The daily Alaskan., 1904-07-14
A TENDERFOOT'S SCARE
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that could very we'll be contured up n fiction, though he came to the same end as all desperadoes. Long aftef Billy had been put out of the way h occurred one evening to Ben Hicks, who was good deal of practAcM Joker, to play the part of the famous bandit. Ben got number of hangers on in the town where he lived, the scene of some of the Kids most famous opse ations, men who would do almost any thing for the drinks to play the suecss dinate charactere to bis Needing EanN' The coach had just come ini a gentle, man from the east alghted and after supper lit a cigar and stFolled abont the town. One of the eonfederaees ap- preached him and entered into eonror- sation
 Like the country, straneeCr
 like itf On. yeS, 90 faS ss bayS gone. 1 mEen1 sen much T ' Gs yet"
 ~Ffue coautEA bua sume of tAe DO pae are utghey kDush See that ftlie4 over there with bis corfufoys tusSed in hts boots and his sduSbrero PediPd down over hts syesf Sulky bofrtps afn't heS Well thAes Buy the KidsS
 "Is that Ruiy ths KAd7' exclaimed tbe stranger. T thought be Ras dead"
 Don't you beEseYe tt," replied tAs sn- forrnanE '"Tbey reported him shoa e keep strangeys from stRyin' away -frsn here. but Rhly's too quick and tOO daA- gerOus eo be eaughts'
 Good gracious!" said the stranger, paling.
 q tell you what you do" saLd the in- formant. If you want to be EuFe oS beln' let alone, just treat hi1n, that's all Billy Is a man of bonoT in sOnS ways and has neVeT been kpoEn to meddle with a man he has drank with
 The result of this advice was that the stranger invited Billy to drink, who said he never drank except in a crowd and the gang was included n the inri tatiOn.
 The ruse worked SO well that tt was kept up occasionally for months with other arrivals, and in sOme cases tss stranger was induced by various ds- vices to keep the crowd supplied with hquor for a whole evening. One day a young tenderfOOt arrived and was "coached' about Billy, as usJHsi. He looked at the sulky desperado with a good deal of curiosity.
 would he fight fair, de you thinkG' asked the tenderfOot
 "Fair2 Oh, yes; be would with gentleman like you, but ordinary peo- pie he'd shoot in the back"
 Well" said the tenderfOot T tflAk I'll go in and get something to eat"
 The steerer went to BIily and the gang and reported that the stIanSer needed prodding. So when he cams out Billy went up to him with a sW'as- ger and asked If he was the man who had said that he wouldn't fight fair. The tenderfoot stated the matter arlght, but hss statement wac not ac- cepred, 'whereupon the stanS8g told him that be would give Mm an Oppug- tunity to show that he could and would light fair. I'm not much of shot" be added, but I wouldn't mind a trial of skill with long knives. The bOw4s would suit me, though it's rather s short weapon"
 By this time the crowd had gathered round
 Look at hs nose" said one refer ring to a scar on the strangers right uostrlI. =Reckon he's had fight wfth a catamOunt'
 He's bad eTyspeIas," said aDothSs, noticing that the strsnggTNs face wss quite covered with small maEbs.
 It was plain that the tenderfOot wac blufang. Billy concluded t9 meet bfuG with bluff and agreed to fight hfu then and there with bowie knives A ring was formed. the principals were searched for concealed weapons, sBS when an was ready Bffy, who dSan't care to go any farther, said;
 See here, young feIler, don't vaat 60 kill YOU. Set up the drinks and can lt square"
 The stranger replied by a quick movement Ills knife giittered ia the afr, and Billy's left ear lost its uppe edge.
 "0Whew! You air quick, aint your" said Billy. stupsAed Before hs could put himself in position the tendsTfootS knife made a shit tn bis right DostrA By this time Billy was frightened. Hold on, stranger he said. T tg4t fair, and I expect you to hght fair. ! want time to keep the blood from get tin into my eyes."
 The tenderfOot waited while Billy wiped the blood from his nose and eaE. By this time the Kid had become very angry. Suddenly lunging, he made straight with his knife for the strdn- gers throat His adversary drew away on his left foot and gave quick turn with his wrist. B1ly's knife went up In the air, described circle and, com ing down, stuck In the ground thirty feet away.
 Stranger" said Billy, gimme your hand. You beat anything with the bowie that's ever been seen in these parts. Come and have a drinh"
 The crowd broke into a guRaw, and the tenderfoot replied:
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