The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-11-02
A GENUINE BAD MAN.,
THuRsToN uLLiBRlDoE WAS the
REAL THING ALL THROUGH.

the Famous Bat Masterson.
"You often hear and read yarns to the
general effect that bad men are almost
Invariably cool, silent chaps and that
there is no such thing as q bad man
who busters, the blusterers, according to
these stories, being all cowards," said
Jared McAlbert, q well known Montana
mining man.
"These yarns make me smile. The
regular he devil of bad man Is almost
extinct now, but I've met several hun
dred of 'em in my day, and every man of
them was not only wickedly bad in fact,
but also on his own confession. The
worst men Of the lot were the fellows
who publicly gloated over their deviltry.
I've generally discovered on investigation
that the quiet, cool bad men were fell
lows who shot or stabbed their victims in
the back.
II am always entertained when l read
fairy tales of the way the bad men used
to get themselves done up occasionally
by fiat chested, one lunged tenderfeet
from the east. A few years ago ! read a
story in St. Louis paper about the way
a pretty, blue eyed tenderfoot lad had
made the fqmous Tor rather infamous)
Thurston Lillibridge dance, and it like to
have tickled me to death. As matter
of fact the man never lived that got the
drop on Lillibridge. He committed sui
eide. Lillibridge was about as bad a
man as ever struck Leadville when Lead
vile was bad, which is saying enough.
He was the worst braggart, the most tire.
mendous blowhard, that ever loved the
sound of his own voice, and yet he was
bad and dangerous way down to the
ground and underneath it. He loved ten
derfeet for the fun he had with them,
and this is the reason the fairy tale about
his having been corralled by one of them
| was such good reading for me.
1.-TWO young fellows from Camden, N.
j., struck Leadvile in the fall Of 1873.
Each Of them carried two big silver
mounted pistols in his new belt, and
their knives were new and shiny. They
were pretty strapping young men as a
matter of fact, but they talked too much,
| and new man in Leadville had to cheep
pretty low in those days until the layout
had time to size him up and properly
label him, SO to speak. These two young
men, who seemed to have plenty Of mon
ey in addition to their fine outfits, didn't
appear to understand Leadville ethics,
however, and they toured around among
the ginmills, talking heap. They were
both fairly well loaded up by the time
they got around to Nat Brinkerhoff's
Red Light saloon, and this made them
more garrulous than ever. Lillibridge,
quiet for once, stood at the bar when
they walked in. He looked at their fine
toggery and shiny weapons with aston
ishment on his face, but without saying
word. One of the young men, the more
boisterous of the two, finally noticed Lii
librdge.
"'You're pretty husky looking, pard,'
said he, with n dismal attempt at the
manner of the frontier swashbuckler.
Name your poison
"Thurston didn't bat an eye or say
word for full minute. Then he seemed
to emerge from his trance, shook himself
together and strolled up to the two young
men from Camden.
"'Can you two kids run at lopez in
quired he, with mock Difference.
"RunT said the one who had address,
ed him. Certainly we can run, but we
don't make business of it. WhyT
"'Because,' said Lillibridge, hitching
up his trousers, us three are a-goin to
play hoss.'
"'Huh? said the laxative youth in
quiringly.
"'Hoss, I said!' shoute,! Li]libridge.
We're a-goin to play boss. l want to
find out If you can lope in harness as fast
rs you can talk
"As he spoke he suddenly threw rope
over the two young mems shoulders,
hanging on to the two loose ends himself,
holding them in his left hand. With his
right he reached for one Of his guns and
planted ball about an inch from each of
the young mems heels.
".G:t APP he howlcd, md the two
Camden boys were out of the door in
second, Lillibridge right behind them
with the reins in his left hand and still
kicking up the dust at their heels with
the gun in his right.
"'Go a-humpin! Shake it up! Jest hit
the high places" Lillibrdge bawled after
they fairly dragged him along. swift run
ner as he himself was, so fast was the
pace the gun persuaded them to take up.
Up and down Main street he drove them.
the town taking it in with howls Of joy.
"'Whoa there. yelled Lilibridge when
he had brought his team back to their
starting place. I.illibridgl unwound the
rope from them and then famed himself
with his hat and waited for the return of
his wind.
"'You Shctlands are not so bad on the
co. he said finally, but you can't run
like you can walk, and you want to learn
how and when and where to unship your
guns from your purity new belts before
you undertake to pack 'em around with
you. Why didn't you shoot me up someT
"The young fellows looked sheepish,
but said nothing. Lillibridgc took them
under his protection from that night, and
in time they learned how to make bluff
good.
"This same Thurston Lillibridge was
the only man who ever had the drop on
that quick trigger man, Bat Mastcrson,
for a minute He crept up behind Mas
terson one day and, with a quick move
ment, grabbed both of the marshals guns
out of his belt. Masterson wheeled
around and found himself covered by Lii
libridge with his own guns. He stood
stock still, expecting to get two balls in
his head. for he had had several growls
with Lillibridgc. Lillibridge lowered the
guns and handed them back to Masterson
butts foremost.
"That's one I've got on you, Bat said
Iilibridge, and it's up to you never to
come a-gunnin for me, marshal or no
marshal, no matter what do. Just pass
that up to some one else.
"'Tbat goes, said Masterson briefly,
and it did notwithstanding the fact that
there was many time afterward when
it was up to Masterson to gather Lilli-
bridge in or make finish OF it with him.
"rhc real bad man has always been
bosterously bad, and the quiet, cool bad
man has never been anything else but
slinkcr and a counterfeit. Washington
Star