The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-04-03
LUCK AGAINST A BAD MAN
QUEER THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO
TOOTHPICK DAVIS.

, AN Improbable Deal In Texas stee,
His Last Attempt to Play a Butche
One evening at hotel in Denver on
of a party Of men happened to rea
aloud an article relative to John Yves
ley Hardin, now in the Texas peniten
tiary. Then he remarked:
Speaking of Hardin and bad men il
general reminds me of Jim Davis
Tootpick Davis, as he was more famil
iarly called in whom l used to take
great deal of interest when he was il
Austin, Texas AfterWard l used t.
see him a great deal in Galveston
where he ran faro game and genera
gambling house. Davis was the hard
est man | ever met, and l have seen {
few. He was a giant Of a man, ovel
six feet in height, broad and burly az
we'll One time I was out tarpon fish
ing, possibly mile or two from shore
when I noticed Tootpick and another
man cruising about at a little distance
from me. Suddenly Tootpick's part
ner, who was stepping gayly about in
the boat, fell into the water. In a wild
endeavor to save his friend, Davis fell
after him. The boat, which was sailing
1 a bit free at the time went something
like 100 yards, and then got her head
into the wind and stood there tapping
her sails. When the first man hit the
water my boatman, without waiting for
orders, at once headed to the rescue.
/ fn1I m tbp "a a,. he 90,
| if anything, nearer to us than his
friend. We pointed for him to pick him
up, but as we approached he waved his
hand and yelled:
Don't stop for me- Save my friend.
He can't swim a lick, and he owes me
81, 600"
"Of course, we kept on and captured
his friend, who had about tub of wa
ter in him. and didn't have anything
to say for an hour. Tootpick. who
could sustain himself, we recovered safe
and sound. 1t was perhaps three days
later when ] CHANGED to meet Tootpick
Davis in the barroom of the hotel, and,
after thanking me for saving his life,
he said:
but about my friend You know
that I yelled to you that he owed me
$1,000. Well, that's straight; but what
does the fellow do? AS soon as he re-
covered his breath he lands on me and
says he must be in a streak of good
luck because he didn't drown, and
that If I'd stake him against faro bank
he could win 100000 The worst of it is
that he actually made me believe it.
Well. | coughed up $1,000, and he now
owes me 81, 500 see? 1t would have been
better for me financially if he had
drowned, so I'm not so grateful as /
was.
II think" said man from the south
west, that I used to see something of
your friend Davis out in Texas, too. 1t
was when the M. X and T. railway was
extended in 1872 from Parson, Kan, to
Dennison. 1t went through a section
practically pre-empted by the maraud-
ing half breeds the rustlers and Grimm
ais who subsequently had to emigrate
to No-Mans Land. While the road was
in construction the monte men and as
fine a gang of criminals as ever went
unhung swarmed about the tent towns
to prey upon the railway laborers.
Shooting was common, and the saying
S<NNNf'si'''eii
wasn't served for breastfast. The Of
ficials lived in cabooses with extra tim
bered sides, sort of fortresses on wheels.
Col. Edward Lynde had the contract for
the road, not an enviable one, consider
ing the country from which he had to
secure his supplies. He was fine
looking man, tall, 1.-THE, alert, and a
stranger to fear He made an engage
ment with Davis for transporting the
supplies. Tootpick promised by con-
tract to bring 100 yoke of oxen to the |
present city of Eufaula to carry sup |
plies south; but what does Tootpck
do? He simply went out and rounded |
up some Texas steers, and, yoking these |
up with difficulty, started out. The nov
city wore out for the beasts after the
first two days out, and there was
grand stampede, in which wagons were
overturned and the steers broke away. |
ToOtpick made not the least attempt to
rectify matters, and rode away south.
"Lynde soon heard of the confusion
and started after Davis with a big
named Jim. A fifty-mile chase
them up with Davis, who was
by a Mexican. Tootpick
'edcHeu lOE ms guns, Jul was toNelcu
,y big Jim. The Mexican, who attempt
ID to throw knife, dropped it with an
oath when he got a bullet in the wrist.
was tied up like trussed
,hlcken, thrown in a wagon and carried
pack to the end of the line, where he
vas made to square accounts. Davis
lidn't relish this and swore that
Iynde's life should pay for the incon-
of that long ride, and made, a
notch for big Jim.
"One night, about a month after this,
Col. Lynde drove into the hamlet of
Avoca and jumping from the buck
,oard fastened into the hotel The bar
DOM was redolent of smoke and full of
,order men and in the midst of the
argest group stood Davis. Every man
vas accounted man of experience and
II had heard of Tootpick's boast
4ynde, for reasons best known to him
elf, had never carried a gun, but he
ad one thing-nerve-and plenty of it,
Ie walked over to Toothpick Davis and
ushed him aside, remarking in a loud
dice that he would kill him on sight if
e crossed his path again. He then pro- !
eeded upstairs and to bed; this was
ct pleasant, and the gang proceeded ,
0 liquor up,' making things lively, and ,
man was shot in a room beneath Col. ,
.ynde. Early next morning Lynde !,
yent into the office, which was long, ,
arrow room. with a railing at one end. |