The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-04
BAD MEN AND TENDERFEET
Some Of the Famous TerrOrS in Western Mining
Camps.

A party of westerners, including sew
eral Rocky Mountain congressman
were talking about bad men at the Ar
hngton cafe the other night
The worst man 1 ever saw said al
Idaho sheep raiser, was Duke Pritch
ard Of Pocatello. Duke was all devil
He's dead now, and if he hasn't joined
the rest OF his tribe, then don't OWL
an acre Of sagebrush. His finish came
back in 'S3. He accomplished it him
self, too. not Intentionally, but out OF
pure, rank fendishness, in spite OF The
fact that sleWs of men out there were
thirsting for his blood without possess
ing the. nerve. to shed it. On the night
that Duke wound himself up for the
trip over the big divide, he was drunk
in a saloon in Pocatello-old Dad Beas-
ley'S shack, afterward carried into the
clouds by a cyclone-when one of my
herders walked in. He was one of the
most peaceable men l had, and it made
me sore the way Duke did him up.
Corey, said Pritchard 10 my man,
as soon as he caught sight of him, look
at me; look at me hard. I want to
know If l amt IS pounds heavier than
nine tons of he'll fire, and | want to
know damned quick
''Coffey was too fear struck to say a
word This devil Pritchard leaped at
him and disemboweled him with a
bowie knife. There was no one else in
the shack but old Dad himself at the
time, and Dad wasn't saying a word
While the dying man was still in his
death throes on the floor, Pritchard
banged him on the head with a quart
bottle of whisky and finished him
Then he grabbed another quart bottle
rf1a f.arr 81 II
neck off of 1t with his teeth He backed
out OF the saloon chewing the glass. the
DloOd from his mouth streaming down
his black beard Beasley, who didn't
belong to any particular Sunday school
himself. told me afterward that Pritch-
ard, as he reeled backward out of the
shack, with a gun in each hand. for
surprises, was the worst looking sight
he ever looked at. That same night we
went after him-about 40 of us We
did not meet up with him for two days
and then we found him lying dead on
The east bank of. the Snake river. The
glass he had swallowed had cut his in
sldes all TO ribbons. My men We're so
hoStlie over his outWitting them by
lying like white man, that they
wouldn't give him a burial; they Just
chucked him body into the river and
poured volley into II as ii fioated
down the swift current Pritchard
killed a dozen men in Idaho and Wyo-
ming, before he rounded himself I'D
this way. and he killed EN- all with a
knife only using his guns to cover his
retreat"
I've often heard and read yarns to
-he general effect that all bad men are
cool. silent chaps. and that there is no
such thing as genuine bad man who
busters, the blusterers being all cow
ardS, said Butte mining man. These
yarns make me smile. The regular he
devil of a bad man is pretty nearly
extinct now, but I've met several hun
cred OF EN- in my day, and every man
OF them was not only wickedly bad in
fact, but also on his own confession.
The worst men Of the lot were the fell
lows who publicly gloated over their
oeVlltry, the braggarts who not only
announced with whoops that they ate
wolves, but who were always ready to
stand for anything they said. drunk or
sober 1t was g. part of a professional
pad mans business to let all hands
Know that he was bad, TO yelp it out
between the cracking of his guns ~ /
roar il out in the middle of the road |
Whenever the fancy struck him. More /
over. these self-announced bad men
We're never called with the frequency 1
that some Of these yarns would have
you believe. I've always discovered on |
investigation that the quiet, COOL bad |
I
most OF their victims in the back.
The worst catamount of a bad man
l ever met was Clad Collins of Yank-
ton, and he was roarer and a whooper
from away back In the Black Hills
where bad men We're thicker than blue-
berries. pack in the late 70s, Collins
was a holy terror for nearly three
years, in spite Of the fact that he was
more than half drunk all the time
Newcomers to the hills who didn't
know MIN and his record, and who only
nearo him talk, We're apt to put him
lown as a mere braggart, but I no
lced that not many of them worked
up the nerve to express themselves pro-
that way. There was one /
big rawboned fellow from Vermont
VINO struck the hills in rs. He heard
Lad Collins shooting off his mouth
As ne called il. in a saloon This fool
Vermont man turned and walked TO-
ward the door Of the saloon with the
emark that he was weary of listening
o cheap chin music
Johnny says Collins Che had sharp T.,
,ars), wheeling around all of a sudden.
come back here and get kicked-come
light back, Johnny, and get kicked
rood and hard. Come a-runnin'. John
".
When the Vermonter turned he
ooked into the barrel of one of Col
ms forty-eighths. He got white. too.
can tell you. He walked over to
vhere Collins stood holding up one end
f the bar
Turn around, Jack says Collins.
The Vermonter obeyed, like a sensible
nan, which he wasn't at first.
collins gave him a cruel, hard kick !
I the base of the spine with his heavy
light boot. Then he addressed him.
living him a horrible kick at each
ause:
=. Johnny says he, how is this for
hin music. hey? (Kick.) All wind and s
as, amt it, hey? (Kick) He'll, amt :
!, Bill? (Kick.) amt bad, am I. ,
'ill? tKick) I amt just the damned
ST two legged thing you ever looked /
[, am l Nike? (Kick) You're going e
give US some pointers out her on I
rec speech, amt you, Johnny? (KickO I /
amt going to shoot you up any now, ;
k-(kick)-but you're going right on :
the next camp in 20 minutes, amt +
on. Bill?' (Kick.)
BY this time Collins had kicked his :
ian to the door. He showed his gun !
ack into his belt
Stand still a minute he said 10 !.
lie Vermonter. =
Then Collins walked back about ten |
,et, so as TO get some momentum. He 8
lade leap for the Green Mountain :
oy. who stood in the doorway like an :,
mage, with his back 20 the saloon, and -
nded on him with both feet right in q
lie middle Of the back. The Vermonter :
ust have gone spinning about 20 n
et. !,
g I am certainly hellish bad. for a :,
ct. Collins muttered. walking back
the bar. The Nermonter. who at first
admit thought so. packed up his kit d
I'd quit the camp right away.