The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1897-08-11
DAMS PRIVATE MARK
FOUND ON A MOSQUITO, 1T SAVED
HARDlN'S LIFE

Neither Knife 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
the old sheep raiser when the boys had
finished telling about some glass ball
shooting they had done at the gun club
tournament, "but folks nowadays don t
do no shootin like they did few years
ago. There was Dan Hardin now, who
run sheep ranch in west Texas in
1881; he could shoot. F."
Pretty good shot, was he?" asked
the 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 Il good many cattle and
horses. The ranchers all marked the
ears of their stock, each man in diff
ferent way, to distinguish their proper
ty. Dams mark was q hole in the left
ear and an underbit in the right, and
he never allowed knife to be used on
himself with his six shooter, and he
never made mistake 1t was sight
to see him sallopin across the prairie
on his mustang after bunch of lambs
or a round up of spring calves, a.placin
his marks with his 40 and never varyin
a sixteenth of an inch from where they
belonged. Dan marked more mavericks
do, OIL h.. ,t.-., -
together.
From practicin so much Dan got to
be first rate shot. He used to ride
along i'll his pasture and put his mark
on the coyotes and jack rabbits just to
keep his hand in. 1t got SO that nine
times out Of ten when man killed a
deer with his winchester he would find
hole i'll its left and an underbit in its
right ear, and he'd always send Dan
over Il quarter Of venison when he got
it home. | seen Dan win a bet of $50
one day from "a tenderfoot We was
ridin along the road and we seen the
ground a-humpin up where Il mole was
shown along out of sight under tho
earth. Dan made his proposition, the
tenderfoet took him up, and Dams old
45 went of couple Of times We dug
the mole up, and there was the marks
i'll his ears right where they belonged.
After awhile | don't think there was n
living thing ON Dan s ranch except his
wife's that didn't have his mark in its
ears
''rhis habit of Dams got him out of
pretty bad scrape ono time. Along
about 1882, when free 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 a
dozen times, and he was mad One day
he rode out without his gun and saw n
low down hustler named Tompkins
sliein his " ms like fiddIestrings with
pair Of EllpeIs. Tompkihs got OH his
horse ahd let out and Dan rode back to
his ranch and got his gun lie struck
out on lompEins' trail and overhauled
him about shutdown in the little town
that Wits the county seat Dan shot him
quietly and was about to get u cup of
coffee and start back home when he
was surprised by the sheritf's arrestin
him. You see, that was about the time
the law and older gang got to raisin
Cain III the west and tryin to set down
on promiscuous shootin and personal
liberty. They scared up judge and
jury somewere and held kind of court
right away to try Dan Tompkins had
IA lot of friends in town. among the hoss
thieves and free grassers, and they
come IN ty the dozen and swore that
Tompkins hadn't been out of town for
week, and that Dams story about his
outtin the fence didn't go. Dan had no
witnesses and it began to look kind of
funny for him They had Tompkins
laid out on table III the courtroom.
Directly Dan went over and looked
pretty sharp at Tompkins, and then he
asked one of tho deputies to go out to
little lewelly store across the street and
bring magnlfying 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
Tompkins' ear, and Dan asked the Judge
to take good look at it with the glass.
The judge did So and blest if that mos
quito didn't have hole in its left and
an undelhit i'll its right ear, rs shore as
I'm sitting here. Everybody knew
Dams mark, and the court was con
WINGED that Tompkins must have been
prowlin round his ranch 1t was what
you would call good circumstantial evil
dence. and ten minutes afterward Dan
was ON his way home -
There was II little silence among tho
boys, aud then tho one who had broken
10 glass balls out of a possible 80 sug
gested that some lemonade be handed
around at his expense. - Washington
Star