Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-18

AA4S bOug Is CONeIGu
with scars received in his criminal-infeste ted
district and he is the only one of his cali
Ing who has managed to grow gray In
the service-all of the others have been
killed OF or have resigned after a brief ex-
perienoe- His account of some of the
thrilling events in his life is as follows:
Man hunting is common enough in
southern Missouri and northern Arkansas
"hen a man in that country commits a
CRIME ne makes a Decline for the rough
iands around The Ozarks. Few people live
there except moonshiners. horse thieves
ana general aL-around desperadoes We
VINO make a profession of going in for
these criminals are called man hunters
sometimes We work for the state reward
sometimes for railroad companies ana
sometimes for the United States govern
ment secret service department l COM
menced as a deputy sheriff when 1 was
twenty-etght years old and | have been Al
Ii for thirty years. do not remember how
many men 1 have hunted and captured and
brought out of the woods but they would
make small army if they were all in
bunch.
Strange Code of Etlauetfe.
AT first l had great deal of trouble
with the moonshiners They mistook me
for revenue officer and used to blaze
away at ne on general principles. but
after while. when they found l was not
after them. they let me alone There is a
strange code of etiquette in that region
Many times l have run against men who
i knew were bad, but for whom | had no
warrant was not after them: they knew
", and gave me no trouble neither would
they give me- any information or assistance
III was Simply a game of life and death be-
tween the man / wanted and myself If
1 got the drop on him first he was my
ont ftrfS1
ever turned the tables on me- nobody ever
inttrferyd: We just fought il out then and
there. l work alone now. although / did
have a partner. Bill Cummings HE was
as brave man ever lived but inclined
10 he reckless We worked together Tor
eight years and broke up many a hard
gang along he Missouri and Arkansas line.
But they got Bill al last
In August of IS we went after two
men VINO had killed a train messenger On
ne Missouri Pacific. We traced them into
me Ozar5s AID after two weeks hunting
SHt tn drop on them, made them pris m
efs and We're leading them out when We
suddenly ran into the rest OF the gang
hYc OF them There was fight right away
-II t'ey get the prisoners away from us
anu We mad 70 foot il over the rocks for
our lives They finally surrounded us. and
We mad to roll a few boulders around ms
TO make a fighting pit. They had seven
" lnchesters to cur two, and they took up
positions where they could crack at MS
without exposing themselves very mucn
FROM : o cl9ck until ) We kept blazing away
al each other. Then Bill got a little re,ll-
less We had winged three of the gang
Two of them for keeps. and Bill was for
making q charge and having it ont !
tired 10 keep him quiet until dark. but no
said II was getting monotonous He raised
W gust III tine TO get ball that cut his
]leular vein. and he died without my being
able to help it. ! got both of these face
se3rs ana this scalp crease during the next
thlrtF III nutes. l guess they would have
E~a6 NOT
O. special providence that got me out
a Welcome CIoudburst.
'Cnnoticed by any Of US. a Missouri
cyclone came UP sIdde.ly. and with il a
regular oloudbuIst. Our little rife pit was
In a creek, and in less than twenty minutes
a Rocky mountain torrent came pouring
down upon us carrying trees. logs snd
everything before it. 1t grew dark all Of
sudden. Tree trunks. limbs, rocks and
gravel were whirled along ike feathers
i was soon Up to my waist in water.
drew Bits body up on couple of sycamore
legs which had locked together, and with
them Heated down the stream until / was
well out OF that section. The train rob-
hers thought | was drowned in the flood
but | was worse-I was teartbroken The
below our battle ground 1 dragged poor
Bill up dry land and put him in a grave
which dug with my jack-knife.
i suppose my most thrilling experience
was In capturing not criminal but a man
hunter. VINO had gone insane. Sam Boyle
was his name. He was one of my oldest
friends. He had done most of his work in
Oklahoma and Indian territory and was
reckoned one Of the most powerful men in
The southwest. He had ranch In southern
Kansas. and was doing very well until he
was taken down with fever that impaired
his mind. He lived all alone on his place
and was regarded as harmless until one day
he commenced to shoot at every man who
happened along the road. He had a crazy
notion that the whole state of Kansas had
been employed 10 hunt him down. and
opened fire upon everybody passing the
place. Several attempts were made to par
ley with him. but he answered only with
bullets from his Winchester. Somebody
had TO get him. and the unpleasant task
fell to me. He AMI had been very friend
ly, and the sheriff thought might be able
10 pacify him until he could be made a
prisoner. OF course We could not kill him.