Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-11-10

Practice.
 Them Was pretty good shots, ? said the old sheep raiser when the boys had finished telling about some glass bail shooting they Lad done it the gun club tournament, but folks nowadays don t do no shooiin like they did few years ago. There vas Dan Hardin now, who run q sheep ranch ill west Texas in issI he couid shoot '
 Pretty good shot, was he?T asked She boys, to draw the old man out.
 Well, h. was a good, fair shot for them times aud locality 4 Colts 46 was Dan's fayorite. He run about 6, GOO Aheep and good many cattle and horses. The ranehers all marked the sars of their stock, eauh man in I diff ferent way. 10 distinguish their proper ty. Dan's mark WAS I hole in the left ear and Ill anderbit in the right, and he never allowed Il knife to be used on his ranch He marked every animal himself with his six shooter, and he never made Il mistake. IL was sight 10 see him galleplA across the prairie sn his mustang after haneh of lambs er round up of spring calves. a.plaein his marks with his 45 and naQer yaryin sixteenth pf an inch from where they belonged. Dan marked more mavericks than anybody else i'll the country put together.
 From praetiein 50 much Dan got te De Il first rate shot. Iio used to ride along iii his pasture and put his mark on the coyotes and jack rabbits just to keep his hand ia. It gat so that nii4a times out of ten when man killed Il deer with his winchester he would find hole ill it's left anti Gn underbit in it's sight ear, and he'd always send Dan over quarter of venison when he got 1t home. 1 seen Dan win bet of $5O ono day from fendetfoot Ne was sidin along the road and we.seen the ground | huinpin up where mole was shoVin along out of sight under the earth. Dan made his proposition, the tende1foot took him ap, and Dan's old 45 went off | couple If tines. Ne dug i the mole up, and there was the marks fn his ears right where they belonged After awhile don't think there WAS q living thing on Dan IS 1auch except his Wifeas that didn't have his mark in ita ] eafa
 This habit of Dan's got him out og pretty pad scrape one time. Along about 1882, when free range commenced gettin scarce. the fence cutters got to cuftin the wire fences around the pas tures and give the sheep men lots of trouble. Dan's had been cut half a dozen times, and he was mad One day he rode out without his gun and SAW 6 low down rustler named Tompkins sliein his wires like tlddlestrings with pair cf rippers. Tempkins got on his horse and let out, and Dan rode back to ais ranch and got his gun. He struck gut Gn Yompkins' trail and ovefhaulea aim about sundown i'll the little town that was the county seat. Dan shot A.Iss; <Siale]l k E. M ss 2. rpn ot coffee and start buck houle N hen !lt was surprised by tine sheriffs arrestin him. You see, that WAS about the time the law and order gang got to raisin Cain i'll the west and tryin 10 set dow,, on promiscuous shootin and personal liberty. They scared up judge and a 1 jury sonlewere and held a kind of court right away to try Dan Tompkins had a lot of friends in town, among the hoss thieves and free grassers, and they come i'll by the dozen and swore that Tompkins hadn't been out of town for week, and that Dams story about his cuttin the fenee didn't go. Dan had 10 witnesses, and 1t began to look kind of funny for him. They had Tompkins laid out on table in the courtroom.
 Directly Dan went over and looked pretty sharp at Tompkins, and then lie asked one of the deputies to go out to s little jewelry store across the street and bring nagnifying glass. The doputr went and got fl, and Dan handed it tx 1 the judge and asked him 10 sfep down and look at something minute There was q mosquito with his bill fast in Iompklns ear, and Dan asked the judge to take good look at 1t with the glass. The judge did so, and blest if that mos quito didn't have hole ill its left aud an underbit in i ts right ear, as shore az I'm sitting here. Everybody knew Dams mark, and the court was con. yineed that Tompkins must have Eeen prowlin round his ranch. It was what you would call good circunstantial e.i- dence, and ten minutes afterward DaD was on his way home U
 There was little silence among ths boys, and then the one who had broken 45 glass balls out of possible 50 sug gested that some lemonade be handed around Ut his expense = Washingto5 Star.
 
 Antwerp's Bells.
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