Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-10-21
MULLIGAN's LAsTDAY
A TERROR OF THE WEST WHO MADE
HIS TAKING oFF MEMORABLE.

His name was included in the little
list of Nevada desperadces made by
Mark Twain i'll 'Roughing 1t, " said
the Nevada pioneer. He did not say
Mark Twain" by the way, but "Sam
Clemens" the name by which all old
Nevadans and Californians knew the
famous humorist. The pioneer was talk
ing of men of his time who had died
with their boots on, and Billy Mulligan
was the character who just now was to
the front. Some of the hostile mix ups
and shooting matches in which that
young Irishman had taken hand had
been related, and now the narrator had
come to the day of his taking off.
"Billy Mulligan had run long
string and lasted good while for man
Of his temper and practices, for be was
tough out and out, continued the pio-
neer. His neck was in danger in the
days of the San Francisco vigilance
committee, and he ran some narrow
chances with the law and lynchers aft
erward. He was a brave, desperate man,
handy with weapons, and would fight
at the drop Of the hat But he pulled
through all trouble until the time came,
which seems sooner or later to befall al
most every desperate. when the strain
of danger and the effect of constant
drinking and excitement got the better
of his nerves and Judgment. When o
desperate gets that way, there are two
courses that he may take-quit the
country, quit drinking and get to work
at an honest calling or stay and get
killed. The last was what Mulligan
chose, but he kept the business in his
own hands and forced the pace to the
end.
It was at Carson City that the end
came to Billy Mulligan. The cards had
gone against him all night. The liquor
he had drunk had made him ugly as he
walked out of the Esmeralda saloon one
morning. Next door was laundry, and
Chinaman, ironing clothes, lifted his
face to the window just as MulligaE
was passing. Without word the des-
perado drew his pistol and fired through
the glass, blowing the Chinaman's
brains out, then went on to the hotel
where he was staying, and up stairs to
his room i'll the top story. The door II
his room opened near the head of tbs
stairway, and when the sheriff's off
GERS came to arrest him for killing the
Chinaman he stood them off with his
sevolvers. They knew it meant certain
death to some of them to try to rush up
the stairway, and they stopped at the
foot to consider. John Coleman, par
ticular friend of Mulligan, who was
with them, tried to persuade him to
surrender.
No use, John, said Mulligan. 4
shan't be taken alive. This is my last
day, and the game'll end right here.
You keep away and don't get mixed up
in the tronble.
Coleman was working along up the
stairway as he talked, with the object,
perhaps, of getting near enough to the
desperate to disarm him.
Stop where you are, John,' said
Mulligan. One step nearer and I'll kill
you.
Coleman made another step forward,
and Mulligan shot him through the
heart. He permitted the others to take
the body away, keeping them covered
with his pistols all the time. A crowd
gathered in the hotel and the public
square which it faced, and plans were
discussed for capturing Mulligan, but
his character for deadly desperation
was such that volunteers were scarce.
At last it was decided to call out the
militia company and take the desperate
In his stronghold by regular assault.
The troops were mustered in double
line in the public square. facing the no.
tel and waiting the order to advance.
Through the window of his room in the
third story Mulligan could be seen now
and then as he walked to and fro be.
tween the stairway and the window,
Keeping watch against surprise in
either direction. Then, as the face Of
the desperate appeared on.ca more at the
window, one Of the soldiers fred with
his rifle, killing him instantly. 1t was
an unexpected shot which undoubtedly
saved several lives that would almost
certainly have been sacrificed in carry.
ing the room by storm.
Billy Mulligan was New YORKER
BY birth and was typical representa-.
tive of the old time California tough
gambler-a class which got its tone and
manners from the New York of tbs vol
unteer firemen and Dead Rabbit days.
Quick Of motion-some of them could
pick fly from the wall with the thumb
and finger four times out of five-sterr
and short spoken except where it was
part of their game to be suave, rough
aud tumble fighters, fashionably
dressed, with more of ornaments than
southern gamblers often wear and dis.
einguished by heavy black mustaches,
they ran their COURSE in San Francisco,
which was headquarters from which
they went to the new mining communi
ties, to stay while these fourished or
until they were driven out They had
their day-most Of them were shot or
hanged, or they died in want. Here
end there, stranded in some out of the
way western community, some decrepit