The Monitor-register., 1897-07-09
MULLIGAN'SLASTDAY
A TERROR OF THE WEST WHO MADE
HIS TAKING OFF MEMORABLE.


MARK Twain" by the way, but "Sam
Clemens" the name by which all old
Nevadans and Californians knew the
famous humorist. The pioneer was talk
! ing of men of his time who had died
with their boots on, and Billy Mulligan
was the character who just now was to
| the front. Some of the hostile mix ups
and shooting matches in which that
young Irishman had taken hand had
been related, and now the narrator had
| come to the day of his taking off
BILLY Mulligan had run a long
/ string and lasted good while for man
of his temper and practices, for he was
| tough ont and out, continued the pio-
neer. "His neck was in danger in the
days of the San Francisco vigilance
| committee, and he ran some narrow
chances with the law and lynchers aft
erward. He was brave, desperate man,
handy with weapons, and would fight
'at the drop of the hat. But he pulled
| through all trouble until the time came,
| which seems sooner or later to befall al
most every desperate, when the strain
| of danger and the effect of constant
| drinking and excitement got the better
of his nerves and judgment. When q
desperate gets that way, there are two
courses that he may take-quit the
| country, quit drinking and get to work
at an honest calling or stay and get
| killed. The last was what Mulligan
chose, but he kept the business in his
own hands and forced the pace to the
| end.
sit was at Carson City that the end
| came to Billy Mulligan. The cards had
| gone against him all night The liquor
he had drunk had made him ugly as he
| walked out of the Esmeralda saloon one
morning Next door was laundry, and
Chinaman, ironing clothes, lifted his
face to the window just as Mulligan
was passing. Without a word the des-
perado drew his pistol and fired through
| the glass, blowing the Chinaman's 8
brains out, then went on to the hotel
where he was staying, and up stairs to
his room in the top story. The door of
his room opened near the head of the
stairway, and when the sheriff's off
| GERS came to arrest him for killing the
| Chinaman he stood them off with his
revolvers. They knew it meant certain
| death to some of them to try to rush up
the stairway, and they stopped at the
| foot to consider. John Coleman, par
ticular friend of Mulligan. who was
with them, tried to persuade him to
surrender.
| NO use, John,' said Mulligan. L
shan't be taken alive. This is my last
day, and the game'l end right here.
You keep away and don't get mixed up
in the trouble.
| Coleman was working along up the
stairway as he talked, with the object,
| perhaps, of getting near enough to the
| desperate to disarm him.
Stop where you are, John,' said
Mulligan. 'One step nearer and I'll kill
you.'
| Coleman made another step forward,
| and Mulligan shot him through the
heart. He permitted the others to take
the body away, keeping them covered
! with his pistols all the time. A crowd
| gathered i'll the hotel and the public
square which it faced, and plans were
discussed for capturing Mulligan, but
his character for deadly desperation
was such that volunteers were scarce
| At last it was decided to call out the
militia company and take the desperate
in his stronghold by regular assault.
''The troops were mustered in double
line in the public square, facing the no.
tel and waiting the order to advance
| Through the window of his room in the
third story Mulligan could be seen now
and then as he walked to and fro be-
| tween the stairway and the window,
keeping watch against a surprise in
| either direction. Then, as the face of
the desperate appeared once more at the
window, one of the soldiers fired with
his rifle, killing him instantly. 1t was
an unexpected shot which undoubtedly
saved several lives that would almost
ing the room by storm.
"Billy Mulligan was a New Yorker
by birth and was typical representa-
| tive of the old time California tough
gambler-a class which got it's tone and
manners from the New York of the vol
unteer firemen and Dead Rabbit days.
| Quick of motion-some of them could
| pick fly from the wall with the thumb
and finger four times out of five-stern
and short spoken except where it was
part of their game to be suave, rough
and tumble fighters, fashionably
dressed, with more of ornaments than
southern gamblers often wear and dis
tinguished by heavy black mustaches,
they ran their course in San Francisco,
which was headquarters from which
they went to the new mining communi-
| ties, to stay while these fourished or
until they were driven out. They had
their day-most of them were shot or
hanged, or they died in want. Here
and there, stranded in some out of the
way western community, some decrepit
survivor is found of the old gambler
desperate class of which Billy Mulligan
was a shining example. New York
Sun.