The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-16

visible gun plays. That he made his
policy stick was shown by the fact
that when he gave up the night mar
shaPs job at the end of four years the
town records proved that out of the
scores Of bad men mix-ups in which ne
had taken a hand he had been COM
PEELED to kill only seven of the bad men
with his guns.
Mobiles invention of the invisible
gun game was an inspiration mothered
by extremely urgent necessity. Gus
was one of the first men to strike Butte
when the boom began. He was quiet
man, and he never let on to anybody
Where he came from. He probably had
a record in other camps under other
names. Instead of prospecting for the
metals, Noble nosed around among the
hills for gems: we used to think we
had all sorts of kimberleys up there in
those days. He never found enough OF
the garnets or sapphres to pay for ms
time hunting them. however; 1t was
reserved for men who went over the
very same ground years afterWard 10
strike the carbons in paying quantities.
So Noble came back into Butte and
picked up living at short haul freight
ing and cards He was playing game
of seven-up one night with one OF his
freighting partners In the rear room OF
the Stuffed Elk saloon when some
shooting began in the front room. There
was nothing uncommon about this. nut
when the glass began to crash and
couple of balls came through the thin
board partition that separated the front
from the rear room of the saloon. No
BILE and the man he was playing with
got up from the card table to see what
was doing out in front. They 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 got up by Butte's Wig
ilance committee, in the middle of the
saloon blazing away with both guns at
the lights and mirrors. The bartender
was not in sight, but when 1T was all
over he crawled out from behind the
bar, very fierce and ferocious. Scars
dale was drunk and enjoying himself.
He saw Noble and the other man when
they appeared in the doorway. and he
had them covered before they had time
to take in the situation. Scarsdale kept
his guns on them and talked.
"'You two ducks has got a nerve he
said 'a-pokin' in here like this when
I'm just startin' in to eat up the camp.
Amt we both skeart I'll drill so many
holes in We that yen ketch your death
o. cold on a raw night like this. hey?
Because if ye amt We want to be, FOR
I'm a-goin to-
"Scarsdale never had a chance to
finish telling what he was going to do.
There were two sharp pistol cracks, al
most together. and Scarsdale fell dead,
with one ball through his heart and the
other through his right lung Noble
partner looked mystified until he saw
Gus pull his smoking guns out of the
pockets of his sack coat, lay them on
the bar and then smother the fire in
both pocket Innings with his hands.
When Noble had sat down to his game
of seven-up he removed his guns from
his rear pockets to his side pockets OF
his coat, because they interfered with
the back of his chair He knew, when
Scarsdale got the drop on him, that the
man was bad enough and drunk enough
to shoot him dead if he made a move,
and as he had his hands thrust in his
coat side pockets when he appeared in
the doorway he was inspired to take
advantage of the situation to save his
life and the life of his friend. He got
the thanks of the town for finishing
Scarsdale's evil days. The pocket
shooting scheme struck Noble as being
a mighty good one for a man in a tight
place, and, as 1 said before. he en-
ployed it on two other occasions to put
the kibosh on bad men who while en-
gagged in shooting up the town crossed
his trail. 1t was the good work that