The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-11-09
A PAYING BUSINESS.


Mon, who joyed in calling himself Wild
cat Bill the RattIesnake Of Bendsr's Flat
Not that that was his name of course, or
that his name was Bill or even William
OF that, SO far as know, he had ever seen
a wildcat or would have known a rattle
snake if he had met one, and I am certain
there was no such place as Bender Flat,
but this is what he was pleased to call
himself In point Of fact his name was
Ernest Ni1barforoe or something of that
sort, and he came originally from Bald
w1nsville, Conn, or some such mild, wild
catIess and nonrattlesnake neighborhood.
His finances became reduced, and the
time came when something had So be done.
He determined to take up the vocation Of
desperate in a purely commercial way It
is unnecessary tn ssy that he had never
shot man or shot at a man or shot in the
direction of where any man or other mem
Der of the human race was or had been or
expected to be.
Indeed you couldn't prove it by me that
he had ever shot of gun or knew a trig-
ger from a trajectory. Badger Rock was
at that time a small town engaged chiefly
in the business of transferring people from
the railroad station to the stages which
ran to certain gold and silver mines. A
great many eastern people, capitalists and
so forth, passed through it, but few staid
in the place more than a few hours
"
from the east was due, the clerk of the
hotel was astonished to see this man enter
clad in most striking cowboy costume,
wearing a belt with two revolvers and
knife in it and carrying a heavy, double
barreled shotgun with the barrels sawed
of, 50 that they were not more than a foot
long, making a weapon such as is some
times affected by desperate characters,
treasure coach guards, deputy sheriffs or
other individuals engaged in turning their
hands against their fellow men,
at IS piece of ordnance which is sup
posed to be loaded with inordinate charges
Of powder and irregular slugs Of lead. It
makes an excellent companion for one
gentleman to wait around the corner with
for another gentleman who had been tell
ing about town that he (the first gentle
man) is liar.
'fTo the surprised inquiries of the hotel
clerk, Wilberforee explained that he was
now Wildcat Bill, the Rst1lesnake of Ben
Cier's Flat, and that all he asked was the
simple privilege of waiting behind the
half open door of the Office for Pete Smith
of Patehen's ranch. The clerk had never
heard of any Of these names before, but as
there was no rule against it he consented.
1T was not long before the train arrived
and an elderly and correct appearing man
alighted and made his way toward the ho-
tel He was, in fact, a prominent Boston
capitalist, and this was his first trip to the
somewhat extensive region west of the
Connecticut river. AS he entered the door
of the hotel his eye caught the muzzle of
the shotgun, with It's two cavernous
shafts, apparently about the size of sewer
pipe, which projected an inch beyond the
edge of the open door A glance behind
showed a most murderous individual,
breathing short and with his finger NOV
ing nervously on both triggers. The Bos-
ton man stepped quickly to the clerk and
whispered:
+" fWho-who is that manP'
g That's Wildcat Bill, the Rattlesnake
Of Benderis Flat answered the clerk
:" .What-what is he doingg
s. Waiting for Pete Smith of Patchen's
ranch, replied the clerk
'' 'Will-will he shoot himY'
q" He will blow him into pieces, unless
Pete shoots first
lis Neutrality-suspicious. expected
soon?' went On the man from the Hub.
9 Pete comes in at 2:45 for drink
The visitor consulted his watch and
found it was $50.
81 Is there no way to stop such a ter
rible thingg' he inquired earnestly.
The clerk shook his head. No. he
replied. Bill has shot % men, and you
see he's got a three cornered file in his
mouth now TO file the twenty third notch
in his six shooter after he gets through
with Pete. But, added the clerk con-
fdentially, 'parhaps he could be hired to
postpone the operation for a few hours,
say till after you have left for the mines
The upshot of it was that for $40 the
Rattlesnake agreed not to shoot Pete till
after D O'Clock, and the Boston man again
drew full breath.
Naturally so easy and rapid a way Of
making money could not be left unculti-
waited, and Wildcat Bill became regular
thing behind the hotel door at traintime.
He divided profits with the clerk, and they
did thriving business. His terms for
coasenting to postpone temporarily the
awful slaughter Of his enemy varied from
Is to $50, according TO the means or ter
ror of the subject. Only one attempt
proved a total failure This was in the
case of a roIlicking youth from Louisville,
who sat down and announced that he was
going to wait and see the fun. He was
finally tired out by the inexpucabls fail
ure of Pete Smith TO arrive.
The game was kept up several years
and would perhaps have been still going
on had it not been for an unfortunate ac-
cident. One day a man came into the
Office with a black ebony cane Having a
vaIise in either hand he was carrying this
cane in a horizontal position under his
arm. When the end OF it poked around
the door, Wildcat Bill, the RattIesnake of
Bender's Flat, naistook it for the muzzls
Of some sort CT weapon, uttered an agon-
lied cry, dropped his own gun, leaped
through q window and ran a half mile for
safety It unnerved him to such an ex-
tent that he never returned TO his profess
sion and finally dropped out of sight. =
Exchange.
odd Funeral Customs.
A Pennsylvania paper says that to the