Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-03-02
TOMBSTONE'S DISARMAMENT.
When the Arizona Town Was Trem-
bling the Verge of To-
tai AnnihilRtion.

This newspaper talk about the cars
disarmament scheme" said a western
man. reminds me Of something that
happened in Tombstone, \. T., when
that place was the hottest hamlet on
the whole frontier. There were two
factions IN town at the time, and every
body predicted that a big pitched battle
was liable 10 occur at any moment. The
split grew out of an old quarrel be-
tween the cowboys and certain self
constituted authorities, and was com
plicated by so many side issues that no
body knew exactly what it was about.
All that was perfectly clear was tha'
two cood-sized crowds were zigzagging
about town waiting for some trifie 10
start the fracas. Every member OF
both parties was armed TO the teeth
and afraid to lay aside his shooting
irons for a moment lest he be taken at
a disadvantage. In addition to the reg
ulation brace Of 45-caiber Colts, most
of them carried 'sawed-off' shotguns.
These weapons were very popular IL
Arizona in the early days, and were or
binary breech-loaders with the barrels
amputated some eight inches above the
locks, making just about the ugiiest
machine that mortal man ever gazed in
10. When loaded with half pint or so
of slugs it would kill everything with
in an acre lot except the man directly
behind the gun. Nobody ever thought
of firing these things from the shoul-
der, but turned them loose at the hip,
and the modish way of carrying them
was by a loop of clothesline tied at
one end to the belt and at the other
to ring in the breechplate- Local
dudes used to go about twirling them
like monocles. Well, this armed peace
went along without any special Incl
dent for over half a year, greatly 10
the disgust of every body. You see, each
side carried so much personal artillery
and Kept such a sharp lookout that none
OF them cared to take chances on start
ing the row. That was the way things
stood when the fire department got
| ready TO give its annual ball, which was
| the great social event of the year. The
| fire chief was a keen-witted Irishman
| and he thought the situation over anc
| called on both factions. Look here
| boys he said, in substance, you al
want to come 10 the ball, and you can't
| do il with them scatter-guns hanging
TO you. If you happen TO kick one OF
waltzing you might massacre the whole
| orchestra, and they're the only musi
clans in town. So, why not let al
! hands agree to unload everything un
Ill further notice-guns, pistols, knives
and knuckles-and just turn in ant
have a good time? I'll take care of thu
hardware and give each fellow check.
This interesting proposition was ia
| vorablv received, and after considerable
| quibbling about details an agreemen
was drawn up and everybody peeled of
| his weapons. There was great sigi
of relief, and the ball was the bigges
success on record. The truth is, Tomb
stone was sick of war, and to the bes
| of my recollection the general disarm
ament continued five or six months. l
was broken by a typical street duel
and then things got wild and WOOL.
again. 1t is certainly curious unwrit
ten page of frontier history N. q
| Times-Democrat.