Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-26

notwithstanding manifesto. His action
started trouble right on dow the line and
when II reached the United States marshal
for that district the United States marshal
got busy. His son happened TO DO some
thing Of a rounder and IN on the dealings
At the -Four Corners. That Is all that
saved Colonel Showers and his hlibusterers
for the son heard the father planning a
roundup Of the Showers patriots and gave
the tip.
II was at night. and the word reached
the saloon just twenty minutes ahead OF the
marshal and his deputies. In those twenty
minutes there was an exodus that beat
anything since the incident OF the Red Sea
And Colonel Showers was lat the head OF
his men They couldn't have passed him
in an automobile. Down a dark alley
they treked, run along a side street and
finally clear out into the farm country. A
kind providence and en- unsuspecting
farmer had placed a large cornheld at the
side Of the route Of retreat and Colonel
Showers went over its surrounding barbed
wire fence without touching. His Hlibusters
followed as we'll as they could and the
whole force finally rounded up in the center
of the field.
what the Recruits Did.
What happened after that isn't pleasant
to relate. The ground was wet and cold.
The air was wet and cold. The colonel
was wet and cold before long, and the
hlibusters would have been wet and cold
II they hadn't been so hot at the colonel.
They began to think things and to talk
plainly and unkindly about the courage
Of their proposed leader. They told him
he was a poor provider and q burned ras-
cal. AS each one caught cold and began
to sneeze he invited the colonel to stand
up and be knocked down. But none had
the courage to go back 20 town. and all that
night, the next day and a part Of the
next night they shivered and shook and
swore and reproached there in the soggy
burrows. A ~straggler came during the day
and told them thai the marshal, after
searching most Of the night, had given up
the hunt The newspaper man had given
the hllbusters and the marshal both the
slip and was at a hotel writing things
to make the former famous. But the
former had ceased to crave fame. They
wanted Chuck and they made up their
minds to go back to Kansas, where they
could get It in safety and without any
cornheld rheumatism.
So Showers hlibusters deserted him and
the colonel himself had TO sneak. When
he found a railroad track leading to Kansas
City he started toward its other end and
eventually landed In Omaha. He closed
out his business by mail, he wrote the
newspaper man q letter seventeen pages
long telling him what he thought OF him,
and he resigned his commission in the
flibusters' brigade. He even added that
Cuba Libre could go to the demnition bow
vows. and be d~oggoned for all he cared,
and that thereafter he wished to be known
just as plain William Showers, without any
titles that would give the United States
marshals a handhOld on his liberty. He
kept his word, but somehow the title has
stuck to him Just the same, and to this
day several hundred restaurant patrons in
Omaha who have come to know him, al
ways salute him as Colonel" Some Of
them don't even know he has any other
name, and none OF them has known until
now how he got this one.