Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-17
A DESPERATE REMEDY

sometimes the viligantes were all right.
remarked the man from Arizona. who
squirted six drops Of tabasco into each
drink that he poured out, land sometimes
they were all wrong. In my opinion they
were oftener dead wrong than half right.
But this may be prejudiced testimony.
never liked the vigilantes' methods. 1t Is
undeniable that they were what you might
call necessary evil in some parts of the
west. But they always overdid the thing.
They grew arrogant, domineering. They
generally wound up by wanting to be the
whole works. Then, in most cases, some
thing would turn up to finish the vigilantes.
l happened to be on hand when the some
thing happened that pulled the curtain
down on the vigilante business In Arizona.
There has never been a vigilante in Arf-
iona from that day to this.
1T happened in Flagstaff, in 1884, They
were never called vfgilantes in Arizona
They were referred to as Strangers. The
strangers got pretty tight hold on Flag
staff. They weren't popular, but they had
majority. They called themselves
sherins posse. and for while they rode
over Flagstaff proper. They turned several
tricks. with the aid of the rope, that were
nowhere near on the. square, and they kill
ed several men who were pretty generally
thought to be innocent by Flagstaff folks
who didn't take any stock in the Strangers
,haphazard way of doing things. So that
when this thing happened I'm going to tell
you about, there was pretty strong
dercurrent OF feeling in Fla gstaff against
the Strangers.
The beginning of the Strangers wind
up was when one of the most prominent
OF their number began to pick on the
Burns boys, Charley and Frank. Old man
Burns ran the Burns House in Flagstaff,
and these boys were his sons Charley was
about thirty-three and Frank was twenty
eight. They were both square men, as men
went down In the southwest in those days.
They didn't pretend to be sanctified. but
they kept as well within the law as any of u.s.
There was no reason on earth why they
should have been singled out to be picked
on by the Strangers but they were
One day the prominent Stranger that L
mentioned walked into the Burns House
Charley and Frank were playing seven-up
for dollars at a table not far from the
desk few bystanders were poking
around. This Stranger man began shoot
ing 1t into Charley Burns in a pretty
strong way of limiting about a stage rob-
berry that had been pulled Off not far from
Flagstaff couple of weeks before. Charley
wasn't a coward, by whole row of 'dobes
but he knew that if he went at the Strang-
Ter he'd not only get it himself, but that
his brother and his old father would prob
ably have to dangle. Any way. he wasn't
fixed He had laid. aside his belt for more
comfort in sitting down. So he didn't say
much in reply to the Strangers digs.
Frank, his younger brother fumed but he
didn't cut in until the Stranger walked to
the bar at the end of the Office to get a
drink Then he said in an angry undertone
to his brother:
Charley, if you're not man enough to
take your own end against that juniper.
l am
I'm not fixed. said Charley
Frank passed his brother a gun under
the table
Now call him. he said.
Charley sort o. hesitated. He was a
cooler man than his brother, and he wanted
| to keep out of trouble If he could. So he
damned the gun into his waistband and sat
in a sort of a guess. The Stranger walked
from the bar toward the door,
You may hear something, he said
stopping at the door and looking at Charley
Burns significantly.
i" Just wait minute said Charley get
ting up from the table and walking over to
the Stranger. Let's hear it now
''They got together right then. 1t hap
pened pretty suddenly. but the only man
struck by shot was the inevitable inno-
cent bystander. He was killed as dead
as a mackerel. Then the Strangers seemed
to come out Of the ground and three min
utes later both of the Burns boys were
landed in separate cells in the calaboosa
That night the Strangers broke into the
jail and shot Charley Burns to death in
his cell. They shot Frank up a heap, too
but he was still breathing when they pulled
him out of his cell and strung him up.
Now, here was a dirty bit of work II
got on the nerves of all of us, more or less
who didn't belong to the Strangers There
was a-plenty of ugly talk around Flag
stan from that night-plain talk, spoken
right out loud. Among the people who
didn't hesitate to express themselves audi
bly, We're Ed Fay and Doc Radde both OF
whom dealt faro in Dave Blacks big place
they were both quiet men. and game. But
that Burns job got them On the raw, and
neither OF them hesitated minute in say
| ing SO. The result was that one afternoon
they got joint invitation. conveyed in
writing, from the Strangers. to leave Flag
staff on the II 30 train out that night
"'A Are you going, Door Fay asked Radde
when they'd read the note.
NO. said Radde.
| Neither am I. said Fay
| They took the Strangers invitation to
Dave Black, their employer. There never
were any better nor gamer men in the
| southwest than Dave Black. He was mar
or absolute integrity. He had a heart as
| big as a bullock's under his vest. But he
| was agin the Strangers from way back
| The strangers note to Fay and Radde
| made him hostile instantly. lie pasted the
1 note against one of the walls of his place
| Then he outs with both of his guns and
| he describes pretty exact circle on tina
piece Of paper with bullets. Then he tool
| a pencil and wrote across the whole face
| of the punctured note:
| Strangers. take warming
| pave Back was on the warpath He
walked out into the air for while and
| to his place. where his two warned dea Lars
| Fay and Radde, We're waiting for him
| They had talk. At the conclusion of tht
| talk Black handed each man $500 hill
| In case the play doesn't go through
| he explained. and you boys have to drill
| you'll need the money
| Then Dave went around and had fau
quiet talks with some Flagstaff men wbG
| he knew would be with him in the lttlt
undertaking he had in mind One was hi,
| brother. Charley Black. Another was Mvs
1 ferrous Dave, surname unknown an ev
| Wells-Fargo messenger, who had neve,
been known to back water Then there wa
Virgil Earp-1 needn't say anything abou
| Virgil. ! always figured him to be tbe he's
| of all the carp boys. Doc Holiday va,
| another, and good man in tight ninch
| and John Burns, no kin to the Rurnsas MI
had been murdered by the Strangers tool
| on. The famous Shotgun Collins Joined tb,
bunch. There were eleven of them. Tbar,
| wasn't desperate or lawbreaker in RI,
| lot. But they were tired of Strangers
The two warned-out men, Fay and POD
de, dropped at IL o'clock that night int,
| Wah Jim's Chinese restaurant. They 90
on rough stools before rough tables sid
| by side, and facing the front. The, ;1;Sn'
appear to be bothered about the near a.
| proach of their warned-out hour II .ao
They heard the train come in, and the,
| heard the train go out. Then thew hega
| to wait for something to happen IT. Sc
&nhx n nvly ID