The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-08-15
DAMS PRIVATE MARK
FOUND ON a MOSQUITO. 1T SAVED
HARDlN'S LIFE.

F1AHOIN'S LIFE.
Neither Knifo Nor Branding Iron Was
Used on That Ranch, as the Owner Was
Pretty Fair Shot and Always Kept In
Practice.
Them was pretty good shots.'' said
tho old sheep raiser whom the boys had
finished telling about some glass ball
shooting they had done at the gun club
tournament, "but9olks nowadays don t
do no shootin like they did n few years
ago. There was Dan Hardin now, who
run sheep ranch i'll west Texas in
1881; he could Shoot
Pretty good shot, was ho?" asked
tho boys, to draw the old man out
well, he was good, fair shot for
them times and locality. A Colts 40
was Dams favorite. He run about 6, 900
sheep and good many cattle and
horses. The ranchers all marked the
ears Of their stock, each man in q diff
ferent way, to distinguish their proper
ty. Dams mark was hole in the left
ear and IN underbit in the right, and
he never allowed knife to be used OH
his ranch. He marked every animal
himself with his six shooter, and he
never made mistake. 1t was sight
to see him gaUopili across the prairie
OH his mustang after bunch of lambs
or round up of spring calves, a-placin
his marks with his 45 and never varyin
sixteenth of an inch from where they
belonged. Dan marked moro mavericks
than anybody else i'll the country put
together.
From practicin so much Dan got to
be first rate shot. Ho used to ride
along in his pasture and put his mark
Oh the coyotes and jack rabbits Just to
keep his hand i'll. 1t got SO that nine
times out Of ten when man killed n
deer with his winchester he would find
hole i'll its left and an underbit in it's
right ear, and he'd always send Dan
over quarter of venison when he got
it home. l seen Dan win bet of $50
one day from tenderfoot We was
ridin along the road and we seen tho
ground a-humpin up where a mole was
shown along out of sight under tho
earth. Dan made his proposition, the
tenderfoot took him up, and Dan's old
40 went OFF couple of times. We dug
the mole up, and there was the marks
i'll his ears right where they belonged.
After awhile L don't think there was n
living thing OH Dams ranch except his
wlfo's that didn't have his mark in its
ears.
This habit of Dams got him out of
pretty bad scrape ono time. Along
about 1882, when FREQ range commenced
gettin scarce, the fence cutters got to
cuttin the wire fences around the pas
lures and give the sheep men lots of
trouble. Dams had been cut half II
dozen times, and he was mad One day
no rode out without his gun and saw a
low down rustler named Tompkins
silcln his wires like fiddlestrings with
pair of nippers Tompkins got on his
horse and let out, and Dan rodo back to
his ranch and got his gun. He struck
out on Tompkins' trail and overhauled
him about shutdown in tho little town
that was the county seat Dan shot him
quietly and was about to get cup of
coffee and start back home when he
was surprised by the sheriff's arrcstin
him. You see, that was about the time
the law and order gang got to raisin
Cam III the west and tryin to set down
OH promlscuous shootin and personal
liberty. They scared up Judge and a
jury somewhere and held kind of court
right away to try Dan. Tompkins had
"a lot OF friends i'll town, among the boss
thieves and free grassers, and they
come III by the dozen and swore that
IompklnS hadn't been out of town for
week, and that Dams story about his
cuttln the fence didn't go Dan had no
witnesses, and it began to look kind of
funny for him. They had Torupkins
laid out Oh a table in the courtroom.
Directly Dan went over and looked
pretty sharp at Tompkins, and then he
asked one of tho deputies to go out to a
little jcwelry store across the street and
BRING magnifying glass The deputy
went and got it, and Dan handed it to
the Judge and asked him to step down
and look at something minute. There
was mosquito with his bill fast in
Tompklns' ear, and Dan asked the Judge
TO take good look at it with the glass.
Inc Judge did SO, and blest if that mos
quito didn't have hole in its left and
an underbit i'll its right ear, as shore as
I'm sitting here. Everybody knew
Dams mark, and the court was con-
WINGED that Tompkins must have been
prowlln round his ranch. 1t WAS what
yon would call good circumstantial evil
dence, and ten minutes afterward Dan
was on his way home"
There was 4 little silence among the
boys, and then the ono who had broken
10 glass balls out of a possible 90 sug-
gested that some lemonade be handed
around at his expense. = Washington
Star.
Antwerp's Bells.