the sheriff strong, for he
had in his day been all over the coun-
try and never lost an opportunity of at
tending the playhouse.
Boys" SAID he. I've seen Il Teller
called Booth play the part of Il devil.
named lago. SO that my fingers itched
to get holt of my gun. I've seen dago
named Salvini play IL play named The
| Outlaw all in dago talk but | didn't
| have TO know that lingo To find out lie
was a worse used man than any that
ever set foot i'll these whole United
| States. There's woman, too. Clara
! Morris; she gave me a chill that lasted
Il week. But I've seen man. COM
mon. plain man. who could lay over
them all. l saw him do just one piece
of acting and right after had 10 hang
| him. 1t was good while ago. iUal
after they first got 10 electing me sher-
| if. | had 4 man in the Jail and two
| deputies were staying right with him
| al the time cause we couldn't take no
| chance of his getting away. him being
convicted of murder and waiting for
| his day TO come to be hanged in II was
| Il mighty mean, low-down murder too.
| Jury wasn't out mOre'n five minutes
| over it. His lawyer had tackled all the
courts he could get into but it was no
| go, and the fellows time was sure com
L.
| think even right then old man Dunn
| and his carpenters were out in the Jail
yard working away on the gallows
We'll, on this day when you could
| hear them carpenters knocking and
saving back in the yard. who comes in
to my office room where | was sorting
| out some papers. but this feller's lawyer
and lutte old lady dressed in black
clothes. She was Il mighty nice-look-
ing old lady, leaning considerably
against the lawyer, like she was nerv-
out and tired. The lawyer tells me she
has an idea that the Teller we were go
ing TO hang was her boy. He'd been
loose from her a good lot of years and
she wasn't certain it was him, but shed
took up the notion somehow and want
ed to see to make sure. Boys. | was
broke up. | sOrter felt her notion was
right. These here women folks is what
makes hangings mighty tough for sher-
ifs. When Il man thinks of n feller's
mother it gets right next to him sure.
Course | couldn't do nothing but agree.
and | went with them. unlocking the
doors and feeling bad. When we got
to the cell there was the Teller sitting
on q stool, reading book in the light
that sifted through the bars of his little
window hole. The two deputies were
right there, too, one on each side, look
ing glum and sour, for this guarding
business is a tough, mean job. The fell
Ter was IL big. stout man. over six foot
high. He had thick whiSkerS over his
laws and chin. They were black rs Il
crow and his face had the prison bleach
on. He hadn't been taking any care of
himself SO he had Il shaggy, animal
sort Of look about him.
r.osn,t ,,nal litrbt In tbora anI