The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-06-08
The Tenderfoot Was Game

6kT WAS in the smoker of a Santa Fe
train going through New Mexico
one day in the latter eighties
when Jack Bradshaw, who was then
one of the sure-enough terrors of the
southwest, climbed on board" said
! travelling special agent of the Indian
bureau. Jack was very drunk and
very glad of it. He was whOoping like
a ghOst-dancer as he pumped himself
/ into the last seat next to the water
cooler. I knew that there was going to
be trouble and a plenty of it with
Bradshaw as a carInate in that con-
ditiOu, and so I got up and went aft
to the next car behind, from the door
OF which I watched the proceedings.
Jack had hardly sat down before he
yanked out one of mis- guns and fired a
couple Of shots out of the open window,
and when the dozen and odd peacea bile
men in the car jumped UP suddenly,
thinking of train robbers. and faced the
rear of the car, they saw Bradshaw,
Wild-eyed from rum, standing in the
middle of the aisle and brandishing
both of his guns
'' That's about right, you juniper ON
breys, yelled Bradshaw, seeing them
/ all standing. That's what you ought
tO've done when I first come in here.
It's q sure case O. tn Whole outfit a
amt no use a-hesitatin' or gnawin' on
tn pommel about it-they just got to-
and he let out a Navajo whoOp and sat
down himself. The standing men,
! thinking that his seating himself was
the natural signal for them to resume
their seating pastures, sat down, too,
but Bradshaw fired a couple of shots
close TO the ears Of a pair of men who
had been the first TO take their seats,
and all hands jumped to their feet
again mighty hurriedly. The bad man
toyed with them that way for about
1 half an hour after the train got under
way, and then he gave them formal
consent to sit down. Some of them be-
gan to buzz each other in low tones.
g Stop a-taIkin',' howled the drunken
desperate when he noticed this I
never could nachuuy abide havin' peO-
] pie a-talkin' round where I was. kin
do all O. tn talkin'. Jes, think. an let
/ it go at that
There wasn't any more conversation.
Shortly after the enforced silence fell
/ upon the car a young chap who wore
/ eyeglasses and who was stOOp-shOul-
/ dered and frai1-loOking got up from his
seat and started down the aisle A bull
let from Bradshaw's gun just barely
niched the youths left ear before he
had taken six steps.
r SON. demanded Bradshaw, Were
I are you all a-gOin'. dye think?'
To get a glass Of water, responded
I the youth with the glasses, suIkily, feel
/ ing of his niched ear.
/ &" Y 'are, hey? inquired the bully.
Don't you believe anythin' like that.
/ You're a-goin L drink what's left in
4 this bottle o. mine-dOn't you bother I
( got anOtheT-an' you're -gOin' L dTinS-
/ il all without battin' a eye or you'll
! drink hot lead and Bradshaw pulled
] from his pocket a pint flask of whisky
/ that was about three parts full. The
youth looked sullen, but he wisely
( stretched forth his hand and accepted
! the prohered bottle and placed it to his
/ lips. He shuddered a good deal over
] the job, but he got it all down, and
I then Bradshaw permitted him to take
a drink of water out OF the cooler and
! to pass to the next car behind in the
/ doorway of which I was standing.
Now, the thing that happened prob
! ably never would have come off if that
/ young man with the glasses hadn't
/ picked up a lot of Dutch courage from
I that huge drink Of red liquor that was
I forced upon him. It took effect upon
/ him almost Immediately. and when he
I got back into the car behind the smok-
err he was feeling his oats. ] cOuldn't
l make out what he had in MIND when
saw him pull out penknife and DELHI
[ erateiy cut the bellrope at both ends of
Nl4C al cAAu LOAA llAC IDpC d O0iA0 4AAS
arm. and the other folks in the car put
him down as a lunatic. The lad was al
most staggering under his three-quar-
ters of pint of mesquite liquor when
he came out on the platform with his
cars length of bell rope, and there was
a queer CLEAN in his eye for a tender
I foot. I asked him what the game was,
but he only stared at me in a booty
way. and peeked into the smoker to see
! what Bradshaw was doing. Bradshaw
was sitting back in his rear seat, glow
+ ering and half asleep. The tenderfoot
sneaked into the car like a cat, making
/ a slip-loop in the rope as he went. Brad
shaw WAS looking out of the window
I when tIhe tenderfOOt suddenly sprang
{ forward and threw the loop around his
neck and pulled it taut with a jerk,