The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1896-02-08
GIVING HIM A CHANCE.
Bit OF Western Chivairy Which Was
Quite Uncalied For.

A Bit OF Western Chivairy Which Was
Quite Uncalled For.
speaking of the tales of chivalry,'
said government official, whose du-
ties some years ago took him to points
in the far west. II heard of one in n
locality l once visited which for un-
called-for chivalry rather exceeded the
limit"
but chivalry is not one of the things
that can be exercised to excess, is it?''
interrupted the reporter.
WAIT till l have finished my story
and then I'll leave the question to your
own ideas of it and let you settle it to
suit yourself. 1t happened in this To-
cality | mention that there was bad
man., as there is in greater or less de-
gree in all of those western localities.
or, for that matter, in every new To-
cality at whatever point of the COM
pass it may be situated. Well, this bad
man had killed nobody knew how many
people and had run the gamut of crime
generally before he struck this neigh
borhood, and the people there, most of
OF whom were trying to get out of the
old way of doing things, gave him n
wide berth and did as much as they
could decently to get him to move away.
But the place seemed to suit him and
be wouldn't leave. Then it wasn't long
until he began bulldozing the inhabi-
tants by threats, turning himself loose
in the streets and shooting up the town
and now and then banging somebody
through the leg or arm and narrowly
missing the same sort of dose himself.
The people didn't want to spoil their
reputation by lynching him, for they
hadn't had lynching for couple of
years and didn't want to have any more.
Neither did any of them want to shoot
him down in cold blood, because they
proposed to be law-abiding.
Nor did they want to assassinate
him, for that was cowardly and sneak
ing. and they would give wolf half
chance for his life. Still it was neces-
sary for the good of the community
that the bad man be put out of it, and
finally five patriotic citizens fixed upon
plan. 1T was carried out one day
after the bad man had done more devil
try than usual, and one or two prom
inent citizens were laid up for repairs,
and the bad man still held possession
of saloon and was treating all corners
TO the owners liquors. The five patri-
otto citizens, armed to the teeth, walked
quietly into the saloon and tackled the
bad man right there. They refused his
proffered treat, and he got ugly and be-
gan 10 swear.
Now said the spokesman, firmly,
you let up on that. We are here to set
tie with you; we ought 10 shoot you
down in your tracks, but we are going to
give YOU show; you've got two guns
and we've got ten: you may get one of
us, or two, perhaps, but in the end our
combination will win, and the commun.
ity will get "a much-needed rest; it NAV
come a little hard on you, but you can
never say we didn't give you a fair
chance; get ready; one, two three,
fire.
And the firing commenced The
bad man was game, but. as had been an
nounced, the combination was too
much for him, and when the smoke
cleared away he was dead and two of |
his five assailants were in the same fix. |
Two good men were gone, but the bad |
man was with them, and the commune
~ felt better. Now" concluded the Of |
fetal, what have you to say about an |
excess of chivalry?"
"iIe should have been lynched." said |
The reporter, with promptness.-Wash-
ngton Star.