Evening star., 1898-02-12

occasion demanded, the most expert prac-
titioner. of the gentle art of shooting an
enemy to death with invisible guns-that
is to say, with guns repcsing in the side
pockets of his ulster or sack coat. In this
way he killed three bad men OF Butte who
had clean drop on him. In the second
place, during his two twe-year terms as
right marshal, he did most of his big share
of the bad man quelling with mis- fists. He
achieved all Of his fame as aan invisible
gLn shootist before he accepted the job OF
running the town of Butte after sundown.
When he pinned on his marshals badge
he said:
:" "A gums all right, and SOS a knife, for
man that wants to be killer. 1 never
was killer just for the name of it, and l
amt a-going to be killer now that I'm
legaiized to let the night air into any
h-l-roarin' maverick that thinks he's boss
In this camp between dew-fall and suH-up
| never killed no man unless he needed TO
be killed and it was up to me to do the
Job, and I've always let 'em get me into a
pretty bad nix at that before I'd feel like
putting 1t on them. A man can get along
We'll enopgh with his bare hands, in Butte
or anywhere else, if he knows how to use
them
Having thus outlined his policy, Noble
went to work to keep the town of Butte in
order with the weapons that nature pro-
v:ded him with, and that he made his pol
icy stick was shown by the fact that wh,n
noble gave up his night marshals job at
the END OF four years, the town records
proved that out Of the scores and scores of
pad-man miX-ups in which Gus had taken
hand he had been compelled to kill only
seven OF the bad men with his guns.
A Stroke of Genius.
Mobiles invention of the invisible gun
game of kill was an inspiration mothered
by exceedingly urgent necessity Gus was
one OF the first raen to strike Butte when
the mining boom began. He was a ouie.
man, and he never let on to anybody where
he came from. He probably had a record
In other camps under some other name
Instead of prospecting for the metals Noble
nosed around among the hills for gems
He never found enough of the garnets or
sapphires to pay for his time hunting them
however-it was reserved for men who
went over the very same ground wears
afterward to strike the carbons in paying
quantities. So Noble came back into Butte
and picked up a living at short-haul
freighting and playing cards He was
playing a game of seven-up with one of
his freighting pardnersN one night in the
| rear room of the Angel Gabriel saloon when
some shooting began in the front room.
There was nothing uncommon about this
but when the glass began to crash and a
couple of balls came through the thin boa I'd
partition that separated the front from the
rear room of the saloon Noble and the man
he was playing with got up from the card
stepped together into the doorway leading
into the front room. They saw Jim Scars
dale, a killer who had several times come
near to being the central figure in lynching
bees gotten up by Butte's vigilance commit
tee, In the middle of the saloon blazing
away with both guns at the lights and
looking glasses. The bartender was not in
sight, but when 1t was all over he came out
from beneath The bar, very fierce and fe-
rocious Scarsdale was drunk and enjoying
| himself. He saw Noble and the other man
when they appeared in the doorway. and
he had them both covered before they had
time to exactly take in the situation. Scars
dale kept his guns on them and talked.
=" You two ducks has got a nerve, said
he, a-pokin in here like this when I'm just
startin' in to eat UP the camp. Amt ye
afraid o me- hey? Amt ye both skeart
I'll drill SO many holes in ye that yell
ketch your death O. cold on a raw night
like this, hey? Because if ye amt ye want
to be, for I'm a-goin to-
Quick killing.
"Scarsdale never had chance to finish
telling what he was going to do. There
were two sharp pistol cracks. almost to-
gether, and Scarsdale fell dead, with one
bullet through his heart and the other
through his right lung. Mobiles partner
looked mystified until hs saw Gus pull his
AL/~