The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-17
WAY BACK IN TEXAS.
The Life of Man Who Prefers u


 and retained their primitive ideas of
 honesty and independence. They rep
 resent class of unique characters who
 are only to be found on the outskirts of
 settlements, where the country admits
 of scattered habltations, because Of
 ruggedness or occasional spots of arabe
 lands,
 Such region is found in the vicinity
 of the NueCes Canon and it's tributaries
 This section of Texas embodies one of
 the widest and most picturesque parts
 of the state, and includes some of the
 loveliest views that the eye of man
 ever rested upon. Withal, it's health fulness, combined with many other at
 tractive features, render it one of the | most desirable localities for settlement or for a temporary sojourn.
 The valley of the Nueees, threaded by
 the river and fringed on each side by mountain pinnacles, is settled by good
 class of people, who are prosperous and have become thoroughly welded to their surroundings, which are enhanced by many of the advantages of civiliza- tion But back in the mountains are
 found few of the class who retain the | pronounced characteristics Of the ear
 Her frontersmen. It is the intention of ! this article to introduce one of the fast
 disappearing types of our American cit, 1 izenship
 Bill Wells honors Kansas through his 1 nativity, but Texas nurtured all of his better qualities, and the salubrious air of the canon all the hardness conspic- l It, l a home there when he was only year of age, In his youthful years he met | with q singular accident which de- | stroyed the sight of one of his eyes. | His mother was trying to repair gun | lock with file, when it slipped, and, as | Bill was leaning on her knee, the end of | the instrument entered his eye and ire | parably destroyed his sight.
 1 In those days agriculture received but | little attention, and was confined at l most to a few acres of breadstuffs. The supplies for the family were secured through the chase, and as the country was full of game and wild cattle, there was no lack of food, and the belts con- tributel to the family's humble needs from distant markets. Physically he is rugged, and constitutionally he is fearless His record as a citizen is clean and his own integrity is so pro- nounced that he will subject himself to any inconvenience for an opportunity to testify against thief; indeed, he once voluntarily rode all the way to Lockhart to aid in convincing one of the faraternity with his evidence.
 z s,, duck pants, a jacket and a hickory shirt, while his head is covered with slauched hat. His accessories are a belt full of cartridges, to which is at tached long butcher knife, and a can- teen for water of gallon capacity. Wien thus equipped he is ready at a moments notice to undertake any ex- petition. His reputation as a success full hunter Is extensive, and he has en- countered many thrilling adventures in his sporting combats, particularly with bear, in which line of sport he is so fla nous that he is known as the bear hunter" In his pursuit of these ami mals his great delight, in his more ac- tive life, was to explore all the caves he could find. and very often he would | encounter bear, which, with the aid of | his torchlight he never failed to kill
 In one of his investiga ations in the ex- l trenitles of one of these subterranean | cavities he discovered a large under | ground stream of lmpid, cold water, l and it was one of his great pleasures to guide parties to it's almost inaccessible l location, when he delighted in exhibi- ting it's beautiful stalactites and stalag- mites in their curious forms under the red glare of his torch.
 II may be inferred that Bill was never to laborious undertakings where manual labor was required When he married he settled on the headwaters of Montel creek, in the toughest part of the country, because. he said he did not want any close neighbors. There he built a log cabin on the side of the mountain near q spring from which he irrigated plot of ground sixty by forty feet, and planted every year in corn for the squirrels to eat up. There he aised bevy of children. His only work was hunting and killing wild cattle when they were too wild or too inaccessible to rope. There were great numbers of hem in the mauntains, and he roped and put his brand on several thousand which were turned loose, but as they were as wild as before the general pub ic laid an equal claim to them, and in q few years all were exterminated.
 On one occasion he chased an Indian several miles In the dusk of an evening, he was after wild cow and when near enough he roped the animal Much to his surprise, an Indian jumped )ff the pony back and then, before at empting to escape, stabbed the animal everal times with his knife. The shock vas so unexpected that Bill did not top to recover his rope or attempt an ncounter with the savage, but immeli- ltely turned his horse and beat a nasty 7 
 Bill has fund of stories which he de- i ights in relating, and they. with the f addition of his fetching song, Bury I Ie Not on the Lone Prairie" makes T i'm very companionabe and contrib f ltes great amusement around the T lis many adventures, if q 'roperly narrated, would give zest to f ny sportsmans publications. nt Bill Wells once made journey as far ' s the state of Arkansas for the pur- ' ose of dsposins of small farm which ! ad come into his possession by inheri-