The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1907-04-19
s elect STORY.
The Sheriff and The Bad Man."
BY T. R. PORTER.

In the days when the Far West was
really "wild' in every sense Of the word,
the resourceful man forged to the front
and stayed there, and only the man of
many devices was able to become force
in the strong and strenuous life of those
frontier days While the six-shooter was
the accepted instrument with which differ
ences were settled the chief actors in these
little affairs sometimes resorted to Winches-
ter rifles, bowie knives, Or shot guns, and
at times some very queer weapons were
called into use when it was impossible to
use the old favorites.
In its palmy days Deadwood, in the
Black Hills of South Dakota, was known
all over the States as the toughest town
on earth,' and we'll it deserved its name.
1t was the boast of the town that every
morning before breakfast some man "died
with his boots on and after break fast
still others bit the dust. Just about every
instrument with which a man could be
killed had seen service in this famous from
tier town, when one day practically new
arrival showed the old -timres a..trick with a
new weapon that is remembered in Dead
wood to this day, and whenever some of
the early citizens get together and COM
mence talking about the early days in
Deadwood, somebody is sure to spring the
story of Seth Bullock and his Chinese stink
pot. Bullock himself still lives in Dead
wood-in fact, he is United States Mar
shall for South Dakota, and the best-known
man in the Black Hills-but his unique
manner of capturing a band of ''toughs'
without bloodshed has been the admiration
of many people for quarter of century.
Deadwood grew from single miner s
cabin to town of five thousand people in
just three days 1t was all because of the
great ''strike' of placer gold made down
in Deadwood gulch, and when the news
spread there was the biggest rush ever
known in the American gold fields. Other
towns were depopulated in an hour-and
Deadwood grew like mushroom.
Its new citizens were not choice. Nc
one inquired where man came from and
to ask his name was almost an insult which
demanded bloodshed. A great many of
the miners had come west for the good of
their health and wanted no questions asked.
Sufficient to say they were the toughs Of
the earth-at least, most of them were
Deadwood was vast gambling den ir
those although not single roulette
wheel turns now. Dance halls, saloons
and gambling dens constituted three-fourth'
of the houses. Among the tougher ele.
ment were men who gloried in the reputa
ton of being "killers' and had mum
Der of deaths to their credit.
In time lawlessness became so genera
that some of the better class residents de
termined to rid Deadwood of its very
toughest citizens, and vigilance commit
tee was formed. 1t was then decided tina
Deadwood must have sheriff.
A sheriff, in those days, meant mai
who could draw his gun quicker and shoe
straighter than anyone else in the camp
1t also meant man of nerve who knew
when to draw and when not to-one wh'
could read in the eyes of his opponent thu
psychological moment when the other mai
decided to reach for his gun.
Just at that time Captain Seth Bullock
came to Deadwood He came from owe
in Montana, and he brought with him th'
reputation of always attending to his owl
business and permitting no one else to at
tend to it for him. Bullock was knowr
as man of peace who would fight like /
tiger cat whenever he had to fight at all
And Bullock was made marshal of Dead
wood-the first peace officer that city eve
boasted OF.
There were several gun-fghts before thu
chad element began to realize that wher
Bullock said, "Come on, want you, il
was safer to 60 than to argue the matter.
Bullock got shot two or three times in these
fights, but they were not bad wounds. Or
the other hand, each of his opponents was
buried up in the cemetery on the side oi
the HILL
1t happened that in the camp there were
three cronies bearing the nick-names Of
"Bad Bill, "Curly'' Desmond, anc
Oscar Face Wilson. They were the
stbaddest' of the chad men, and they
gloried in their badness. They were part
ners in everything, and if man fought
one of them he had to fight the entire trio.
Other rival s'bad'' men might wipe each
other out of existence in their jealousies,
but these three terrors never by any chance
fought among themselves.
Finally, there came time when Sheriff
Bullock "wanted'' 'sBad Bill and his
two companions They had row with
s'tenderfoot' whom they were cheating al
cards, and, contrary to the rules of the
camp, had killed him without giving him
the ghost of chance. The easterner did
not even know there was going to be row
until he looked down gun barrel for one
brief moment before bullet ended bis
career.
A chilling in, Deadwood was rather
the usual than the unusual; yet the Staying