Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-03-20
WERE GOOD FELLOWS
WESTERN FRONTIER BADMEN SHOWN
IN A NEW LIGHT.

Man Who Claims to Have Known
Them Says They Were Not Bullics
and Did Not Swngger Around Min
ing Camps Looking For Fight.
A little group of hotel guests, most of
whom had lived in the west at one time
or another, We're talking about the
passing of the professional bad man"
Il knew most Of the famous frontier
desperadoes OF 20 years ago." said one
of the party, land almost without e1-
ception they were good fellows when
they weren't out for blood. None Of
them We're DULLES; in fact, they had
the best reasons for not being. When
man made a reputation as a killer in
that country, he Immediately became
mark for numerous aspirants for the
same kind Of fame. They watched him
like hawks, looking for some decent
preteNt to pick quarrel and shoot him
unawares, each anxious to be pointed
out us the man who killed So-andso.'
The greater his celebrity the more
glory there would be in giving him his
quietus, and this ever present danger
was fully appreciated by them all. The
noted bad man knew that almost any
body could murder him, with a fair
chance of going scot free, but If, on the
contrary, he added another homicide to
his own record he would have to estab-
lish an absolutely hawless case of self
defense.
Such handicap as that had a mighty
cooling effect on the blood and made
a man think several times before he
did anything that might put his head
in halter. The story book idea that
the famous desperadoes of the west
used to sWagger around the mining
camps with chips on their shoulders,
shooting holes through peoples hats,
making 'tenderfeet' dance and spoil
ing for any kind of fight is ridicu-
lousy wide of the truth. They may
have done SO in their early days, but
after they acquired bloody celebrity
they ceased to hunt trouble and were
kept busy avoiding it. OF course there
were exceptions, and l remember one
rutiian with q record who ran amuck
through little Colorado town and shot
but he was crazy drunk, and the ma
jority of his clan were sober, serious,
extremely quiet individuals who were
a great deal more apt to swallow an
atfront than they were to give one. In
fact, the batting of bad men became a
favorite diversion among certain
class of ambitious citizens, and it was
of l,, Iog Of fa
that is now rapidly passing into mere
tradition.
"On more than one OCCASION" the
speaker went on, 81 have seen some
foolhardy tough nerve himself with
whisky and start out with the deliber-
ate intention Of doing up this or that
celebrity. One night in a gambling
house at Dodge City cattleman nam
ed CoulsOn made a desperate effort to
draw Luke Short into an alteration
and finally slapped his face. Short
had killed several men and was a not
ed character and Coulson had boasted
to his cowboys that he would put out
his light the first time he got chance.
When the blow was struck, a dead ST.
lence fell upon the place, and the bar
tenders and faro dealers dropped out
of sight as suddenly as so many mario
nettes all on one string. Short looked
the cattleman straight in the eye.
You're drunk, Jim,' he said quietly,
and | won't fight a man that don't
know what he's doing. Get out and don't
come in here again until you come in
col,
ering about his pistol, but the others
calmnesS cowed him, and he turned
around and walked away without n
word.
In the west a blow was generally
considered sufficient justification for a
shot, but what Short said about the
cattleman's condition was perfectly
true, and he knew it would be used
against him in a trial. i could have
killed him easily before he drew he
remarked afterward but his friends
would have all claimed that | took ad-
vantage of him. They would have said
that Luke Short shot poor, harmless
drunkard.' | could multiply such in
stances almost by the dozen. In the
early eighties Doc Holiday was one
of the most noted man killers in the
west. One night in Leadville l saw
him submit in silence to a frightful
cursing from consumptive bartender
who was eager to get his scalp and
become a bad man himself. Later on
Holiday was absolutely forced to draw
to defend himself, but he took pains to
shoot the inspiring drink mixer
through the arm and not the body. Il
didn't want to hurt the fool he said
apologetically. Most of the border des-
peradoes eventually became peace Off
GERS and made good ones too. They
were glad to drift into such employ
mont Ii nut them ON the side of the