The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-28

ened awhile for a renewal of the ~rattler's
warningful sound, but II didn't come and
so he turned over and fell asleep again.
Next morning he found a huge rattler
with its head shot of just seventy-twO
with his head on his saddle. He was
afraid that this shot might have been sim
ply accidental, and so he tested himself.
He discovered that he could shoot just
as we'll in the dark, locating the object of
his aim simply by hearing. He had re-
markably acute ears, had Jink. As a mat
ter OF fact, his eyes were none OF the best,
and his ears guided his gun hand unerring-
~. When he first told US about this
scheme Of his Of shooting in the dark, some
OF US were a bit incredulous, and so Jlnk
undertook to prove the thing 20 us.
We caught fifteen of those big mes
quite katydids that we have down I'm ole
Arizone-tney make about five times as
big a noise as the katydids you have up
this "a we glued their legs in a
circle about a foot in diameter to a piece
or paper. This we tackled to the wall OF
the long 'dobe back of Jink's plant, which
he used for a stOrerOom. 1t was pretty
dark in that 'dObe storeroom even with
the one door open, but when the door was
closed IL was blacker'n the middle of Africa
III there.
The katydids chirped away for dear
life as they tried to release their long legs
from the glue which held them to the piece
of paper. Well, Jink took three guns and
went into that storeroom, closing the door
after him. The StOrerOOm was Just nfty-
four feet in length. We waited outside for
the sound Of the shots. Jink waited for the
katydid chorus to quiet down some before
beginning shooting. When the katydids
dropped their complaining and only let
out their alarms one by one Jink started
in. When we took the piece of paper into
the light, by the horns of the ella. each
and every one of them fifteen katydids
glued in a circle had been ~squnched
through the paper into the wall by links
fifteen bulletsi"
There can be no manner of doubt in
life" began the New Yorker, that this
That's the best gamble you ever made.
He was cut in the big man from the
Southwest. "And he had 'em all skinned
to a FRAGILE down our way when it came
to string shooting, too. Never heard OF
string shooting? Huh! That's odd! We all
take q try at it once or twice in our lives,
but it's mighty dangerous work, and Jink
was the only man that l ever met up with
to whom il was nothing but child's play.
Never will forget how surprised We were
when we saw Jink perform his first string
shot. He rugged up one of his guns SO that
a good gust o. wind would almost ha' let
her off. and then he fastened a piece of
ordinary Irvine to the trigger. Then, with
the gun resting on it's side on the palm OF
his left hand, he put one ball in her, cooked
her and was ready. He told US that he was
going to try to hit the middle leaf Of a
cactus plant that stood beside the trail
about $50 feet from where Jink stood.
well, he gave us time to dodge out of
range behind our 'dObes, and then he very
gently tossed the gun. which he still held
on the palm of his left hand, into the air:
The string attached to the trigger he held
in his right hand. When the gun had struck
just the position in the air that Jink wanted
he Jerked the string in his right hand, ana
bangi off she went! We raced down to the
cactus and there, sure enough. we found
that links string-shOt ball had gone right
through the middle of the middle leaf that
he had tried for.
THAT was about as swell a string shot
as was ever fired down my way, and even
Jink himself-and he was a modest man
couldn't hold in a little flush of pride over
the achievement. You see, 1t was no SlOuch
of a job to seize upon Just precisely the
| miliOnth fraction of an instant while his
gun was just in proper position in the air
to pull the string-rigged trigger, and Jink
justly regarded $50 feet as a pretty fair
range for successful shooting of that char
We'll, the New York man started to
But ne was" interrupted the Arizona
giant. You bet he was. Well, Ulk
showed UP one afternoon with a queer
pair of things strapped to his feet the like
OF which we'd never seen before. They
were roller skates, which were just coming
and he sent back East for a pair.
couldn't make out what the dickens
Jink wanted TO fool away his time with
such effete things as roller skates for, but
he only grinned when we asked him about
it, and said that he'd show us after a while.
Well, he did show us all right. He prac-
ticed with the roller skates for a month or
so, becoming more proficient with EN- every
day. The stunt that he particularly devoted
his toes so fast that he>lOoked like a huge
top. He got SOS he could whirl around this
way for almost any length of time.
"When he got il down as fine as this he
invited us to take a stroll outside the camp.
as he was going to try a bit of shooting
on roller skates. We went along. thinkin'
that Jink would probably startle us with
some feats of shooting while IN full career
on the roller skates, but we never figured
that mortal mar could pull off the job Of
shooting that he accomplished that after
noon.
''Jink fixed four bell targets at the four
points of the compass equi-distant and,
| with ahOnf a hundred feet TING fpn
Right in the middle of the space formed
by these planted targets Jink set up a
small wooden platform, about two feet
wide. Then he stuck six guns into his
belt, strapped on his roller skates. stepped
up on the platform and requested us to
duck behind a nearby 'dobe for a minute
or so while he gave US some bell music.
Said he was the only original and sure
enough bell ringer.
to whirl on the front wheels of his roller
skates, and in about half a minute he was
going around so fast that he looked like
the governor on a rotary engine. Then
bang! bangi bang! went Jink's guns. and
ting! ting! tingi went the bells of those
targetsi Darned if ii didn't sound like
sleighbel music, and it made some OF us
fellows from the North feel mighty lone
some for a taste of the snowy Northern
winter. Whirling around like a top, making
something nke $50 revolutions to the min
ute, Jink continued blazing away at the
targets that he couldn't see but could only
in every one of his six guns. and then he
slackened down on his skates and came to
a stop.
"He was a bit dizzy after this extraor-
binary achievement in roller shooting, but
that was his first trial at it. In time he
became so scientific in roller shooting that
while he was vhirling on the toes of his
skates Eastern any fywheel."
Did he ever
yep. frequently. That was one of the
easiest of links tricks. And his quickness
of eve was amazin' all along the line. He
often shot a lightning bug at a distance
I of 80 feet while the bug was still in the act
of performing it's Illuminating stunt. How'd
we know that he actually shot the lightning
tice to Just shoot their heads off, and we'd
see the remaining portions OF the bug drop
to the ground. still sheddin' it's light al
though decapitated-too much surprised, l
s'pose. to stop pickering so suddenly.
'Another of Jink's hard. ones was his
bullet-chasing trick. He was the only man
ever known to pull off that trick. He'd put
two cartridges in his gun. One of them
would only contain half the amount of pow
der held by the other. which, of course,
rendered its initial and muZZle velocity as
half as great. Well. link would fire with
these two cartridges at a target 200 feet
away. He'd fire the half-charged one first.
the other one following in an all but map
preciable space of time afterward. The
full-charged ball would catch the half
charged one midway between Jink and the
target. and drive it to the target. Standing
! Just half way between Jink and the target
We could hear the click of the two balls
when the full-charged one overlook the
half-charged one, and they came together.
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