The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-08

Bill in the face. and Mulvey said, "Mr.
Longhair, you come with me-
Wild Bill answered, II guess ] will
have to, / cannot beat the pair; then
suddenly as though looking at some
body behind the desperado, cried out
Don't shoot, boys, he is only foOling."
At that Mulvey turned his head for
an instant-and made the mistake of
his life. 1t ended then and there. Null
vey was so hateu~hat they buried him
without an inquest.
IN ABILENE.
From Hays City Wild Bill was in
vited to go to Abilene and quiet things
a little. The Abileners had been hav-
ing n very choice article in the way of
a reign of terror, one marshal, Tom
Smith, having been killed while try
ing to introduce veneer of eastern
civilization and to reduce the average
monthly death rate. 1t was at Abilene
that our Holyoke friend. w. II. Clark
now with the Whiting paper company
came to know Wild Bill and to esteem
him as the most extraordinary man of
his type to be found on the plains.
Mr.. Clark is the chief scource of our
knowledge of the Abilene period in
Bill's career. To illustrate the free and
easy life of the town. Mr.. Clark relates
how a stranger from Massa ChuSetts,
being in the place, took a seat out on
the sidewalk one sunny afternoon. He
had the common experience of strang-
ers in Abilene. for number of cow
boys spying him, Immediately began
their revolver practice with the man
from the Bay state as their target. y
rapid retreat around the corner and the
fN,l
This incident, slight though it be, gives
us the historical perspective, or the at
mosphere as the artists say, of the
Abilene of Wild Bills day.
AS a reformer the new marshal was
100 per cent. He issued an order that
no revolvnrs should be carried in the
town, which was extremely radical
legislation. Cowboys entering the
place were to hand their gums" over to
the marshal for safe keeping or to de-
pOsit them in the saloon they patron
ized. Any man seen carrying his arms
was Immediately the prey of wild Bill.
The order was obeyed, so far as ap-
pearances went, but of course every
body carried his revolver in an inside
pocket, as Bill was well aware. The
real reform did not come until some
one had got killed. Abilene was full
of dance halls and one night a cow
boy, in an excess of merriment began
shooting out the eyes of the nude wo-
| men in the pictures on the wall. The
marshal appeared, threw him down
and then took him to the jail, some
distance away. The force with which
Bill had thrown the fellow aroused
the anger Of his companions, who fol-
lowed them to the Jail uttering cur
| ses and threats. Bill retaliated by ar
| resting and locking up another of the
crowd, which was really a high hand
ed proceeding. That the marshal then
| turned and walked home, without
| once looking back at the cowboys, who
! followed to his door, may not seem
! particularly courageous, but it was.
| Any one of them might have killed
him, and killing a man was the am
| bition of the gentlemen from Texas.
But Bill had no fear for this reason:
| While every cowboy desired the no.
| tOriety of having killed his man, it
was to have killed him in a fair fight.
In the cowboys lexicon of fame MUIR
| ders did not count. SO Wild Bill
walked home that night perfectly
safe from assassination.
BILL AND COLE.