The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-04

blow, he struck her face, grinding the
features together and sending her frai
body headlong, bruised and bleeding into
q corner, where she lay as one dead.
Though stunned by his danger, when he
saw that terrible blow, the youth fell
back in despair. In one stride Curry
stood over him. Restless as death, thu
murderer looked the boy over q few min
untes, then, with devilish elaboration, he
emptied his pistol into the body, begin
ming at the abdomen, each shot mounting
higher carefully avoiding the heart, I'M
til, mercifully, he sent the last Ieaden
bullet into the brain.
People who saw Curry arrive aroused
others. Some who followed him saw all
that happened, but were unwilling OF
afraid to interfere. When it was too late
score of armed men reached the house
Seeing his own danger, the ruffian seized
loaded revolver and left the house
Though followed by a crowd, he reached
his horse and rode away into the dark
ness. AS he galloped into the night
he fired several shots into a group
Of peaceful men and women only
curious spectators Ida MAY remained
unconscious for hours and, whatever her
fate. she carried the mark of that ter
rible blow to her grave. Curry reached
Texas in time to escape his pursuers
The most unique and theatrical figure
In all the history of American borderland
was Wild Bill. He was the only bad man
who continually played to an audience
He came to the plains in 1867 He was
already the hero Of a feverish dime novel
which had a great circulation on the
frontier He was a good horseman and
expert shot and was employed as a scout
In few months he abandoned that
career and afterward lived in the rail-
road towns, where he was always the
local lion.
His fame depends solely on a series Of
killings extending over a period of five
years. There was no element Of danger
IN any of these cases. and after death one
VlCtlm was found to have been unarn1ed.
At last the bullying desperate was
driven away by the angry people. seeking
concealment in freight train. DURING.
his hrst night in Kansas City his costly
pistols were taken from him and he was
beaten nearly to death. Some Of his ribs
were broken. Med Buntlin,'' his novelist
patron, took him to New York and ha
was shown there as the great frontier
lion Hungering for the fair western air
and not daring to go back to the plains.
ne went to Deadwood. In the Black
hills
There, one Sunday night the avenpar
overlook him. The brother of a man he
Killed In Kansas killed him as he had
Killed so many others. Surely God il
not Knocked. Whatsoever a man sovath
that shall he also reap"
1t IS fact not generally noticed that Of
all the strenuous characters Of that time
and place none was Of recent foreign orr
GIN Whether honestly or not all bore
names Of the colonial DAVIS. In aDnear-
ance. character and perjudices thew were
intensely American and tremenduouslr
Anglo-Saxon. Whether from Maine or
Florida, Ohio. Alabama or Iowa. thew
were cut from the same piece Of cloth
and wore the sign of their race on their
sleeves The most generous and the
kindliest of them were consumed by q
devil Of battle that lurked
stealthily in their bodies like a n11rnb-I,Ixe
nevertheless malignant disease.
One winter in Topeka Capt David r.,
Payne, alias oklahoma Payne" nick
named 'ox-heart" by his soldieEs on ae-
count Of his unselfish generosity. incurred
the i'll will of lawyer. The latter an
Because Payne had been fro
zen. starved and shot at he hasn't got
all the courage there is. I'll teach him a
lesson yet
Payne received a challegc to fight him
and proposed that he bring q friend to
see fair play and they would go up into
a room of the old Topeka house and. ona
on each side Of a table, take reyolvers
and shoot until one or both were dead.
The lawyer pronounced 1t Savage" and
refused to have anything to do with
such man. Payne, however, was IN
earnest. Fights equally as deadly were
frequent upon the plains
Yet. of all these desperate men. tho
few that returned to the settlements
turned out to be the pleasantest, kndIf-
est and most peaceable men to be found
1t was a sort Of delirium that passed
away with it's cause