Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-25
PRESENCE OF MIND.
Served Him Pretty Well, but More of
1t Would Have Been Useful

From the San Francisco Examiner
Its great thing, presence of mind, and
L always regret that somehow / don't think
OF the right thing until the wrong time"
The speaker was a man whose mustache
and hair showed the winter of life was
near. His eye was piercing, not shifty, and
his clothing and adornments betokened
comfortable circumstances
was guard on the Big Bend stage /
had been gambler for twenty years
knew all the tricks, and had played every
game in all sorts of ways and with every
kind of device
1t was just such a night as this. the
very Sentlest of breeZes, the moon so bright
one could read by it. and the road through
the woods was as white ribbon. We were
bowling along quietly enough up a grade
"hen at little turn We met two horsemen
coming at slashine gallop. They threw
their horses back on their launches and we
We're held up
Passengers, driver and all were stood
up IN row, and one of the bandits guarded
US Whiie MS partner, Pete, he called him
was soon at work on the box | SUSPECTED
me drlVer of connivance for when we heard
the horses he said 1t was courier coming:
ne knew OF the trip, and SO threw me off
my guard. was put in a line alongside
the reinsman. and while had both ewes on
the guard and his partner, not a move of
mat a6e rascally driver escaped me.
Of course, We all had our minds in the
arr ana rlSht here let me explain a LITTLE
point. Did you ever see poker hold-out?
II S an ingenious contrivance which fits he
neath your clothing with an arm extending
down the sleeve of your coat on the insids
SO regulated that by a pressure of the a,
DOW the clip at the end is at the wrist To
grip card or out of sight I'D in the arms
II Is mandy affair not to be caught with
too, for 1t is prima facie evidence and
hanslngs too little for man who's known
TO be ready to play with the contriyance
anout nm. When | quit the game had
set or EN-; L took 'em from a fellow from
the bay who came up to earn an honest dol
lar. l wouldn't sell 'em or give 'em away.
some one might think l used such things
myself. So / just quietly worked a patent
got PAIR OF single-shot derringers which
would lie in the crook Of my arm. and NOT
rest hard, and l fastened 'em to aitber cUn
OIL them hold-outs. OF course when nv
hahds was up, the derringers Law snue
against my forearm. 1 had practiced with
EN- lots, and knew just how to cramn NV
elbows, drop my arms a little. and have tbs
little bankers in my hands
Il was gradually letting my hands down
once; that is, was testing the thing. when
the guard called me UP sharp fearing Same
thing, and made me move awav q mic
from the line, where he could watch mo
particular and keep the passengers covered
as well. He ordered everybody to keen still
too, for there was a little bit of sohbiny nv
woman in the party, and n sniveIing
drummer was bemoaning his fate. Pete
was not doing good business with the hoy
thoush, ior ne was clubbing away with q
manner, but not making any headway at
opening the little safe
Suddenly the opening came. The guard
was getting impatient and cursing Pete
when with a smash the hinges broke Pete
gave an exclamation, and the guard turned
MS head-only for a second, though. but
that was enough, for I had been watching
MIN, ana IT was no great thing to take adj
vantage of the chance
Like a flash my arms had dropped. and
those little 3S-caliber pops were In NV
hands With my right 1 dropped the guard
the bullet going through his head. / shot
the fellow at the box with my left hand. l
never was as good a shot with nv left as
with my right, and in addition, he was
three times as far away. So, instead of
hitting him in the head, as l tried, I only
got him in the body. AS he turned and
drew his gun 1 cried to the people to drop
for l knew there would be some lively
shooting. l didn't take time to reach for
my own gun, but threw myself on the dead
robber catching this bullet as went down
Il had the gun of the dead one I'D in a
moment, and was able to kill Pete before
any OF the passengers We're hit. I have
kicked myself a hundred times when 1 re-
member my absolute lack of self possession,
1t would have been just as easy for a man
with presence of mind to have turned the
trick with two shots, using the left on the
close party, and saved the wound, but
couldn't think fast enough