The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-25
FAST GUN PLAYS,
Two Men Who Were Quick on the
Trigger.

Q @ @ @ . q . q q @ o o 8 o O 8 O
Milwaukee Sentinel: when it
comes to rapid gun plays make Just
two exceptions to my old friend Bill
Cummings" remarked the major, as
he put pinch of tobacco in a sltp
of brown paper and deftly rolled a
cigarette. And the two that l have
in mind are Wild Bill Hickok and the
Apache Kid.
ut was down in Tombstone. The
day had been blistering hot, and we
were sitting in front of the hotel en-
joying the night air.
"Of course" went on the major,
l never met up with them. Gun plays
amt fashionable nowadays, SO l reck-
on you all don't know much about
them. But it don't take no mental
effort on my part to recall the time
when a man had to be mighty careful
what pocket he carried his tobacco In.
To reach for tobacco in hip pocket
always looked suspicious and recalls
more than one man who had to quit
the trail from an overdose of cold lead
because of just such carelessness.
I'm the old days of Abilene and
Dodge man wasn't expected to do
much with his hands in a barroom
outside of reachin' in his front pocket
for the price of his obligation. Beyond
that he was looked on with suspicion,
unless, of course, he was known as a
peaceful character, as was my friend,
Bill Cummings. drunk or sober. Sober,
Bill would sit in the corner of dance
hall and take in the proceedings with
all the enjoyment of 10-year-old kid.
Somehow the music, scratchy as it
was. always had a peculiar influence
on Bill. He didn't want to dance,
didn't want to drink and didn't care
for no rough house. He just wanted
to sit in an out-of-the-way corner ana
soak his soul in it. And as for talkin'
Bill was a second-cousin to clam.
used to think sometimes that he was
tongue tied. But he wasn't 1t was
just his way.
1T was the same old Bill when he
was sober, except for one thing. He
always imagined somebody was In
sulting his friends. Bill would take
all sorts of insults about himself anu
smile em off in weak-fashioned way,
but the minute he imagined any of his
friends were getting the worst of it,
Bills eyes would begin to glisten.
Likewise you would notice that his
trigger finger would get itchy. Trig-
ger finger amt quite appropriate in
this case, maybe, because Bill didn't
have any trigger on his gun. 1t was
too slow work to have to pull trig-
ger. so he had that obstacle removed,
leaving nothing but the hammer. You
recollects that the Apache Kid got
wise to that time-saving scheme some
time before the sheriff caught him
with his guard down. You know how
it works. don't you? You merely pulls
the hammer back the same time you
pulls the gun, then when you get your
bead you lets her flicker And Bills
long suit was in having the hammer
back before the muzzle of the gun was
out of the holster.
Bill was what you from the east
would call bad man. but he never
picked fight in his life And as I
remarked heretofore, he would go to
the limit before making any resent
ment-especially when sober. And
then if he made gun play, nine times
out of ten it was in behalf of his
friends.
"Bill and me drifted into Dodge one
night just about the time when the