The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-06
QUICK, SURE GUN PLAYS.
Some Wonderful Shooting Done by
FrOntIersmen.

FrOntiersmen.
Denver Letter in New York Sun.
II read in a newspaper the other day"
said an old frontiersman. "of two men who
met up in Montana. INDUCED in a little
rapid gun play and both fell mortafly
wounded at the first shot. Incidents of this
sort are not so uncommon as one might
think. Men on the frontier who use a gun
at all learn to be quick with the trigger,
as the fraction of a second may mean life
or death. l recall one such incident in par
ticular.
lin the early '70s Charley Collins was
one of the most famous and perhaps the
most desperate of the criminals on the
Texas border. He held up trains, robbed
stages, stole horses. murdered traders and
committed other crimes until the rewards
offered for his capture dead or alive ex-
ceeded $4,000 AT that time VIII Ander-
son was deputy United States marshal at
Dallas, Tex. He was the nervlest man
ever knew. He was a dead shot, absolutely
without fear, and the terror of evildoers.
He had a somewhat remarkable career A
native of Illinois, he went to Texas before
the war. He was drafted into the Confed-
crate army, but his sympathies were with
the North and at the first opportunity he
deserted and made his way to his old home
where he entered an Illinois regiment. He
was captured by the Confederates, but es-
capped. At the battle of Shiloh he received
bullet in the head which laid him up for
many months. When the war closed he
went back to Texas, and his courage and
quick handling of gun brought about his
appointment as deputy United States mar
shall Before long he was the terror of Dor
der bandits No man got the drop on him,
and more than one man who tried Ii had
his career suddenly brought to a close.
I'm 1876 Anderson started out to run
Collins down. He soon made Texas too
hot for him, and Collins fled 10 Colorado,
and thence to Wyoming, and to the Black
Hills country, then filled with about the
toughest aggrega ton of men ever brought
together. Anderson kept close after him
and Collins started north for the British
possessions. Anderson OWNED his plan and
made for Pembina, then the gateway TO
Manitoba. He had 10 wait only a few
hours, when Collins came into town. Both
men were on the alert. They met in the
street, caught sight of each other at The
same time, pulled their revolvers, fired
on the instant and both fell dead Neither
spoke a word after being shot Anderson
was taken back to Dallas, where he had
His family got the reward. Taking every
thing into eonsldera ton, 1t was about the
most persistent pursuit and the most trag-
ic climax / ever knew of.
about the same time there took place
down in New Mexico an ARRAY which was
for many years the talk of that region.
Between ROTOR and Maxwell stands an old
two-story house, il is hardly a stones
throw from the Santa Fe Railroad track
H1 he. old IT,
trail The high gabled roof, the shattered
doors and windows, and the general tumb-
led down appearance Of the house give 1t
an uncanny look. If walls had tongues
these walls could tell many a tale of rob-
berry and murder. Old timers of New Mex
leo and Southern Colorado will remember
what the Red river crossing was before
the days of railroads. They will also re-
call the old two-story adobe house beside
the road, which was the headquarters of
the toughest men of that wild section In
the palmy days of the Santa Fe trail Red
river crossing was an important point and
travellers going into or coming out Of the
great undeveloped territory TO the south
used il as a relay station. As far as the
eye can reach on all sides of that old adobe
house Is a great desert covered with the
curly tops Of sage brush and the long
slender tops of the soap weed. Immediate
~ Ddck OF the MUSE - a DluIt ana on It's
top is a level stretch dotted here and there
with white spots which identify It as a
cemetery. On one OF the old pine boards
in letters now almost obliterated Is painted
In crude letters Chunk and thereby
hangs a tale
I'm the early 7Os when justice in this
wild Western country was done by yigt
lance committees, many bad men infested
that region. And the most desperate of
them all was Chunk. Who he was or
where he came from no one knew. but all
recognized him as a thorough-going des-
Dorado. and respected him accordingly
the most cold-blooded and OUTRAGEOUS
crimes were attributed to him, aud he
boasted of having committed them. With
ugly scars on his face and brace of elk
shooters and a bowie knife in his belt, he
presented figure which made men uncom-
Portable when he met them in lonely
places. In direct contrast to Chunk was
CLAY Allison, also a desperate man, but
possessed OF many good qualities. He
lived on the Pecos in New Mexico and died
there only few years ago. 1t was he who
cid the country of the terrible Chunk,