Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-05

l did not want to kill the fellow, so
| aimed at the gun and shot 1t out of
his hand without even hurting him.
He was so surprised it sobered him up
and he wanted to shake hands with
me about that time.
"One day not so very long ago was
in Phoenix end early in the morning
went past a gambling house where the
men had been playing all day and all
night. They were in a pretty bad way
and a dispute had arisen over the
roulette wheel. A young soldier who
was in the crowd had placed a copper
on number and a Chinaman came
in and placed a coin. With his long
sleeve he accidentally moved the cop
per to another number and the wheel
stopped upon that number. The soldier
demanded his money and the dealer
said it was misplaced. A quarrel arose
and when 1 looked in the door the
soldier haC drawn his knife and poised
it ready to plunge into his opponent.
The boy was a friend of mine and I
saw at glance what he was up to.
1 drew my gun and arrested the plunge
by shooting the knife out of his hand.
1t pretty nearly ruined his hand, but
he says he will never cease to be
thankful to me for saving him from
being a murderer.
Frightens Frenchman
In Paris few years ago my gun
came in handy. I was playing cards
with a young American student and
two Frenchmen. The Frenchmen were
slow in catching on to the game and
the college youth said, hurry up, you
little frog" He said it with laug>,
but the Frenchman Immediately took
offense and demanded that he appoint
a second, declared there must be
duel and all that sort of thing.
The American boy was game and
when asked what weapon he would
choose he said, pistols.
Il was not going to see the lad fight
and run the chance of getting killed
or killing someone else over such
foolish little difference, so I fixed up
a scheme to prevent the duel.
Il was, of course, chosen as the col
lege boys second, and knew the time
the Frenchmans second would be apt
to call, so concealed my man in the
room and prepared to startle the other
when he should arrive. We talked, ar
ranging the details, and finally I
showed him one of my guns. I took
a card from my pocket and tore 1t in
four pieces, then 1 went out and tackled
them to tree Returning, I fired four
shots and hit each piece of card. The
Frenchman stood aghast, and then I
told him that was not anything to what
most Americans can do.
Duel Is of
The children use such guns as these
for playthings in America, and my
friend-why, if you think l can shoot,
you ought to see him. He never has
been known to miss
There can be no duel. Why, man,
it would be suicide. There must be
some settlement. 1t would never do
said the Frenchman, and 1 thought he
was going to have a fit right there.
Needless to say, there was no duel The
Frenchman backed himself out of my
room with as much rapidity as was
consistent with politeness and forgot
all about the wrong which had been
done his friend"
Mr.. Benton says that he never learned
to shoot.
"As music is a natural gift to some
and art to others, so shooting is natural
to me. l never hear the report of the
gun, and when go to shoot at target
1t looks as big as mountain to me.
could not miss It,"
Mr.. Benton relates many interesting
stories concerning the natives of Ha-
wall, where he passed much time.
White man, he come in ships and
we want to kill. We see them all time
look up to sky and raise their hands
and say something. We look, too, but
we no see nothing. They come on shore.
All the time keep on looking. We look
and our sight must be bad. We see
nothing. We look so long to sky, the
missionaries all land, and when we tIy
to bring our heads down we have crook
In the neck. The missionaries thew
have our land while we trying to see
what they see in sky
This is the story OF the Americans
taking the land in Hawaii as Il was
told to me by an old native" said Mr.
Benton.