The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-01-19
CAPTAIN DICK

Captain Dick " ellis and Mrs. Wells.
formerly Jack Hall, will leave next
week for San Francisco en- route for
Portland Ore"
This is the item that headed the per-
sonal column of the Arizona papers
recently
Back of this is story that has set
all Arizona agog-the tale of woman
masquerading AZ cowboy attire lasso-
ing cattle, taking part in shooting
lscrapes, leading the wild free adven-
turous life of the Arizona vaquero-
the story of a woman who, because
her father had been hanged as a horse
thief, changed her name. hid her sex,
and the beating Of hoof and the whizz-
ing OF bullet, sought to drown the me-
mory of the disgrace AS a fitting
finale, when her sex was discovered
she married Captain LICK, the BRAY
est and boidest cowboy in all Arizona
1t is a story kindled with strange
and dramatic incidents that could
occur nowhere save in Arizona, where
still puts fiction to blush and boot and
spur have not altogether given away
to patent feathers.
1t was just about year ago that
a slender, clean-shaven youth asked
for work at one of the big cattle
ranches near Williams. Captain Dick,
who was the leader of the cowboys,
engaged the ''tenderfoot, and Jack
Hall, the name the applicant for work
gave, won his spurs in lie annual 70.
dec for which the cowboys were then
preparing.
BY day Jack sat his horse rounding
up the cattle and at night slept on the
ground He was quiet and distant TO-
wards the other cowboys, but for the
most part they liked him. Before the
first month ad passed he had an op-
portunity to show his mettle
A number Of cowboys were spend.
ing the night in a typical Arizona
tOwn-One saloon per every fifteen in
habitants. Jack Hall, in search of
Captain Dick, dropped into one of the
saloons. A cowboy, revolver in hand,
WAS acting as master of ceremonies,
while in the middle of the floor the
barkeeper, half dead from fatigue,
was doing dance TO the amusement
of the rest of the cowboys
When the barkeeper attempted to
stop sWirling his feet the cowboy
shouted for more dancing and the
master of ceremonies encouraged the
barkeeper by popping his pistol dan
gerously near his feet.
Jack Hall watched the scene in 81.
lence until he saw that the barkeeper
reached the limit of his endurance.
Then he deity wrenched the pistol
from the cowboys hand and, turning
it On him, said; IF you want any
more dancing, do it yourself"
The cowboy snatched another one,
but Jack Hall was too quick for him.
There was quic-, sharp report and
a cry Of pain. The cowboy was
wounded in the right arm.
Then Jack Hall did a strange thing.
His were the fingers that bandaged
his adversary's wounds. He attend
ed to him, even cutting his food for
him, until the cowboy was well. After
that he was christened Nurse Jack
and more often called simply Nurse.
He had an almost womanish way of
caring for them if they fell i'll.
HE amt a drinker and he can't
play cards worth hill of frijoles, but
he's all right dosing medicine and
such things" explained the cowboys.
hOltONtl HG W dO dli IlSul MHtu i
came to handling horse or a revolv-
er, which after all counts more points
in the cowboys estimation than bottle
or cards. Beside he had as firm ally
Captain Dick, which, in Arizona, is
the open sesame TO any cowboys
friendship.
Captain Dick did win his position
among the Arizona cowboys without
first proving his strength of his good
right arm. Captain Dick has never
been a believer in the laws delay
He has assisted at more hangings
than any sheriff in the territory. Nor
hive the victims of his sense of justice
afterward been proven innocent Cap
tain Dick makes sure of the offenders
guilt before he ties the knot
1t was in 1882, while he was still
very young, that Captain Dicks popul-
arity reached the high water mark
General Fremont, the new Governor
of the Territory had introduced a
bill in the Legislature, which was
then in session, asking that several
thousand dollars be put aside TO equip
a company of militia to be sent to the
southern part of the territory to sub
due the cowboys.
The older inhabitants and members
of the Legislature secuted the idea.
The request for the militia had come
from a New England green grocer,
who had not yet become acclimated
to the cowboy and his harmless
Fourth of July antics in town.
What will the militia dor de-
manded the legislators.
"Cbpnf tho nou-I,Ovc ~ fbov mic
behave. Order even at the price of
blood" replied the erstwhile path
finder.
Then member from a Yavapai
County read a letter from Captain
Dick" inviting the militia to come to
the southern part of the territory.
There are members of that legisa-
ture who treasure a copy of that
letter to this day, and challenge any
one TO produce anything as funny
from Mark Twain or Bill Nye Capt.
Dick proved his ense of hum0r ard
his cunning with the pen rs -ef rs
pistols. Several Of 5ha 3siafors
favored sending ta miii ri
to give Cart lic
the militia, epitaphs, which was the
boon he asked for estowing the hos
pitality of the cowboys.
Several years ago a number of COW.
boys rode into Prescott and, after
frightening all the barkeepers of the
saloons into comotose condition,
breaking glassware and practicing
fancy shots, they remounted their
horses and rode through the town
wildly shooting at the clouds.
A posse of citizens was formed and
a mile or two out of town they over
took the hilarious cowboya killing
one of them and wounding several.
Tho n11rcuit opd Iyftt;,,.r -..,,.,l--.,i g.,