The Washington times., 1901-09-08
NO GUMS ON THE RANGE.
The Six-Shooter No Longer Popular
with Cowboys.

Those who have received their notion of
the life of the piainsmen from the illus
trations of Eastern weekly and monthly
magazines have necessarily associated
these three words together: cowboy
bowie knife, and six-shooter.
Men who have been on the ranches Of
the West for twenty-five years have d
different idea OF the life in the cattle
country than those who get their pictures
of Western life from Eastern publications
The bowie knife is now practically extinct
and it was fifteen years ago that the sys-
tematic disappearance of the six-shooter
began.
Major W. a. Towers, of Colorado. one
of the most widely known ranchmen and
one of the pioneers of the range. is the
man who was the most active of all in
the campaign against the six-shooter. Ma
jor Towers began his career on the range
thirty years ago. His knowledge of the
cattle country is like that which man
has of the streets of a town in which he
has always lived and Major Towers has
grazed his cattle from the Panhandle to
Montana. He is now ct the head of 4
ranch of 5000 acres in southern Colorado
Last year Major Towers went to Mex
leo and bought the largest bunch of steers
OF the same age ever sold by one stock
man to another. He purchased from Cen
eral Terasus, of Mexico, who has the
largest range in the world, 5000 yearling
steers. The export duty which he was
Obliged to pay to take these cattle out of
Mexico amounted to $4,000.
THE COWBOYS used to go heavily
armed" said Major Towers at the Media
yesterday. because in the old days of
the free government range there was al
ways danger OF Indians. II was a prac
tical idea for the cowboy to carry all the
artillery that he could. because there was
always danger of meeting bands of In
dian thieves. But the danger from In
dians has passed now and has been for
many years. There was no more reason
why a cowboy should carry a six-shooter
than that he should have a steam engine
along with him. The guns always
made trouble. 1t was too easy for man
to pull his revolver and shoot In little
quarrels perhaps over cards or something
else trivial, there would too often be
shots and a man OF two would be dead
When men lost their temper they used
their weapons. and then a few hours aft
erward they would be sorry. The big six
shooters were always causing accidents.
I remember how one of the best men l
had was killed with one.
1T was on a roundup The men We're
all In camp waiting for grub when one
OF them took of his gun and threw it
into n box, which was near the wagon
The hammer struck on the edge Of the
box and the revolver went off. The bull
let passed right through the cowboys
breast, killing him. Such things as that
showed that the six-shooter was not only
useless, but a menace, but everybody car
ried one and there had to be some general
cattle association in Western Kansas
Colorado. Montana, and Texas and had
resolutions passed condemning six-shoot-
ers. The idea was approved by nearly all
Of the cattlemen. They saw just as | did
that six-shooters were no longer necessa-
ry- 1t was understood that each man
should do all he could to drive the six
shooters from his own ranch. The cow
boys began leaving their weapons behind
Now the cowboys rarely carry them |
don't think a man on my place has one.
unless 1t is Jake L believe he stin car
ries siN-shooter. But he is one OF the
old-timers. 1t would be like cutting off
his leg to take his gun away from him q"
Yes" concluded Major Flowers, the
only cowboys with bowie knives and six
shooters are the ones you read about In
the story papers. kansas City Star