The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1897-12-22
ID a w s ON, EoR GA.
shaking me for that chap?'

shaking me for that chap?'
:" Easy, easy said Brunstetter. If 7
hadn't stood for you five minutes ago
you might have been full of holes now,
"Come around to the point quick.
then said l, for I couldn't see into the
thing at all.
" Well, l don't mind telling you about
it, SAID Jeff, becoming serious. for YOU
used to know how to keep your head
closed. This was the first time I'd seen
that friend of mine for six years. [ was
brought up alongside Of him in Missouri,
guess you've heard his name. It's Jesse
James
Had I heard his name? Brunstetter
gave me a couple of minutes to recover.
" Yes, that was jesse, he went On,
and it looks to me as if his nerve is on
the break. He's got it into his mind that
be is near his finish. We were pretty
chummy in the old days aud he slipped
into town to see me. I couldn't talk
him out Of his notion that the game is
nearly over with. He gave me this cart
ridge out of his belt as a keepsake. Jesse
is the last man Ia ever figure on to get
like that
"'And about those holes that might
have let the sun through me-? asked.
"'Oh,' said Brunstetter Jesse didn't
like the way you sized him up, that's all.
He wouldn't have punctured you with
out you'd make some kind of a fool
break. He's not taking any chances,
even if he is looking for an early wind
up. He only wanted to know if you were
all right, and when l told him you were
that settled it,
This was the first and only time
ever saw Jesse James, and I've always
thought it peculiar that l should have
dropped off at Leavenworth to see Brun-
stetter on the same day that the outlaw
drifted in there for the same purpose,
His premonition as to his approaching
death was verified few months later,
when the Ford boys plugged him from
behind in st. Joe. Why didn't l reach
out for the $50, 900 dead or alive reward
and 60 after James when l had this good
chance? Well, for several reasons that
level headed men that are fond of living
for while will appreciate, entirely aside
from the fact that | wasn't wearing any
badge that year, and that the presence
of James in Leavenwor,h was revealed
to me in confidence by a friend of mine.
There was a maxim in the country that |
was raised in that it is worse to betray
the confidence of friend, even to serve
the ends of justice, than to steal sheep,
and I've never drifted far away from that
idea, even when wearing sheriff's or a
marshal's rig-ou'.
"Anoc cher extremely bad man, proba-
bly, one of the very worse that ever mess
ed up the state of Colorado, who had
soft and superstitious streak in him, was
Phil Dixon, finally of Denver. Phil was
a ombination of COW puncher, prospect
or, highwayman, short-card player and
all around sport; but he was whole lot
more plain bad man than any one or all
of these things. The red-letter day on
his list was that on which he killed four
reasers with one gun when they, not
knowing him, tried to pick on him in
saloon in La Junta. Up to the time lie
did this Phips quality of badness was IN
danger of becoming disliked in Colorado,
but the affair at La Junta obiterated the
prejudice against him, so that after that
he was both approved and feared. He
had plenty of room when he located in
denver in 1879, and no attempt was made
to shove him into the county Jail on the
warrants and acquisitions that were out
against him from other states. He be-