Sunday Washington globe., 1902-01-05


population spoke Of it as the city" the
other half--the bad half--called it the
camp" Bunk's advent created something
of Juror on the shady side of Flagstone,
for he brought with him the reputation of
IS years of horse stealing, an old Colts re-
volver with II notches in the handle, and
the fame of having passed four years in the
Texas penitentiary, whittier he had been
sent by an awakening community on the
BRACES for the simple deed of killing a sheep
herder with a shot fred in the dark through
a thin board partition.
When Bunk landed in Flagstone lie wore
a new Prince Albert and a Winchester, TO
saw nothing of small clothes and lesser ar
tillerv concealed about his ample person
He was big, his look was fierce and his talk
large His FIRST move was to hire a room
over the Plaza saloon and hang out sign
Bunker Hill Cadsoe, Attorney at Law"
The next day half the town knew that
LAWYER Gadsoe had come to town to defend
Bass Intake, the rustler then in Jail under
charge of numbering Colonel Forest in the
desert of Shifting Sands above Julia. Cad
soc explained that he had spent his prison
term studying law, and that he meant to
follow his new profession on a'high plane"
However, Lawyer Gadsoe, made a bad
start, for his client, Bass Intake, was
hanged and the whole Comanche county
breathed a Sigh of relief in spite of Cad
soe's publicly given harangue against
Judge, jury and prosecution After that
the man from Brazos didn't flourish as a
lawyer. He began to show his old Colt,
with its fateful notches, and tell stories of
his desperate deeds. In June he got into
scuflle with Jere Brownlow and killed him
in jify Brownlow had been foreman Of
the jury that convicted Intake, and there
was feeble show of prosecuting Gadsoe
The Jury in the first case stuck" as they
say in the West, and the next one let Cad
soc GO finding that the killing of Browplow
was case Of self-defense. That decision
established Gadsoe in Fiagstone. He half
bulied, half-caioled Pete Carroll into sell
ing him a half interest in the Bucket of
Blood"-the only live dance hall and gam
bling Joint in town-and then he got into
politics.
There wasn't man around that cared
for his game" Some hated some de-
spised him, but the bad men looked
'leery" at his notched pistol-always in
vie ew-and the good people feared him as a
/ bold, bad man. lantern jawed stoop-
I shouldered giant with the facial expression
Of a hyena, he yet chung to the legion that
| he was "a lawyer" come to Flagstone Ito
| practice his profession on a high plane,
| while his daily life was a sinking, bully
/ ing, sinister continuance of the only life he
/ knew or understood Inside of six months
/ he was recognized by all classes as a
boss" The toughest Of the lingering
frontier rowdies feared him, and the
decent people agreed that it was better to
avoid him than TO incur his venom. For
these reasons when a new town marshal
became necessary Gadsoe got the job
Being now a duly authorized and ap.
proved authority Bunk extended his sway
to that degree that every game in town
paid tribute to him, and the municipal au-
thorities began 20 praise his dominance
over the lawless element" There was no
doubt about his dominance. There WASH t
a half-aud-haIf bad man in town that didn't
fawn before his prowess and the silent
voice of his nOtched pistol Fighters from
the hills and cowmen of tried mettle who
blew in from the mines and the ranges, and
who had heard of Bunk Gadsoe, felt honored
to have a drink with him, but, drunk or
sober nobody dared to waken mis- anger OF
summon the famous weapon that hung
always at his right hip. He gave offensive
men nOMla W AEaNN AVWn WAAMbAA ~
much as arresting them.
You git fore noon r I'll run you out like
wolf l" he said to Scarface Boyd, tie La.
redo bully And Scarface did git" Old
Hansbrough, the town drunkard, invoked
his doom by refusing to leave table in the
Echo saloon one night when Gadsoe wanted
to entertain two friends at the same single
table. The marshal didn't wait for explain.
he rard1ry orre
Hansbrough time to measure the distance
to the door, but shot him where he sat, and
after the drunkard was on the floor emptied
his Colt into the defiant one That made q
stirin Flagstone, and some were bold enough
to hint that Gadsoe was bully and even
coward There was another trial but the
marshal proved that Hansbrough hac
made a motion for his gun, " and there
was another acquittal
After that there was no stopping Bunk
He lorded it to a degree that terrified al
classes Of men. He boasted openly Of hil
prowess and levied large tribute from the
saloons gambling resorts an. dance halls
On the slightest provocation his gun wal
out, and his method Of enforcing what h,
understood as the law on a high plane
was a terror to the daring and disgrace t.
the gentle. When Captain Galloway ans
ten rangers came down from Jolla to roun'
up the smugglers above Flagstone Gadso
looked the band over with haughy ey'
and declared:
I There ain'ts hrst-class man amoni
'em"
, But it was Willis Pierson, the dude o
/ Callaways troop, that 'riled" Gadsoe tn
} most. The rangers circulated all right
} quiet fellows most Of them-but nobody ez
, pected trouble between them and the MAJ
5 shall till the latter and Willis Pierson 50
in at the same wheel one night, and Will
Gadsoe lost continually on large bets tn
dude ranger won necessarily on small ones
Cash 'em Carroll" sneered Gadsoe
last with leer at Pierson, II KANT wi
3 setting next to no French doll"
Pierson looked up, blushed and laid hi
. chips on the spot vacated by Gadsoe.
? Take them cheap bones out % my grave
{ yardP' snarled the marshall hitching roun
SO that his pistol was easy, and with hi
: left hand sweeping away the stack Of whit
chips.