The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-01
HHR WEST CALLING TO BAT
MAsTERsON MAY SO TIRED OF
TRAILING BEANS AND DCCkS.

-omly P1nee sps IuIm IN Nsw Osrb 90
MunniRg . IrryIprS CaF. says Ieps friena.
n W. n CBap Masterson really means
business In the matter NJ obtaining that
appointment a. United States Marshal
out IN Oklahoma Il will shock. rain. grieve
N mortiiy his many friends around the
local Federal building and the Facetracks.
Anytime you like 20 drop around TO the
once Of Billy Henkel you can hear fervent
talss Of the devotion Of W h. BAIT 10 duty
and OF the promptneas with which he loosens
up for the purpose Of buying breakfast or
suchik0 for any temporarily embarrassed
pard.
Yes. the friends Of W. B. (Bat) when they
heard what purportsd 70 be the news de-
clarsd with one Voics that they hadn't
been 80 shocked since the time Bat was
touched for his shiny giglamp OF Broad
way, and hat was some Rcw years ago.
They simply can't believe that the Deputy
United States Marshal really contemplates
rsverting to the West. They are Of the
opinion that he ought to rest content with
those t~wenty-eight nOtches on his gun
AL Of them carved there. Of course. In the
good old days OF bad. bad men. whom the
only thing to do was shoot 'sm up.
When W. B. (Batl was indicted into Office
something more than two years z IL was
naturally expected that he was 10 be- the
gun man OF the shop. for hadn't he Swallowed
George Gould up and down Manhattan ISL
and for eight months when some insane
man had written letters threatening TO
blow on the top OF Mr.. Gould's block? And
hadn't he cleaned out the crooked gamblers
and the surething men in Dodge City and
Guthrie and many a mining town and boom
camp2
Yet up 20 date the notches on the gun
OF W. b. (Eat remain the same, and about
the only violent passage in his HISTORY
n he became "A Deputy United States
Marshal occurred a bit over a year ago.
when Bat had words with a gent friend
In the Waldorf-AstoTia, as a result of which
everybody sought points of vantage he-
meath the nearest tables.
Only one man around the Federal Build
ing could possibly imagine yesterday what
the mischief had got into Bat that he should
want to turn an ~ungrateful ON
New York. Til one man with "A smltch of
notion wandered into Henkels Oiioe late
In the afternoon and sat gloOmlly IN n cor
ner waiting for Bat.
Il sea that pieOe in the paper" he said.
Il been expeotin' OF it for some time. Long
back in Dodge City, so long l can't jest
recolleck the date, Bat and ma got TO be
pardners. At that time l was runnin' one
OF the busiest shell games in those parts
puNAADOM AN AAAAo III Ihl guIAAC DAt NAACJ
made Bat Sheriff and he started in ON his
customary missionary work. He jest re-
formed me, Bat did. OF course. | amt
completely reformed. He taught me too
old for that, but | amt done nothin' worse
since then than Inv a street car. I'm a
motorman now
BAT took a friendly interest in me from
the time l made careful inspection of the
inside Of the barrel of a sawed OF Colt he
used TO he pretty proud of, and when he
HnVaraA ma m Nam Work. town ha lnnkad
me Up. Used to ride a spell with me on the
front platform OF my car. Bat did. Ain't
no place that ever | sec for gettin' conf
dental like the front platform Of a New
York trolley car. It's the only outdoor
place in this burg where folks can't get to
"I'm tellin' you all this becuz you might
wonder why l think I'm wise to Bats new
move.
sDon't know much about the kind OF
stunt Bats been pullin' of round these
parts. do you2 Amt heard Of him shOotin'
nobody up. have your No. That's lest
the point. Listen, stranger: Twas some
early time las spring. was of duty and
/ met Bat snoopin' around the waterfront
over on the Hudson side. WAS jest comm
out Of saloon run by a pal l used TO know
In Kansas In the days before Brownin'
was much read out there.
whats the lay, Bat2' says, be cuz
see he WI slookin' special gloomy.
Il am searchin' fer a bean" he says.
"a BEAM says |.
yep says he. a very special. particular
kind OF a bean. And mind you don't peep
10 nobody about it. Then he goes OF
down the street. lookin' back solemn over
his shoulder and walkin' very soft.
We'll. l found out long after that that
IL was a customs job. Some Teller in the
bean business had complained to the United
States Districk Attorney that some Teller
In the same line he'd got next to some of
the customs boys. l think it was a South
American bean. Seems there's beans and
beans and one bean differeth from another
In glory. Yep, l was raised pious and
sometimes I don't forget it. Well. Uncle
Sam says one South American bean is well
come to our city and another kind is a an
desirable citizen. The kick was that the
unwelcome bean and requirin' a ticket
from the other feller's bean. And Bat
was hustled out on IL. No, they wasn't
cooked beans, They was jest raw material.
Nov. it's my opinion that them beans
have jest about worried Bat to a FRAGILE.
Don't forget that I've seen Rat Masterson
~meanderin' up and down the so-called
streets Of Dodge City clankin' like a walkin'
arsenal. l remember the rainy night he
started the good gov'ment era re out there.
The next mOrnin' you couldn't hire or
buy a boss inA the whole town. TIL sure
thing a-tists we're usin' EN- all a right !
smart mess Of miles away from there. And
now here he was on a bean hunt. GOSH!
NeOs Il atdTJCu III lODk ulh lIODl view I
England, State of Maine. !
when l say twas the beans that riled
him / mean beans and suohlike-duckB for (
instance. He never'd open much about |
Il, becuz twas secret business. but 1 can
call to mind the time. only a few months ago.
when he 'peared to me TO be down on his
luck even worse than when he was on the
beanchase. Finally | got IL out Of him that
he was under orders to ferret out. even at
the risk Of his life, a gang Of unterrifled
cutthrOats that was engaged in the bust
ness Of importin' into this country some
tame ducks disguised as wild ones. Say.
it was like shOotin' up a white mouse with
II inch guns.
But they is some kinds of courage bigger
than the kind that drives an unarmed man
ND to the mouth OF a loaded Winchester.
Bat never skulked the job At all. He KEEP
on the trail Of them duck importers night
an day for about three weeks and he landed
'em with the goods without ever havin'
10 pull his gun once.
IAN the same. I could see tibet kind Of
thing was ruinin' his once cheerful s~perrits.
I amt what I used TO be. he says to me once
when we was talkin' over old times. And
II he goes out to Oklahoma why the rea-
sons plain enough. It's the call o. the wild.
thet's what IL il. There won't he no bean
huntin' out there. Nope. and no ~beanbag
playin' neither.
Member the time Bat got fined so bones
for iust Writin' some silly ~paraRraft about
some Judge up-Statep Well. nobody knows
how that nled him.
s'Why. he says TO me. I didn't do nothln'
only lest pass the time o. day l tell you.
pardner. It's the eef-feet East that's the ,
matter with Bat-Deans and ducks and