Omaha daily bee., 1897-06-26
BILLY MuLLIGAN's LAST DAY.
A Terror of the Pacific slope Who
MnNc His Taking OT Memorable.

'lts name WIS luCluueu III luC llJllC llSt
of Nevada desperadoes made by Mark Twain
in 'Roughing It. said Nevada pioneer to a
New York Sun man. He did not say MARK
Twain by the way. but Sam Clemens" ="
the name by which all old Nevadans and
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oqM otul STU 10 u5ru 10 SuEIgl sBM L55uolo
had died with their boots on, and Billy Nlulh
gan was the character who just now was t.
he front. Some of the hostile mix-ups and
shooting matches in which that young Irish
man had taken a hand had been related and
now the narrator had come to the day OF his
taking off.
"Billy Mulligan had run a long string, and
lasted q good while Tor u man of his temper
and practices--for he was tough out and
out" continued the pioneer. His neck was
in danger in the days of the San francisco
vigilance committee. and ne ran some narrow
chances with the law and lynchers afterward
He was brave, desperate man, handy with
weapons, and would fight at the drop oc the
hat But he pulled through ali trouble until
the time came, which seems sooner o. Inter
to befall almost every desperate, when the
strain Of danger and the effect Of constant
drinking and excitement got tie better OF
his nerves and judgment. When 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
ana get killed. Inc last was WnaI NULL
gan chose, but he kept the business in his
own hands and forced the pace TO the end.
"It was at Carson City tat the end came
to Billy Mulligan. The cards had gone
against him all night. The liquor he had
drunk had made him ugly as ne walked out
of the Esmeralda saloon one morning Next
door was a laundry, and a Chinaman, iron
ing clothes, lifted his face to the window
just Mullgan was passing. Without
word the desperate drew pistol and fired
through the glass, blowing the Chinamans
brains out; then went on to the hotel where
he was staying, and upstairs to his room
in the top story. The door Of his room
opened near the head of the stairway, and
when the sherff's officers came to arrest
him for killing the Chinaman he stood them
off with his revolvers. They knew ii meant
certain death to some Of them to try to rush
up the stairway, and they stopped at the
foot to consider John Coleman, particular
friend of Muligan, 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
tho gamell end right here. You keep away
and don't get mixed up in the trouble
Coleman was working along up the stair
way as he talked, with the object, perhaps,
of getting near enough to the desperate to
disarm him.
'.'Stop where you are, John said Null
ligan: one step nearer End I'll kill you
Coleman made another step forward and
Muligan shot him through the heart lie
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 ii 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 COM
pany and take the desperate in his strong
hold by regular assault.
'The troops were mustered in double line
in the public square, facing the MOTEL anu
waiting the order to advance. ThrolSh the
window of his room in the thlrd story
Mulligan could be seen now and then as he
walked to and fro between the stairway and
the window keeping watch against sur
prise in either direction. Then as the race
of the desperate appeared once more at the
window one of the soldiers fired with his
rife, killing him instantly. 1t was an un-
expected shot, which undoubtedly saved
several lives that would almost certainly
have been sacrificed in carrying the room by
storm.
birth and was typical representative of the
old-time California tough gambler-a class
which got its tone and manners from the
New York of the volunteer 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 i've
stern and short-spoken except where 1t was
part of their game to be suaVe, rough-and-
tumble fghter5 fashlonably dressed WIN
| more of ornaments than southern gamblers
often wear, and distinguished by heavy black
| mustaches-they ran their course in San
Francisco which was headquarters from
which they went to the new mining com
| munities 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 and there stranded
in some out-of- the way western community
some decrepit eurvivor is found of the old
! gambler-desperado class OF which Billy
Mulligan was a shining example"