The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-01
FIST CURE FOR BAD MEN.
GUS MOBILES CAREER As NIGMF
MARSHAL OF BUTTR

Was the Inventor Of tho Invisible Gun Play,
But Preferred to Use His Fists when IL
was Unnecessary to Kul--Ths Need
lessness OF Shooting to Preserve Order
That story in THE SUN q while back about
Jack Gillian, the marshal Of Ponoa City who per
suades bosterous bad men 10 be good with his
fists without rosorting 70 guc plays or knife OK
ercises. reminded me Of a man up my way who
had the same tactics down pretty pat, said George
Orth, Montana gem miner The Montana
man Gus Noble, who was night marshal Of
Butte when Butte was ornery and dangerous TO
live In Noble was the best afterdark peace
preserver ever knew. and I've known a lot Of them
In one place and another He was notable man
In his business for two reasons In the first place
he was the inventor and, when occasion demanded,
the most expert practitioner, Of the gentle art Of
shooting to death with invisible guns a man who
had the drop on him, with guns. that IL 70 say,
reposing in the side pockets Of his coat Jim Cort-
wright, who was killed by Luke Short, said he In
vented the pocket gun game but Jim was convers
ing through his necklace when he made the state
ment Noble was the first Of the sack coat shooters
At different times he killed three bad men In Butte
and they all he'd clean drop on him, with guns
that weren't on public view. In the second plaoe
be could Jump into bad mix up and dothe fanciest
fob with his pair Of mnulies unaided by any other
weapons whatever, that ever saw or heard Of
When Noble accepted the Job Of running the town
Of Butte altar shutdown and pinned on his mar
shsls badge he outlined his policy IN Tow words
"A gun's all night and SOS knife for q man
that wants to DO a killer. be said I mover was
a killer Just for the namo Of n, and atnt aeoing
to be dlisr that I'm leg allied 70 lot the night
air into any heli-roarin maverick that thinks he
Us boss IN this camp between dcw-foil and s1n-up
never killed no man unless he needed to be killed
and it was up 20 me to do the job and I've always
let en- get me into pretty bad fix at that before
I'd feel like putting IL on them. man can get
along we'll enough with his two mitts In Butte OF
anywhere else, II he knows how to use them
Having thus outlined his policy, Noble went
TO work To keep the town of Butte in order with the
weapons that nature provided him with, and II was
only when he found himself in dire predicaments
that he resorted to his invisible gun plays That
he made his policy stick was shown by the fact
that when he gave up the night marshal's job at
the end OF four years the records proved that
out Of the scores Of bad men mix-ups In
which he had taken hand he had been COM
PEELED 10 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 a 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; used to think had all sorts Of
Kimberleys up there in those days He never
found enough of the gernets or sapphires to pay
for his time hunting them, however; it reserved
for men who went over the very same ground
years afterward to strike the carbons in paying
quantities. So Noble came back into Butte and
picked up a living at short haul freightng and
cards He was playing n game of seyenu up one
night with one Of his freightng partners in the
room Of the Stuffed Elk saloon when some
shooting began in the front room. There was moth
ing uncommon about this but " hen the glass be
gan to crash and couple Of balls came through
the thin board partition that separated the front
from the rear room of the saloon, Noble 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 Jim Scarsdale, .
killer who had several times como near TO being
the central figure in ynching bees got up by Buttes
vigilance committee, in the middle Of the saloon
blazing away with both guns at the lights and
mirrora The bartender not in sight, but
when II was all over he crawled out from behind
the bar very fierce and ferocious Scarsdaie was
drunk and enjoying himself He saw Noble and
the other man when they appeared in he 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 q nerve said he
a pokin in here like this when I'm just startin
in to eat up the camp Amt ye both skear I'll
drill so many holes in ye that yen ketch your
death O. cold on a raw night like this hey? Be
cause il ye amt ye want to be, for I'm a-gon'
to
"Scarsdale never had a chance to finish telling
what he was going to do. There were two sharp
pistol cracks, almost together, and Scarsdale fell
dead, with one ball through his heart and the
other through his right lung. Mobiles pardner
looked mystified until he saw Gus pull his smok-
ing 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 the 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
sa We his life and the life Of his friend. He got the
thanks OF the town for finishing Scars.
dsle's evil days. The pocket shooting
scheme struck Noble being a mighty good
one for a man in tight place, and as said
before he employed 1t on two other occa-
sions to put the kibosh on bad men who while
engaged in shooting up the town crossed his train.
II was the good work that Noble did in Kidding
Butte of desperate characters that induced the
orderly men of the town TO urge him TO take the
job of night marshal.
when Noble mado his announcement upon
assuming the Office that he intended to run the
town by fist persuasion entirely, unless he found
himself in holes too deep to climb out OF without
the aid OF his guns. they all thought he was only
fooling But it discovered that
Noble meant what he said three nights after be
took the night marshals beat On that night
he dropped into Tim Logan's dance tent Il
| have a look around There was nothing in par
| ticular going on there, only a dozen couples oil
| so gyrating around on the hard-packed clay
| floor to the music of accordion. Noble stood
| in corner talking to Logan for while, AND
then started 10 go out of the door OF the tent Al
| he did so he almost bumped into another mar
| lust coming in. The other man was big freighte
| haA han Grha