Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-25
Innocent bysssnder. who was plug
dead as inackerci.
Strangers Got Busy.

Il
Then the Strangers of Tucson seemed to
! come out OF the ground and ten minutes lat
| er both OF the Harvey boys were landed In
separate cells In the calaboose. That night
the Strangers broke into the caiaboose and
| shot Joe Harvey to death IN his cell. They
shot Ed up heap too. but he was stiii
breathing when they yanked him out OF his
| cell and strung him up.
/ Now. this wasn't any nice piece OF work,
and any ofnbrey could see that II wasn't IL
| got on the nerves OF all OF us. more or less.
1 who didn't belong 20 the strangers. From
tnat night there was q plenty OF ugly talk
plain talk. uttered right out loud. Among
the people who didn't hesitate to express
| themselves audibly as to the way the Strsn-
| giers were eyerstepping the mark were
oealt faro bank In Sim Fosters big Tucson
mousse They were both very quiet men. a.
/ faro dealers generally are. and game. But
| the Harvey job had got them on the raw.
and neither of them hesitated holy minute
| In saying SO.
The result was that one afternoon few
days after the murder of the Harvey boys
they received joint invitation, conveyed
| In writing. from the Strangers to leave
Tucson on the 1l:3o train west-bound. that
night.
"Are you going Doc? Moss asked Doc
Green. when they'd read the note
No. replied Green.
| Neither am l. said Moss
They carried the Strangers invitation
| to Sim Foster. their employer.
| There never was "a better or gamer man
| in the whole southwest than this same Sim
Foster, even II he did run gambling house.
He was man OF absolute integrity. and he
| had a heart as big wide hat under hs
| vest But he was agin the Strangers from
away back. The Strangers note to Moss
and Green. his two dealers. made him hos
tile instantly.
He pasted the note against one of the out
side walls of his gambling plant Then he
out with both his guns and he described
| pretty accurate circle on that piece of pa
per with bullets. Then he took a carpen-
| ter's pencil and wrote across the whole face
| OF the punctured invitation these words:
| Strangers. take warning
! Sim Foster had jumped the reservation
and was on the warpath
He strolled out I'm the sunshine for q
| while and studied the situation. and then
| he returned to his gambling house, where
| his two warned dealers. Moss and Green.
were waiting for him. They had talk At
| the conclusion of the talk Sim Foster hand
| ed each of the men $500 in gold.
| :" In ease the play doesn't go through. he
| explained, in doing this. and you boys have
| to drill. you'll need the money.
Fixing the Deal.
| Then Sim went around and had few
| quiet little talks with some Tucson citizens
| who he knew would be with him In little
| undertaking he had on hand.
"one of these was Tom Foster, who was
about as square man as Sim himself An
/
ployed by the Wells-Fargo people as a coach
| guard and who didn't back water for any
| man. Then there was Virgil carp. / don't
| need to tell you anything about Virgil. I
| always figured him to be the best and gam
| est of all the carp boys. Shotgun Coleman
| also Joined the bunch. He was on the level
and not a bad man. as his name might i'm
ply. There were several others, whose names
| I'm not mentioning.
| "All told, the party consisted of eleven
men. There wasn't desperate or law
| breaker in the lot. They were simply
| eleven southwestern men who knew how to
| handle themselves, and who were all very
| weary, indeed. of Stranger rule and law.
Right next door to Sim Fosters faro bank
| was q little restaurant conducted by n
Chinaman Yen Woo. The chink had built
the place himself of plain boards. and It
| was pretty rough to look at, but the slant
eye knew how to shove good grub in front
of his patrons. and he making money.
| ut was the custom of Moss and Green.
| Sim Fosters two warned dealers, TO drop
| into the chink's shack every night around
| IL o'clock for a bite to eat. Yen Woos GUS
| toners sat on rough stools before rough
| tables. and at IL O'Clock that nght-half an
| hour before they were due to be run out OF
| Tucson-Moss and Green were the only
| customers holding down stools in the grub
| shack. They sat side by side, facing the
| front and they ate calmly and with APP
! parent relish, not the least Ike men who
| were due to be showed out of the town
| where they made their living within half an
| hour. They had Sim Foster on their staff,
| and they weren't worrying.
| "Tf anything happens, or any OF those
| Stranger people come in while you're eat
| ing your tomales.' Foster had said to them
| that afternoon, your end or IL Is 10 Just
drop backward from your stools and lay
| fat on the floor Wen see to the rest.
| $50 Moss and Green ust went on eating
| their tamales and slipping their coffee with
| out bothering their heads as TO the near APP
| proach of II 80, when their train out was
| due. They heard the train come in. and
1 they heard the train go out, and then they
4 began to walt for something to happen.
1 'It was pitch dark outside but when, three
or four minutes after the train pulled out.
| the two dealers saw by the light Issuing
! from the Chinaman's front windows
| number of men approaching the restaurant,
| they knew that the game was on.
The Ball Opens.
''They waited for the first of the dozen or
| so of Strangers to get into the frameway
/ of the front door, when bing they simulta-
neously kicked their stools from under them
and were resting, prone on their stomachs,
| on the floor.
| .aThe two dealers had hardly gone TO
| the floor than from the rear of that China
/ mans eating shack there came voley'
the like Of which III bet no xigllanes
| anywhere else had ever gone up against
| before. The volley was made by sawed-on
| express messenger shotguns, loaded with
! slugs, and Sim Foster ana MS puneh OF
| anti-Stranglers planted In the dark In
the rear of Yen woo's grub shack, Were
! the makers of II. 1t just tore the whole
front OF the Chinaman's restaurant into
| splinters. Only five men OF that squad
! of dozen old Strangers lived long
enough even to be surprised. and those
| five were too much plugged TO care much.
| one way or the other. Ears and fingers
| and things like that were being picked up
| around Yen Woo's tamale joint until noon
| the next day.
'tAnbuscade? OF course II was an am
| buscade! But you've got to remember that
there is such a game as fighting fire with
| fire When you dig down TO the root
| of 1t, what was the spirit OF the whole
Vigilante business but the ambuscading
spirit? When you're fighting Injuns you've
got to fight Injuu-wise. don't ask any
body TO subscribe to my opinion and be-
lief but think that the Strangers of Tue
son sure got everything that was a-coming
to them, and then some.
And there has never been a Vigilante
nor Stranger. not alone in Tucson. but
in the whole wide domain of Arizona, from
that night down to the present moment
OF time