The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-21
WAS 1T A MURDER
EXCITING ENCOUNTER BETWEEN
TWO COWBOYS.

One Had an AK. the other Re-
VOlver-rhe One With the Gun
Provoked the Other to a Quarrel
and shot Him When Attacked
With the AX-GaVe Himself Tn 10
the Authorities and Was Promptly
Acquitted on the Ground of Self
Defense.
The line separating self-defeuse from
murder is rather a fine one" The gentle
man who spoke was one of a party gath
cred In the smoking room Of the Audito-
rum hotel, Chicago, the other day. A
| celebrated murder case then before one
| of the courts had been under discussion
| The defendant claimed that he had acted
| entirely on the defensive; that he had
! been attacked by his victim and to save
! himself from injury and perhaps DEATH
| had shot the assailant dead. Public opin-
Ion was rather evenly divided on the sub
| 1ect. There were whispers however, of a
| feud of long standing between tho two
men, and II was said by some that the
! assault had been provoked with a purpose
! The speakers remark opened u flood of
| recollections to me, and, although | did
not say so aloud, | inwardly agreed with
MIN In his pithy summing-up of the mat
eF. For time 1 was oblivious to my
surroundings and the presence of the
party, as my mind Travelled back to a
picturesque ranch, situated on the un-
| picturesque Pecos river, that muddy
stream fed by springs in the Rocky noun
tains, and which wends its tortuous way
snrough the finest grazing grounds OF
mad ordered me to the southwest for my
health Tough II on a ranch for a time, !"
ne said IT will do you more good than
az the medicines IN the pharmacoDiea."
The month Of February, 1855 found me-
therefore, foughing it. in every sense
or the word, on the Hash-Knife ranch a
DAY ride from the rising little town Of
fecos. 1 had been duly initiated into the
mysteries of lassoing, branding, rounding
up ana other traits of cowboys life,
Vigor.
There were seven of us quartered on the
ranch ana as the regular driving season
had not begun, we had plenty of leisure
time, ana the evenings were spent i'm play
ing CHECKERS, singing, story telling and
other diversions, except card piaying
cards were forbidden on the ranch-not
from any conscientious SCruples on the
part OF the boss, but because gambling
invariably led to trouble and shooting af-
trays were not uncommon.
or the men on the ranch, two interested
me more than the others. One was Ben
| Hollomau, a slender calculating sort of a
|
| given to the usual run of enjoyments
participated in by his comrades. Ben al
ways struck me as a man who took life
too seriously, or who had some trouble
IN his younger days which had soured
his entire life. When aroused he was a
perfect demon, and his wrath seemed un-
governable. 1t was not an explosive sort
or rage, so to speak, but of a deadly, de-
termined sort of nature.
once his horse became fractions. Ben
had the usual cowboy quirt or whip, but
that was not enough He walked nearly
quarter of a mile to cottonwood tree
ana cut off thick branch with which he
| belabOred his horse until the brute fell ex-
| hausted. Not an oath escaped Ben during
the castigation. His face was distorted by
| passion, though, and he was deathly pale
under his swarthy skin ii was famed for
his skill as a pistol shot and altogether
was regarded as good man to let alone.
| There were rumOrS about "A hurried depar-
ture he had made from the Panhandle sec
ton following the violent death of a man
with whom he had quarrelled, but no ques-
tons were ever asked of him. lie was a
good COW hand and that was sufficient for
| the boss to know.
The second man who interested me was
Dwight Adams, the very antithesis of Hol-
loman. Adams was big six fOoter with a
fund of good nature prOpOrtOnate to his
size. He was the life Of the ranch, so to
speak, and seemed to eXude good nature
from the pores of his skin. Even Hollo-
man was not exempt from Dwight's badi-
mage and many laugh we had at the eX-
pense of the suriy cowboy as Adams made
him the subject of a merry jest. Holoman
showed no anger at his gay companion's
remarks but seemed to ignore them, save
for an angry flush occasionally as the jok-
ers tongue cut rather deep.
one day a stranger stopped at the ranch
over night, and among his effects was a
| pack Of cards. He produced them after
supper and invited little game of draw
poker. The boss being abse0t at the time
we jumped at the chance and until an ear
~ hour in the morning sat cross-legged on
a bunk and hypothetical our wages reck-
lessly Dwights humor was on tap, as US
ual and he took his losses merrily. Not 50
with HOlloman. He was not lucky ana
seemed TO grow surlier with every deal.
once as Dwight rallied him on his losses
he made a sarcastic retort, which was 90
palabe an insult that there was silence
for minute and an uneasy feeling spread.
Dwight looked serious just for DrleI time,
and then he laughed the matter away ana
the game progressed.
Next day the stranger went away leav-
ing his cards behind him That night an
other game was started and after time
ali hands dropped out except Dwight and
| Holloman who engaged In cuel with the
pasteboards Luck ran about even for a
lime then HOlloman began 10 lose. His
wages for the next three months were
mortgaged to Dwight, who seemed to hold
remarkable hands From money they got
to wagering personal property ana soon
| Dwight became the owner Of Holloman's
saddle His pet horse went the same way
and pair of silver Mexican spurs tol-
Lets have one more hand to settle the
| whole thing" said HollOman doggedly. /
| owe YOU three months wages now. A1hhS
| Il six months or nothing on the next hand,
| the highest cards 10 win without draw.
| "All right, Pop" was Dwights good ma
| tured reply, and shutting the cards ne De-
| gan to deal Some of the boys had gone
10 bed, but aroused by the loud words or
| Holloman, crawled out Of their blankets
! ana gathered around to watch the game
! Dwight was seated on his own bunk with
| his back against the hay-illled gunny sack
| that served him as a pillow. Holloman
| sat at the foot Of the bed cross-legged, the
cards being dealt out on the blanket be-
| tween them A space of about four feet
| separated Holloman's bunk from Dwight s
| Hanging from nail az the head OF Hobo
| mans bed was the cartridge belt and hol-
! ster containing his revolver.
AS we grouped around, the deal pro-
| ceeded For the first three cards neither
| man got a pair but Holloman was ace
| high. The fourth card gave Holloman a
pair of aces and Dwight got a pair Of
| fours The fifth card did not improve
! Hollomans hand and all attention was
| centered upon the last card which Dwight
| was 10 deal to himself Slowly he drew II
off the top Of the pack. raised II high In
the air, and dashed IL with laugh upon
the blanket. IL was another four and ne
| had won.
al. "a Na 10 IuaH for