Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-16
ONE OF A VANISHING TYPE
Joe Deason Was a True Son Of the
Southwest Frontier.
LONG CAREER OF LIVELY ADVENTURE
Cowboy and Texas Ranger, He Finally
Turns Gambler and Good Fell
low and Dies Quietly
Among Friends.

when Time tapped Joe Deason on the
shoulder, saying, The game is over; turn
out the lights he closed the career OF a
man who was typical Of a class that made
the ~liveliest kind Of history on the south
west frontier said Bob" Cummings, the
we'll known local sport, who has had some
Texan experiences Of his own, while re-
~ferring to Deason's recent sudden death
from a paralytic stroke. Joe was closely
associated with some Of the most daring
and reckless men in Texas" continued
Cummings, and this association could be es-
tabllshed and maintained only by men who
did not know what the word fear meant,
and who knew how to handle a gun more
quickly than the other fellow. Those b
lacked nerve and whose judgment when to
shoot was not on a hair trigger died with
their boots on very early in their career.
Joe's early training was with a gang of the
widest young fellows that ever busted the
Indian Nation square open,' and with this
performance a man was considered to have
taken his degree among the cowboys of that
time.
Where the Gun Fighter FIOurished.
This was about the time when the rail-
road first reached Abilene, Kan, after
which the cattiemen began trailing herds
up through Indian Territory. What this
meant may be understood from the fact
that In 1874 there was a drive Of 100000
head Of cattle to Kansas, making a trail
one mile wide and 1900 miles long, the
greatest on record. Joe made a number OF
those drives, became accustomed to the
hardship and dangers, to the wild scenes OF
drinking and gambling. and well known
among the toughest element in all Texas.
$500 kkaaa nara phil CnQ wild Hill
Hickok. one time marshal Of Abilene, who
killed Coe; Luke Short, a noted gun fighter
and one of the famous Dodge City Peace
commissioners Ben Thompson, once mar
shat Of Austin, who killed seventeen white
men, besides a long unrecorded list OF
Mexicans and ~'niggers,' and who was ceie-
brated because he never missed or wounded
a man; Billy Sims Of San Antonio, who got
the drop on Thompson and ended his career,
and who shot VIII Raynor, another frontier
sport, at Ell Paso. Thompson was famil-
iarly called the Lion Of the South and
probably the most celebrated gun fighter Of
his time.
"It was about this period that Deasor
made himself known as a gun expert. Joe
was such a good-natured. Jolly fellow tina
some OF the toughs thought he would b
an easy mark. 'Six-shooter Frank, 4
notorious tough. selected Joe SIS an easy
thing In poker. Notwithstanding Six
Scooter Frank was an expert card manipu'
lator, Joe beat him at every turn and thu
latter saw that hts only chance to get aheaS
Of Joe was to start a fight and do som'
shooting. Waiting until a big pot was oil
the table, ~'six-shooter Frank claiming
mistake had been made. started to pull hi
gun, but Deason's training with men like
Ben Thompson came into play and like
flash he covered his man. made him throw
up his hands. apologize and abjectly promis'
to ever after be so good that his old &C
ouaintances wouldn't recognize him. Franz
was guyed numerically and left town. Jo'
was never taken for an easy mark again
He had established himself.