The sun., 1898-01-23
WILD BILLS WAR WORK.
SCOUT AND SPY WITH GEN. CURTIS
IN MISSOURI

a,,,,pr Back Under Diflcuities 70 the Upion
Lines with valuable 1nrerrantion--A sin-
rie.unnded Fight with tha pIoCauaieas
epng-His Pablo Duel with Dave Tutt.
"rho Californians who know wild Bin
r1,ctok out at Abilene and Deadwood in tho
..vontics arc wrong when they say he was first
h.ard of after tho war;" said the man from Mis-
,ouri on reading the story Of the famous plains-
man in the Sunday Sun. "wild Bill was q
Union scout and spy all through tho war on the
border. and he had fought Indians and taken q
hand in tho Kansas row before he served under
Curtis down In southwestern Missouri and Ar
KANSAS know him at Springfield in the fall
Of 65, soon after tho surrender. Few mon
In that region were so we'll known as Wild
pul. OF all tho daredevil characters that camo
TO the surface in those days he was the worst
or tho best. Bill was not murderer or an as
sassin or anything OF tho kind. Ho killed his
men in open fight always, but he killed a lot Of
am. IIo was quicker with his gun than the
other fellows were, and he never missad when
he drew on man. that was all.
"Human life like the greenbacks, was below
mar In that part Of Missouri Just after tho war.
You sec. the State had been divided in senu-
mont when the secession movement started
back In 1861. part Of the people-the larger
part-wcre Southern Rights men who wanted
10 take Missouri out Of the Union. They would
have done 1t, too. II that daring little Connecti-
cut Yankee, Nathaniel Lyon, hadn't got to-
uether In st. Louis a small force Of regulars
and volunteers and driven Sterling Price, Gov.
Jackson and tho rest of tho secession leaders
out OF the state before they had time to resist
raise an army. On this quick march to the
southwest Lyons troops moved light, living
of the secession population as they went along.
After Lyon was killed ct Wilson's Creek in the
first battle Of tho war In tho West, Pap Price
followed the retreating Union army northward.
and, OF course, took whatever he needed from
the Union portion Of tho population. So It
went, off and on. for four years. according to
the shifting fortune Of the war. but one side or
the other was always getting the worst Of it.
And when the Missourians were not away from
home fighting in the ranks with either Price
or Curtis thcy kept up q guerrilla warfare
among themselves, SO that hundreds Of griev-
ances and grudges remained to be settled after
the main fight ended.
wild Bill and man amed.Dave Tut set
lied one Of these old scores on the public square
at Springfield while / was there. Tutt had
been q scout In Prices army. He was handy
with his gun, game as q hornet, and an all
round bad man even for that country at that
time. During the war Bill had killed TUFTS
pal under circumstances to which Tutt took ex.
ception, and he had deolaredsto his friends that
he would have Bills life. Back of all this, I
afterward learned, there wNs an undercurrent
OF woman In the case, Sc. that the feud was bit
ter. Everybody in tho town know that one or
he other Of those men, and may be both Of them.
had got to die with his boots on when they came
back to Springfield after the war; Bills posi-.
ton was doubly dangerous because Spring.
field was strongly secession, and Tut had
ten friends to bis one among the border fighters
iOoos. 0 Many Of aH us thoughs this crowd Would
be shot Tutt, even 4 Bill should have tho luck s
e aho Bteer Ssn Biz
avoid a fight, kept out Of TUFTS way. and re-
sfa ns2er 90 ST. knew SH Just how L happened but
SsspEh @ s,sfs p spys5 ssshs H. H.
name @an to % oosoh him. % MoSofs % watch lay on the
table In front Of him. Somehow Tutt got pos.
Snt B 81 sas
a aS A ss sv Sa ,a TSs Fosa nss
the watch across the public square at noon the
day Bs slHEed AND we sn snew hs
S sSade m him ns hsss RS sh%s
aTays swS S f''0
from this crowd, do your said he. They We
Ronofp ppS1 ' Tutt 'n1 never pack q
mine across the square to-day unless dead men
when IL pollock came half the town was
out there on the square. Over near the Court
House. on the opposite side from the hotel. We
could see Tut. surrounded by his friends, walt
soon ali except Tut walked together over Oyys
square Where s e0is Bin '' Would hsye them at bis
It meant Wei enough, and SO did Bill. But the
the Court House side Bill moved toward him
from the steps of the hotel. Hickok stood 9
across the chest and shoulders was enormous,
and he tapered from his armpits to his ankles
in even lines Nike a wedge He wore that day
sombrero. There was fire in Bill's steel-gTay eyes
and and his thin lips were sot as he walked out
there, there, his revoyers in his belt and his hands
other .seT FSs whn ay ds Of sh
excitement when Tut suddenly reached for
he gun: Bill saw him. Quicker than chain
ySSive5 q hlg, 4ha, without s Seeming to take
aa Si' N, hred hS didn't wait to see whother TGtt
Of bis veed hs erowyd hat had Seen
a S his back before the quickest of TUFTS friends
Are w Won satisfied osr,,om.rr demanded
Bill Then put up your weapons And they
1,,,LuIL gave kind OF twttch when
Wild Bill g shot went through his heart just as
nc was about to fire. or course he missed his
man He stood still in his tracks a moment
1T seemed like an hour-tried to raise his
gun g.ir 70 shoot again, reeled, and fell dead.
THE killing of TUFTS partner was daro.
uevii piece OF business as ! heard tho story"
continued the Mssourian. at was down on
the the Biz Sandy near the Arkansas boundary.
Mid Mid Bill was in Prices camp az the time; sent
there by Gen. Curtis to find out how many men
the rebels had and what they were going to do.
ne had circled away of through Kansas and
ARKANSAS, and had como Into their lines from
tho southwest, representing himself to be the
brother Of q secessionist he happened to know
who was killed at Pea Ridge
'lty and by. after Bl.had got tho Information
ne wanted, the two armies lay facing each
other with the river between them. He was
ready and anxious to leave Prices lines but
how to & I across tho river was problem that
puzzled him. for both banks were, heavily
plcketed. On picket duty one day he some
how managed to give the tip TO q Union com.
rade on the opposite bank SO that after that he
knew the boys would be looking for him and
wouldn't wouldn't shoot he should find an opportunity
nTptts partner, a big sergeant In ono OF
Frices Missouri regiments. was the bully OF the
camp camp and an awful braggart. To hear him tell
II there was no limit to what he had done or
what he ROinQ To do. Btll DQntefed him