, 1897-09-28

As frontier .nciden-s seem TO be the
proper thing . tell, Une which happened
in Laramie IN The haIcyon days OF yoTe
may not be dmisS. Old-timers remem-
Der the shack which used 10 sand where
the store Of The Trabing Commercial
company is now located. Peter Holt
was the proprietor, and he carried on a
fruit and candy business. with one side
issues. Along about > o'clock n after
noon, when the days were growing eX-
tremely shOrt. Peter had jus, lighted hi,
lamps. when Jack Watkins, Lhe terror
OF the community. entered, deliberately
pulled his revolvrrs and began shpaiinG
out the lighls. Pc or was under the
ounte until thr Inst light was eXIin-
guished and Watkins had vanished in
the gathering giaIm Then he crawlcd
from behind the boxes, suck his head
out from beneath III" counter. saw chat
the coast was cIclr and proceeded 10
purchase lamps and ljghJ the store.
Dhl 1aNh "iN ~" tN'tSh II ms
evenings :rolir. From Hollis place he
went around to Tom DIlUn's saloon. on
the corner 10Y occupied hy DR.. Yer
poorten. Dillon had a billiard liable and
Jack thought he would like 20 play a
game, preferring. INV yer. % use bullets
instead OF II cue ID punch the balls.
Placing the balls on The able he drew
his deringers, which by The way had
been so fixed tina. all Jack had 10 do was
to pull wiki his Jhumb and lei The bul,
lets fly, and soon had the balls skurry-
ing about the table n such Il rate that
wen Old Tom Dillun's Ia raised a cou-
pie OF inches, sticking on sideways of
course, for Tom was bald on top. Find
ing thai his perSuls We q qucnce was Of
what was then South \ street in search
OF al officer. He had not proceeded far
when he ran across y. X. Boswell, or
odd Bos," as he was even hen famil-
tarly called by the residents OF Lara
mic. Boswell was already on Watkins
trail, having heard OF his didus IN Hoit's
place. When he arrived al The Dillon
place the fusiladc was sill going on.
Many tried to deer the officer from ont,
ering, saying thai Watkins was iull Of
whisky and thar il would he almost SUI
cid to attempt to ares, him in that
state, but the intrepid minion OF the law
had in his vocabulary no such word as
fear, and entered he building without
hesitation. Walking up % the despera,
do he said:
Jack, give me those guns and come
with me-" at the same time looking him
sQuarely in the eye.
Watkins hesitaied a moment, and to
the astonishment OF the crowd, handed
over the deringers and Quietly went 10
Jail, remarking, however, thai there was
no other d------w who
wore hair hat could take him TO Jail.
Next morning Watkins paid his fine
and was released. He kept sober for
several days, but his good resolutions
soon vanished and another jag was ac-
cumulated. Shouldering a Winchester,
he marched down Second street. About
the frs; person he met was Niger
Louis at the corner OF Second and
South b streets. Leveiing his rifle on
Lou. Jack said. Nov you dance" and
with all the energy that he possessed and
a tinge Of Wilderness creeping over his
countenance. the old cOlored man hoed
1t down for all that was in him. Jus; rs
his legs were getting weak. Sheriff Bos-
well came to the rescue. As meek as a
kitten, Jack handed over the gun and
went to Jail.
There was something marvellous about
the power Boswell had over the outlaw,
and the officer himself could never really
account for it.