The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1901-05-02
DEsPERADoEs AND THEIR GUNS.
The Short, Deadly Bulldog is Their Fa-
yoTite Weapon,


q notice in pictures OF frontier des
peradoes,' said citizen who lived iii the
west at the time ii was wild and woolly,
that they are always represented as
carrying enormous revolvers in holsters
slung to the left hip. That is a mistake.
The cowboys down in the grazing country
affected that kind of weapon and would
catch cold if they didn't have one on,
but in the mining regions, where life was
considerably more strenuous and the
typical frontier desperate was to be
found in full bloom, big guns were not
fashionable. The professional bad man
preferred something small and compact
that he could stow away in odd places
and produce unexpectedly in an argu
ment. The arm that was most generally
carried by that class was squat, ugly,
.45-caiber bulldog revolver, made some
where in England and imported express
ly for the western trade. | don't remem-
Der ever seeing one anywhere else. 1t
had FIVE chambers and an inch-and-a hall
barrel, and, while it was indescribably
clumsy and uncouth in appearance, 1t was
really very handy and formidable ma
chine The barrel was so short it could
be carried almost anywhere without at
tracing attention, and a favorte trick
was to slip il into the coat sleeve-sOme-
thing that enabled a noted gambler named
Bill Westfall to kill a rival ruffian at
Gunnson in 1884. The men met in bar
and Westfall, apparently unarmed, was
carelessly holding the lapels of his coat
A few words passed, when suddenly his
right hand dropped, bulldog. fell into
/ Il. H. Ia,I
Another pet scheme was to stuff the pls-
tol into the fob pocket OF the trousers.
When the bad man wanted to bring it
into action he would tumble carelessly
with his waistband, and his vis-a-vis gen
orally woke up to tie situation with 4
chunk of hot lead in his vitals.
The plan Of cutting hole i'll the
pocket Of an alpaca coat was the invention
Of an Arizona killer named Norton.
The loose, light garment would show
plainly that there was no weapon con-
cealed about it, and when Norton had his
hands in the pockets he was supposed to
be harmless; but the hole enabled him
at any time to reach down into his trous-
crs and quietly dig tip bull dog which
he carried with his loose change. This
vancouver enabled him to send several of
his enemies to the happy hunting
grounds but the secret finally leaked out,
and after that the alpaca coat was re-
garded as sign of war. OF course. the
bulldog was of no value whatever at
long range, for the thing shot seven ways
for Sunday, but nine-tenths of the fights
in that country were hand-to-hand at
| fairs, and then the quickness with which
it could be drawn was a great point in
its favor. 1t was next to impossible.
also, to wrench it out of strong mans
grasp, for there was nothing to take hold
Of. | remember witnessing an affray be-
tween a couple of desperadoes at the
once well-known camp of Carbonville.
| One of them-a fellow named Jack
| Hill-drew bulldog and the other
seized it by its stumpy barrel and tried to
twist it out of his hand. Hill merely
pulled the trigger and his antagonist was
minus the three fingers That ended the
fight. "-Ne7O Orleans TimeS-Dcmocrat