The Sunday globe., 1901-08-11
DIED IN HIS BOOTS.
The Noted DeSperadO, Tom Burns,
of Arizona.
KID" WALLACE GOT THE DROP
And the Celebrated Man-KiIIer Crosses The
0lYide-HS Funeral and a Biographical
Obituary by an Accomplished SOrIbbler
The Exploits Of This Merry Gun Fighter
and How He was FINAL Killed,

Burns has crossed the great divide in
Arizona. According to the vernacular
of the bOrder-when there was a bor-
der-he died with his boots on," his
transit having been expedited by one
kid" Wallace, a cow-puncher, aided
by trusty Winchester. As Burns had
facilitated the departure of many other
persons by means of a handy gun, his
end was what he might have expected,
and probably what he desired. In the
last scene Of Burns adventurous ca
reer it was a simple question Of
whether Burns or Wallace got the
drop" and fate willed that it should
be Wallace. In it's account of the fu-
neral, the San Francisco Examiner
says:
"A band of whooping careering cow
boys stampeded the funeral procession,
captured the supply wagon, serving as
a hearse, straddled the coffin and spur
red it with their big rowels all the way
to the grave, whore they jigged over
his remains just to wake up Tom and
give him a good seRd-off to
tom Burns couldn't have asked for
a wilder whirl into eternity nor for a
more exciting funeral.
HE was buried just as he fell, with
all his cowboy trappings on, including
his spurs. The only things he didn't
have were his guns They were too
fine a brace Of weapons to throw into
a grave, and as the cowboys, who saved
them for a souvenir, said, IF we let
Tom take EN- he'll get the drop on
Old Nick and run things down there
to suit himself"
From the same source is derived the
data for the biographical sketch which
follows. 1t seems that Burns had
never been popular in Arizona. He
had no end of sand but was a bully
of the first water. He was proud Of
his reputation as a gun-fghter and
took care to keep his reputation up to
mark by periodical displays of his
prowess. During the past year he had
been punching COWS in the Lonto Ba-
sin country and on the San Pedro
ranges, and permitted no one to dis
pute his title as boss of the range and
king among bad men. There were 9th
ers, for Arizona has rather more than
a fair proportion of the bad men who
still linger superhuous on the fringe
Of civilization; but Tom Burns enjoyed
d uAA AutGllblNNh supp tllhNl do q hNtAu @llbA
and a willing disposition. The lesser
braves never knew when he was going
to use them as a target for pistol prac-
tice, and as a man who stoOd for a
target once lost all interest in subse-
quent proceedings, the unpOpularity of
Burns was not in any measure due to
lack 90 confidence in either the sim
cerity ltentions or in his ability
to carry out his purpose.
1t was confidence in the integrity Of
Burns word which brought on the
final catastrophe Tom quarreled with
kid" Wallace and declared he would
"fX the Kid" Wallace who overheard
the remark, simply sat behind his door
with ready gun and waited for the
social call. Accordingly, when Burns
flung open Wallace's door and invited
him to be killed, the "Kid" was ready,
fired point blank at the caller and shot
him through the heart.
The coroner's inquest was brief and
satisfactory. The verdict was popular.
| Wallace was eXonerated from all sus-
picion of blame, and the funeral was
converted into a celebration.
Yet Burns was an extraordinary man
| in his way. When it came to a show
| down of gun notches, taking chances
between the trigger and the hangman's
| moose, and bluffing a hostile camp to
| the last cartridge Tom Burns had no
superior Like Wyatt carp, If he had
his gun at hand and half a chance he
would face any combination, Long
| before he Joined the four nervy fight
eTs who captured Evans and Sentag,
| the train robbers, Burns had earned
his reputation as a gun-fghter
One Of the most exciting episodes in
Burns daredevil career was an affair
in Cow Hollow. Cow Hollow was a
small Arizona settlement gathering
place for surrounding rangers. The
attraction of the Hollow was Belle
Hazen-"bell leader Of the cowboys,
they used to call her. Tom Williams
and Sam Jackson, two determined
range riders, were rivals for Belle
Hazen's favor. One day Tom Burns
came riding into town, and as he had
to be in the thick Of every scrimmage,
threw himself into the fight for the
bell leader" Two weeks after the
arrival of Burns, Jackson and Williams
met at her house. A message was sent
to Burns, who was playing poker at
a nearby ranch, The men decided it
was time for showdown to see who
was favOrite, but before Burns could
reach the place, hot-tempered Sam
jackson shot Williams.
BY chance the same ball wounded
Belle and she died that night jack
son, not knowing that her wound was
fatal, jumped on his broncho and head
ed for the Mexican border. Within
half an hour a posse with Burns in
the lead was hurrYng to overtake him
Late in the afternoon of the second
day Jackson's zigzag course TO escape
Burns, who was hot on his trail, took
him in the direction OF Cow Hollow.
Both men were almost played out with
the heat and breakneck pace Barns
broncho had thrown him and his left
shoulder was badly wrenched, but he
stuck to his game like a wolf to a
wounded deer, and forced the course
Cow Hollow way.
Jackson rode straight for the home
OF Belle Hazen. Her body was laid
out in the room ready for the funeral.
The two women in charge ran scream
ing from the room as Jackson. blood
stained and dusty, stumbled headlong
over the threshold. A little later
Burns came galloping up. The excited
women told HIM what had happened.
lie pulled his gun and walked into the
house to kill his quarry. A moment
later he came out Then there was a
quick, sharp report from within, and
they found Jackson on the floor with
a hole in his forehead. Burns after
ward tsld friend that Jackson must
have hypnotized him. "Im going to
kill myself, and therell be no use for
You around here, so go" commanded
Jackson, and Burns, for the only time
recorded in his history, meekly obeyed
and lost chance to pull the TRIGGER.