The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-02
A PICTURESQUE BAD MAN
WAS NEVER KNOWN TO FIRE FIRST,
BUT HE GENERALLY KILLED.
Aesthetic Appearing Ben Thompson,
Whose MurderOus Tact Saved
His Neck Many Times.

New York Commercial Advertiser.
Among the types of bad men in the old
lively days l don't s'pose there was a worse
one than the fellow who deliberately picked
his quarrel said ''Bill' McCune, formerly
a deputy sheriff in the district including
Austin, Tex. There was some excuse for
the man who'd come gailoping into town
and shoot his man while half crazy with
bad whiskey. And there always was some
thing honest about the fellow who'd ride
away and grumble warning TO square ac-
counts on next meeting, for it'd be a mat
ter of which got the drop first But the
man who'd pick a quarrel and nurse ii
along. all the time waiting for cause to
empty his sixshooter into the other fellow
that was the most dangerous of them all.
And that's the sort Ben Thompson was.
Even to this day, when Austin has grown
into a full-fedged. dgnified. quiet town
worth marking on the map. there're old cit
liens who tell you by the hour about
the orgies and the shooting scrapes of
Thompson. Like many other of the hard
est desperadoes. he was the last man you'd
pick out of crowd as killer. He was a
little, neat, delicate-looking man. tipping
scrupulously dressed. rarely went for a
stroll without cane TO twirl in his soft,
pink hands. and with his general makeup,
his blonde hair and red cheeks, looked for
all the world like a man you could we
blown down with feather. But Thomp-
sons boast was that he hadn't missed his
mark in fifteen years: that he had never
been convicted by a jury; that he had killed
been the first to draw his gun. What's the
use of drawing first? he asked me one
day. The other fellow couldn't hit you in his
first shot-thats certainty, ten to one He's
too blooming ratified and excited, and he
couldn't hit barn. &c. give him the chance
to draw and then drop him, and there isn't
a jury on earth that can bring in better
than "self-defense" against YOU That's
the gospel the little fellow lived up to, and
IL seems either he was right or he bore
charmed life. Down in San Antonio Thomp-
son visited gambling hell one night and
took his wad with him. He played all night
In hard luck and until late in the morning,
losing and losing TO Mexican until he got
so worked up and clear mad at himself
and the Mexican that he decided to do
XIII. He played till his very last dollar was
gone and then got up, addressed an insult
ing remark TO the Michigan and at the same
time slapped him in the face. Like a flash
the dark mans hand was on his pistol, but
1t stayed there, for the game Thompson
was trying TO work was too apparent. Pull
your gun and shoot Ben tainted, but
| the other\was not to be tricked.
| SAW HIS GAME.
| No; 1 guess you're too quick and too
good for me- he said, grinning and arising.
L wouldn't stand chance enough
Thompson drew his own six-shooter,
laid it on the table and stood back pace
g Now shoot he tainted as before. You
see. you've got your hand on your gun and
| I've got to walk a step and reach out all
this distance. Shoot away If you're a man.
The Mexican by this time saw entirely
through the game and would give no salts
! faction.
Tell you what I'll do said the other
III lay my gun down at the far end of the
bar and walk six steps away from 1t il
you'll only shoot first and he applied an
| epithet which throughout Mexico and the
Texas region meant fight among high or
low; but still the Mexican refused and he
departed in safety with his winnings.
Strange as 1t may seem, Thompson
counted his friends in Austin by the hum
! dreds. Most persons there thought him the
| bravest and the fairest fighter that ever
shot out lights in variety showhouse. But
MS real purpose in giving the other fellow
all the chance was simply to earn the right
TO shoot him down so as to save his pre-
cious neck. Among the gambling fraternity
this dodge began TO be noised about and a
| HuihDSi ucCiutu 10 pot MIN some convenient
| night when they could do so without risk
| OF being convicted. Accordingly a big
| game was started in a saloon in Laredo and
| pains were taken TO tell Thompson where
| 1t was going on. About midnight a fight
broke out at a table in the far corner of the
room, and before Thompson knew what
was up the lights had been put out and a
dozen bullets came crashing his way and
warned him in an instant that everybody
was pooling against him. He ran behind
| curtain of one of the windows, and while
| kneeling TO escape bullets fired where his
head would be supposed to be when stand
| ing erect, he half emptied his two re-
xolvers by holding them high over his head
to give the impression by the light of the
| powder flashes that he was still standing
/ erect. Then he jumped out of the open WIN
| dow TO the ground, a distance of fifteen feet
below, and jumped into the Rio Grande
and escaped without a scratch.
A FIERY YOUTH. /.
| Thompson was the son of a Scotchman
and an Englishwoman. who had come to
| Texas when Ben barely knew how to walk
When sixteen years old he entered the
| Confederate ranks, but shortly after enlist
ing slapped a lieutenant in the face, for
which he was punished by being chained
TO the floor of guardhouse. Here he lay
| for month, getting madden and madden.
| until he found means to fire the guardhouse
and escape by swimming. In Mexico he en-
/ tered the service of Maxarnilian WHARF ba