The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-08-10

Of Till lWEST
Reign of the Bad Man Is Over
place of Peace and
Plenty.

Speak to an cid Californian OF the
great Joaquin Garlic. the most ele-
CANT, the bravest. and the most fear
less of the Spanish banditti of the ear
ly sos; just mention Three-hngered
Jack" or the valiant Tiburcio Vas
quez. the quick light in the eyes at
the revival of old memories will FASH
at you. and you viii hear tales of
their exploits that seem incredible to
you. two generations away from them.
wild Bill" Kit Carson, Apache
Kid BAT Masterson-you can con-
Jure with these names in the middle
west. Sam Bass of Texas, Tom Wag-
ner of Montana-here and there. up
and down the eastern slope of the
Cherokee BiI' of the Indian Terri
tory, Ned Christie. Bill Cook. Jim
French, Bob Rogers-the procession
that passed before old Judge Parker
of Fort Smith, on to eternity at the
end of a rope, all are memories now.
Quite on par with the performances
OF these worthless, however. and
marked by the same brand of desper-
ate courage, are the truly marvellous
escapes of the convict Tracy, who for
the past ten days has successfully
eiuded the attempts of the authorities
of two states to capture him. While
in no sense a bad man" in the old
time acceptance of the term, the con-
vict has shown the possession OF the
same perfect GOODNESS when driven TO
cover which so many times saved the
outlaws of the early west.
The reign of the bad man is nearly
over. and the west is coming to its
heritage of peace and plenty Jim
Wilkerson, one of the most tireless and
effective OF the old Fort Smith depu-
ties, is a, portly. smiling office marshal
at Vinita no, issuing wrfts for petty
thieves and bootieggers, for all the
world like the clerk in a city magis-
trate's court. Bud Ledbetter, a big,
clear-eyed. quiet man. with a record
of eighteen notches on his gun barres,
is hobbling about Vitfta on crutches.
He is town marshal, and while chas-
ing a boisterous youth through an al
ley, slipped on a loose stone. fell, and
fractured his leg!
. 8 o
'It sure amt what IT used TO be in
| this country said old Niger Jess
| Vann, waiting in old man wilkerson's
office to get an order TO restrain his
wife from damaging his property. TT
was sure mighty diffe'ent when old
| Jim, here, used to ride over in them
Grand river hills. / tell yoU what,
when Jim went after a man he sure
got him! He might just as well come
right in" Jess laughed uproariousIy,
! and winked at Wilkerson, who was
Juggling industriously at a, blank form.
You done a. little of that comm in
yourself, didn't you. JESSE the old
deputy asked with a smile
We'll, now. you know ] sure did,
Jess eyes snapped at the memory.
But I done got over all that now,
| Mr.. Wilkerson- I done found out that
| they amt no money in my pocket, run
min wild, no more"
"Doggone." he went on. full of his
| present grievance, IF 1 didn't used Il
wonder how twas thatAsz man couK
grow up and pass on 10 old age with
out layin' up something to sort o. let
| him ease up towards. the end But
can see now-I sure can. That there
] woman o mines the best dressed wo-
| man in Spavinaw; now, she's got me
UP here to court charged with max
| in a gun play at her, and got to get
an order TO keep her from destroyin'
| what little properly she Rft me with
| when she quit me and went TO live
with another niger" And Jess" tale
goes on, another Illustration of that
| change from the heroic to the prosaic.
| No one in the west would have the
| outlaw reign return-coolly consid-
| cred. most of their work was too ter
rible even to tell with unblushing
| cheek-but the romantic In their ma
ture, the touch of the cavalier, sur
| wives in the tales. Men will talk of
! Sam Bass of Texas. forget the petty,
contemplate crimes that preceded hts
! final glorihcation. and sing only of his
| great fight with the rangers. A street
! fight in Dodge City-man matched
fairly 10 n1an-made the name of Wild
| Bill heroic. Ned Christie, fighting
|
a dozen deputies from his log fort in
| the Cherokee nation and Welding at
| last only 10 dynamite. is heroic, now
that it is forgotten that he was a
common thief and whisky seller.
9 @ {,
Christie's story has been summarized
by a local writer in these words
From the senate to a felon's gravel
He was a full-blood Cherokee, educat-
ed and progressive. he had been a
member of the tribal legislature in
both the senate and the council: he
as a big. handsome. smooth fea
smithy. and he could shoot with the
experts. In spirit Christie was abso-
lutely unafraid.
In 1885 he quarreled with Dan Ma
pies. a very popular United States
deputy marshal of Bentonville, Ark.
He killed Naples. then, gathering three
or four companions, he set out TO fol-
low the old road OF crime Horse
stealing, robbing country stores and
whisky peddling employed his talents
until the deputies crowded him too
close, when he retreated to the Grand
river hills and fortified a large log
house for use as a headquarters.
Heck Thomas, in 1889, organized a
posse to capture Christie, but after
fighting him for hours, with the re-
suit of one man severely shot and a
bullet in the outlaws cheek that mere
ly disfigured, withdrew. Barney Con-
nelly and Heck Bruner tried d num-
Der of times to take him. William
Bouden and Milo Creekmore made two
! attempts, only to be routed Dave
Rusk and Charlie Copeland, With a
small army of friendly Indians, failed
to dislodge the desperate man Christie
was absolutely desperate. as cool as a
dancing master. and the besiegers
knew that II meant death 10 cross tbs
clearing between the woods and tbs
| fort. So the logs of the house were
punctured in thousands of places. and
the bark Clipped from every tree with
| in easy rife range of the neleagunre6
man. From these various fights Isbeif
| Bouden, Fields. Creekmore and half Z
dozen others emerged badly wounded
In October. 1892. il was decided u
make one more effort to capture Chris
tie, and the details were left to Dep.
uties Paden Tolbert. Heck Bruner nc
Captain G. s. White. Bruner and Toll
bert got from Coffeyville. Kan. q
three-pounder cannon, and Captain