Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-06-02
BAD BILL JONES.

professional had men nearly always
come to grief, and their regulations are
usually smashed in some unexpected
and often lud!crous manner" said a
Western mine owner to group OF
friends
Il was wOrking-a claim at a mining
camp in the Black Hills in 1879, when
"A professional bad man from the head
waters Of Bitter Greek came along, put
down stakes. and proceeded TO make 1t
Interesting for every one around, es-
pecillly the few tenderfeet who had
not been long in the West Our bad
man was big, strapping fellow more
than six feet tall. with a face that
would convict him before any intelli-
gent jury.
He hailed from somewhere in Mis-
souri, and said that his name was Bill
Jones He also let it be known that he
preferred to he called Bad Bill Jones.
aS that was rhe title he had earned by
whipping every fighting man in four
townships back IN the States. Jones
celebrated his arrival in camp by clean
Ing out the only saloon in the place at
that time. lie carried a slx-shooter in
every pocket and Bowie knife in his
bootleg.
Tile fellow knew how to shoot;
there was no mistake about that. He
marched into the saloon the night OF
his arrival and ordered the bartender
10 SET up drinks for the crowd. When
the man NJ the bar demanded to see
the color Of his money in advance,
Jones let out an Indian war-whoop and
promptly shot out all the lights in the
place, after he had perforated two or
three hats and broken the necks off a
few bottles with bullets.
Some OF the miners present got IN
der the only table in the place and the
others escaped by side door. Jones
helped himself 10 all the whisky he
could drink. then went out and march
cd up and down the main street of the
camp for an hour, firing off his pistols
and yelling for some one to come out
aud fight him. Some of the boys We're
disposed to ohiige him, but the bad man
was then an unknown quantity, he had
demonstrated that he could shoot, and
wiser counsel prevailed.
This one nights performance estab-
lished the reputation of the man, and
for time he had his own way. The
fellow knew little or nothing about
mining and failed to stril> pay dirt
In fact. hc spent most Of his time loaf
In about the saloon, looking for Il
night He was loud taIker, and at
swearing he could beat any dozen men
In the camp. We soon found that he
was bully and dead beat. He would
borrow money from the boys who We're
flush, and never repay them. He was
careful, however. to obtain loans only
from men who We're afraid of him, and
for that reason would not press him for
payment.
For u month Jones was not inter
ruptrd in his career of chief bad man
of the camp. Long before the end of
thHt time he was thoroughly disliked
by every one in the place, but as he
had not killed any one, nobody re
Guested him to move on. One reason
why he succeeded SO well in the role
he had set out TO play was that every
other man in the place was too much
occupied in the scramble for gold TO
pay much attention to him. The i'm
preston that Jones was at heart a
coward was gaining ground, but as he
kept in constant practice with his pis-
tolls no one volunteered TO put his cour
age to the test.
such was the state of affairs when
one day the wagon train from the near
est town brought to camp the oldest
specimen of the tenderfoot l ever saw.
The newcomer was tall, but as thin as
a rail, with a hatchet-Iike face, and
pale watery eyes. He was dressed in
an outlandish rig, no garment of which
came anywhere near a fit. A worn
slouch hat, with hole on the top, Gov
cred his head. and was pulled down &c
the eyebrows in front
The only baggage carried by the
new arrival was a small bundle done
up in a piece Of faded blue cloth. The
fellow had lost two front teeth. and
third one. long and yellow, protruded
beyond the lips on his chin there was
n large black wart and smaller one ON
the nose
The odd-lookinE tenderfoot climbed
down from the wagon in a clumsy.
hesitatlng way. and stood around for
several minutes without speaking a
word. Finally, he stepped up 10 the
storekeeper, and, in a harsh, piping
voice. asked:
Is this here the camp where Will
lam Jones has staked n claim?
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