The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1903-06-12

HE KrckrD OPEN OUR DOOR AND BEGAN
SHOOTING.
ing basis and gaining. and its course
has been upward and onward ever
since
Success brought us enemies. 1t
wasn't a month before we had to
throw our club away and run in debt
for gun. 1t took us two weeks to
learn one end of that gun from the
other, and We had only discovered
what the trigger was for when Arkan.
saS Pete entered our Sanctum to fill lis
with lead. We gave him surprise
party md paid the funeral expenses.
While the name Of Arkansas Pete
was marked mo. 1" we earnestly
hoped the list would end there. 1t
didn't, however. Arizona Joe came
along three months later and demand
ed our scalp. lie was laid beside the
other, and we pressed forward up the
hill Of ambition.
a little later came Major Calhoun.
We refused the major cash loan. and
he tried to shoot the coin out of us.
The three graves i'm Il row began to
have n business look, and, while there
were many TO congratulate us, there
were also those who hankercd to re-
move us from the sphere we occupied.
Smith Taylor was the fourth gentle
man who started out to pull gun on
us, but he was two seconds behind our
time. He was postmaster ut the time
and had been using our exchanges for
kindling wool instead OF delivering
them. 1t has been charged by our cne-
mics that we removed Mr.. Smith in
order to get his place. but all such
statements do us rank injustice. We
have been postmaster for several years,
md VIC expect to be for several wears
to come, but the government selected
us entirely on account of our fitness for
tho position.
Montana Tom had the honor of being
No. =. We have always believed that
he was told by certain people that we
were rctarding the interests OF this ter
ritOry and that he had sort of Joan
of Arc feeling In his breast when he
entered our sanctum. His shooting was
good. but not good enough. He lin
gered long enough to express his sor-
row and ask to be planted with his
boots on and then took his place In the
line.
1t was only after six wooden head
boards had been erected in memory Of
MS many individuals that we bought an
acre Of ground in the suburbs of the
town and turned II into Il combined
public park and private editorial
graveyard, the first and only affair Of
the sort in existence.
No man familiar with our career can
say that we have gone cunning for
victims. On the contrary, 1t Is well
known fact that we have often been
charged with lack of industry in this
respect Had we set out to make
record the list would now number fifty
instead Of fourteen. We had nothing
of the sort i'm view. On the contrary,
all we desired was to be let alone. We
may mention in this connection as an
evidence Of our dislike to shed blood
that our esteemed contemporary has
shot at us at least 800 times i'm the last
five years and that on each and every
occasion we could have cut short his
career, but he Is alive and we'll today.
The gentlemen whose gravcstoncs are
marked Nos. Z, s, 8 and 10, respective
ly, were OF no particular rcnOwn and
were not greatly missed by the public
when they had been laid to rest. They
pulled their suns or us on the street
and ut the Office for various causes,
and we did not open fire until the ac.
tion was demanded and justified. Nos
IL and ~ belong to Colonel Hooper
and Judge IIildcbrand, respectively
They were good men but imDrtuoua
They wanted to take us by the neck
because we differed with them i'm poll
tics, and in their zeal they found homes
where politics never enters.
Between Nos. ~ and IS there was
an interval Of over two years. We had
begun to hope that the list would end
with No. II and that the time was
close at hand when our guns could be
hung up to rest when the Hon. Joe