The Republican., 1896-01-02
GIVING HIM A CHANCE.
A Bit of Western Chivalry Which Was
Quite UncaIIed For.


Quite Uncalled For.
Speaking of the tales of chivalry,'~
said a government official, whose du-
ties some years ago took him to points
in the far west. 81 heard of one in d
locality l once visited which for I'M
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 a 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
generally before he struck THIS nefgn-
borhood, and the people there, most OF
of whom were trying to get out of the
old way of doing things, gave him a,
wide berth and did as much as they
could decently to get him to move away
But the place seemed to suit him and
| he wouldn't leave. Then 1T wasn't long,
until he began bulldoZing the inhabi-t
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 a 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 ank 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 a!
chance for his life. Still it was neces-l
sary for the good of the community
that the bad man be put out OF it, and
finally five patriotis citizens fixed upon
plan. 1t was carried out one Gay
after the bad man had done more devil
try than usual, and one or two prom
inent citizens were laid up for repairs,
j and the bad man still held possession
of a saloon and was treating all comers
TO the owners liquors. The five patri-
+ otic 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 to swear.
y ".Now,' said the spokesman, firmly,
l. you let up on that. We are here to set
, tie with you; we ought to shoot you
e down in your tracks, butw are going to
. give you a show; you've got two guns
y and we've got ten; you may get one OF
y US, or two, perhaps, but in the end our
" combination will win, and the commun-
" ity will get Il much-needed rest; it may
~ come a little hard on you, but you can
'e never say we didn't give you fail
~ :, chance; get ready; one, two three
- firep
- "And the firing commenced. The
II bad man was game, but, as had been an
u nounced, the combination was toe
=. much for him, and when the smoke
cleared away he was dead and two O
y, his five assailants were in the same fix
~ Two good men were gone, but the ba6
- man was with them, and the communi
=. " felt better. Now" concluded the Of
.. fcial, "what have you to say about al
~ excess of chivalry?"
=. "IIe should have been lynched," sal
I, the reporter, with promptness.-Wash
~, ington Star.