The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-03-22
When That Weapon Ruled In.
the National Came.
KILLING ON RIVER BELLE
And Drowning Years After That Old
Not Grieve Anybody Who Knew
the Victim to Any Great
Ii Y. Extent 35S6

expects for to- use tan hos n fool to
carry It II he don't reckon to use It when
the timo comes-had ought for to know
how. 5..; n. u
cts easy enough TO fire Il gun, SO fur
ms lpullinis the trigger goes. Any child,
or any woman. fur that matter, kin do
that but tain't everybody that can hit
the side Of e. house when he shoots, an
more specially faint everybody that
can get a gun ready to uso until after
hos dead. II the other feller' happens to
E be any ways handy with his.
}5 amt one to speak high Of n man just
/ fori belll n handy about such things. Tho
trouble mostly Is that It's the wrong man
that knows tho most about It. an gets
/ his swOrk In before tho other felleri has
drawed his II you're in Il line O. bust
ness where you're likely torun up against
that Sort the best thing to do is TO get
the best gun YOU can, an then practice
with 1t till YOU can use It, same you can
your foretinEer-as quick as you can
think and 4pinted straight. 1T
There's lots o people that talks ag'in
tcarlyin' weapons. They say that carryln
'em makes a. man more liable to get into
scraps. Maybe they're right. an maybe
they amt. don't know, an don't
know as 1t makes any difference. The
reel pint Is. as Il SEQ 1t, that when You
do want a gun YOU want 1t bad, an5it
don't do you no good to argue about the
ldemoralzin' effect that carryin gun
has on tho other Teller.
But Lord bless you! All that were
Just as true afore there was any Ievolv-
ers as 1t is now, an even that amt so
long ago as a. good many people thinks
4'Tain't much nlore'n fifty year since they
first began maxim EN-. an It's con-
+ sid able less'n that since they made any
that a reel hghtln' man would carry. I
kin remember the fust that was made,
along in the 4O's, and what curiosity
& they was. There was Il good many OF
en- sold just OH account O the novelty
OF EN-, for they was the on'y kind OF, a
gun that anybody had ever saw tina you
could shoot morc'n twice. But 1t dldh
take no time to find out there wan u
no reel good In a fight, an 1T came to be
& n standn' Joke on the river that II you
wanted to kill a man with one on en-,
the best way was to throw 1t at him. It
sure were q clumsy thing, an nobody
ever got SO he could shoot straight with
At, count Of It's bein' so heavy.
'Themj days there was Just two klnds
O. weapons that men carried for emcr-
gencies. Thoy was knives an derringers,
an tho old-fashoned derringer pistol. II
q man l1nowed how to use It. were as
good most times, as a revolver. GU
don't see EN- no more. sca'cely at al,
but they was all right for usln,, me
barrel want as long as your thumo,
but 1t carried an ounce ball, an shot
dead. Gently a man carried q pair on
,en an some was made double barrelled,
so YOU cd got four shots In IL you was
Quick enough, an most times four shots
Is plenty. II you don't settle your DIFF
hculty inside O. four shots, you am I no
ways likely to settle It at all. s far s
I've ever noticed. !.
,,Rut the old derringer is gone out O.
nsc An knives, ds gone out mostly too.
among men that claims to DO gentlemen,
even gentlemen gamblers. You don't see
none on 'em carried nowadays, thouten
It's a rouster or same sort OF daSo tlsts
has 1t. amt seen q knife draWea on
tho upper deck, nor ~ liio e' dtoo' 80,
moren twenty year.
."rhnre,s n, good many stories told about
Colonel Bowie tile teller the knife was
named after. an I reckon, I'm what I've
heor( that maybe he was as good q mana
with the knife as anybody, but never
seen him There was a. man ! knoWed
| in the sos named Munroe-l dlsremeHner
what his first name Swas-tiiat nad ne
reputation for n time @ PEN apouI ~ ,
| dangerous q man with niknifo as ANYBODY
| FRAT travelled tho river, but he didn't last
long, He had three or four fights that
was talked about heap. an likely. II
he'd lived he'd been famous, but he
drawed his knife once in the WRONG place.
an got drowned.
ut we're n simple thing. too There
was a gambler named Price = he'd mad
some words with q day, or two before IN
Vicksburg, an there WI" WAS pao pioo't "
tween crn
IT was tendin' bar on the old Belle
o. tho Bayous then. an we was just
leayin' yicksbulg for New Orleans when
seen A1unroe con,in' down tho levee to
get aboard. I was standln near the
rail- an seen Just what happened. Fears
price, an pal O. his. named Nichols,
was hurryin' to catch me poat, 100. an
they met Mnnroe just rs ne was step
pin on the gangplank,}
."Yhether twas done a purpose or not,
can't say, but Price iosted against
Munroe as they was comm aboard, an,
Munroe had his knife out In q flash. an
lifted to strike when Nichols seen what
lie was dom an fetched him u clip
behind the ear that knocked him plumb
overheard An when We got him out
he was dead. I-nevcr herd no one say
nothin' about helm sorry for him,
lilo was n knife fighter. AS fur as
know. he never carried a gun, but he
sure did use a knife good, He were the
only man | ever knowed that carried his
knife at the back OF his neck, lHc heer'd
OF others, but never met el!l' .'os' men
carried EN- at the belt. but s-5ne tYr-
ried 'em In their boots an ] have heerd
o. their beln' wore IN the sleeve, but !
never seed m Munroe had his in a
sheath inside his coat, with the. hilt up.
O. course, an when he draWed i no did
It III two motions. an the second was
the blow. His hand went up to the back
Of his head an when IT came Gown 80
came to the other teller. an It held the
knife.
"You can always tell whether a man
knows anything about knives by the way
he holds one. II he's aYtenderfoot the
chances Is that he'll have the blade on
the little finger side of his hand, so't he'll
have to strike down to hit anything, But
IL he knows. he'll have the blade on
the thumb side like II was sword an
he can strike any old way
'The night Munroa killed Gallagher,
there was a great game on, Munroe an
a pal O. his. named Stove, had catched
couple o. suckers fm Arkansas thar
was on their way to MArdt iiras on the
old River Belle that @as bloWed w near
Natchez on tho next trip, an they'd been
skinnin' 'em good an proper for about
two hours. when Gallagher VINO had beer
lookin' on for some time. asked u there
nhi ~ him Staktu' II hand.