The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-12-18

HE KICKED OPEN THE DOOR AND
BEGAN SHOOTING"
Success brought us enemies. 1t wasn't
a month before we had to throw our
club away and run in debt for gun
1t took us two weeks to learn one end
of that gun from the other, and we had
only discovered what the trigger was
for when Arkansas Pete entered our
sanctum to fill US with lead We gave
him a surprise party and paid the fun
| eral expenses.
While the name of Arkansas Pete was
marked No. y we earnestly hoped the
list would end there. 1t didn't. how
ever. Arizona Joe came along three
months later and demanded our scalp.
He was laid beside the other, and we
pressed forward up the hill of ambition.
A little later came Major Calhoun.
/ We refused the major cash loan. and
he tried to shoot the coin out of US
The three graves in a row began to
have a business look. and. while there
were many to congratulate US, there
were also those who hankered to re-
move US from the sphere we occupied. 3
Smith Taylor the fourth gentle
man who started out to pull a gun on
us, but he was two seconds behind our
time. He was postmaster at the time
and had been using our exchanges for
/ kindling wood instead of delivering
them. 1t has been charged by our enc
mics that we removed" Mr.. Smith in
order TO get MS place, out all Sucn
statements do US rank injustice. We
have been postmaster for several years,
and we expect to be for several years to
| come, but the government selected US
entirely on account of our fitness for the
position.
Montana Tom had the honor of being
No. ;. We have always believed that
he was told by certain people that we
were retarding the interests of this ter
ritory and that he had a sort of Joan
of Arc feeling i'll his breast when he
entered our sanctum- His shooting was
good, but not good enough. He fingered
long enough to express his sorrow and
ask to be planted with his boots on, AMI
then took his place in the line.
1t only after six wooden head
boards had been erected in memory of
as many individuals that we bought al.
acre of ground in the suburbs of the
town and turned it into a combined
public park and private editorial
graveyard, the first and only affair OF
the sort in existence.
No man familiar with our career can
say that we have gone cunning for vic
, TINS. On the contrary, it is a we'll known
fact that we have often been charged
with a lack of industry in this respect.
Had we set out to make a record the
list would now number fifty instead OF
fourteen. We had nothing of the sort
in view. On the contrary, all we desired
was to be let alone. We may mention
, in this connection as an evidence of our
dislike to shed blood that our esteemed
y
500 times in the last five years and that
on each and every occasion we could
have cut short his career, but he is alive
and we'll today.
The gentlemen whose gravestones are
marked Nos. Z, g. 9 and 10, respectively
were of no particular renown and were
not greatly missed by the public when
they had been laid to rest. They pulled
their guns on US on the street and at
the Office for various causes, and we did
not open fire until the action was de-
manded and justified Nos. II and u
belong to Colonel Hooper and Judge
Hildebrand. respectively. They were
good men, but impetuous- They wanted
to take us by the neck because we diff
fered with them in politics, and in theiI
zeal they found homes where politics
never enters.
Between Nos. u and 10 there was an
interval of over two years. We had be-
gun to hope that the list would end with
No. Il and that the time was close at
hand when our guns could be hung up
to rest when the Hon. Joe Bidwell took
exceptions to an article on the decadence
of truth in the west and called to pepper
us. One of our guns happened to be
handy, and the result was that Mr.. Bid
well had to cancel many important
gagementS We have always been sorry
that he didn't give us a chance to rum
as he was man of push and ambition
and thoroughly loyal to Arizona His
disappearance occurred just twenty three
| months ago
Again We were indulging in the hope
| that peace earth would soon be an
established fact and that we should have
: no further use for cartridges than to
shoot jack rabbits when No. Il was added
to the list
, Wednesday last as we sat in our sane
tum Colonel jim Hardbank rode up on
: his broncho and entered the office. For
the past year he has urged US to aban-
don our idea of becoming governor of
this territory and shove him into the
place. We have not been able to see our
way clear to do it, and in consequence
we lost his friendship. He came into
1 town Wednesday determined to remove
l us from this vale of tears. He had two
guns, and his jaw was set Brushing
! past those who feared he meant trouble
and would have stopped him. he kicked
r upon our door and began shooting. We
I do not wish to dwell on the affair. I'm
fortunately for the late deceased. we
l l happened to be loading our guns prepare
. tory to paying a call on a shyster law
: yer. and it only natural that we
. should shoot back. We were grazed by
8 three of the coloneIs bullets. but he drop
e ped at our second and is now at rest for
evermore.
A coroner's jury has acquitted US of all
blame in the matter. and even the rela-
tives of the deceased say that they dc
not see how we could have acted differ
emily in the matter Had we been given
, a show we should have escaped by the
back door and the alley. but the firing
began at once. We deeply deplore the