The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1907-01-04
A PAYING BUSINESS

| Major Hotchkiss. "a man at Badger
Rock. Mont. who joyed in calling him.
self Wildcat Bill. the Rattlesnake of
Bender's Flat Not that that was his
name, of course, or that his name was
Bill or even William, or that. so far as
/ know. he had ever seen wildcat or
would have known a rattleSnake If he
| had met one. and / am certain there
was no such place as Bender's Flat,
but this is what he was pleased TO call
himself. In point of fact, his name
was Ernest Wilberforce or something
of that sort, and he came originally
from Baldwinsyille, Conn, or some
such mild. wildcatless and nonrattle-
snake neighborhood.
His finances became reduced. and
the time came when something had TO
be done. He determined to take mp
the vocation of desperate in a purely
commercial way.
Badges Rock was at that time a
small town engaged chiefly in the
business of transferring people from
the railroad station to the stages which
ran to certain gold and silver mines.
A great many eastern people. capital
lists and so forth. passed through ii.
but few stayed in the place more than
few hours.
''One day, half hour before the
train from the east was due, the clerk
of the aotel was astonished to see this
II, n
boy costume. wearing a belt with two
revolvers and knife in it and carry
ing a heavy double barreled shotgun
with the barrels sawed off so that they
were not more than foot long max
ing weapon such as is sometimes af-
fected by desperate characters, treas
ure coach guards, deputy sherlffs or
other individuals engaged in turning
their hands against their fellow men.
ut is piece of. ordnance which is
supposed to be loaded with inordinate
charges of powder and irregular slugs
of lead. 1t makes an excellent COM
panion for one gentleman to wait
around the corner with for another
gentleman who has been telling about
town that he Ghe first gentleman) is a
liar
ITO the surprised inquiries OF the
hotel clerk Wilberforce explained that
he was now Wildcat Bill, the Rattle
snake of Bender's Flat, and that all he
asked was the simple privilege of wait
ing behind the half open door of the
Office for Pete Smith of Patchen's
ranch. The clerk had never heard Of
any of these names before, but as
there was no rule against it he as
sented
1T was not long before the train ar
rived, and an elderly and correct ap-
pearing man alighted and made his
way toward the hotel. He was, in fact,
a prominent Boston capitalist, and this
was his first trip to the somewhat ex-
tensive region west of the Connecticut
river As he entered the door of the
hotel his eye caught the muzzle of the
shotgun. with its two cavernous shafts.
apparently about the size of sewer
pipe, which projected an inch beyond
the edge of the open door. A glance
behind showed a most murderous indi-
vidual, breathing short and with his
finger moving nervously on both trig
gers. The Boston man stepped quickly
to the clerk and whispered:
'Who-who is that man"
"sThats Wildcat Bill, the Rattle
snake of Bender's Flat answered the
clerk.
'What-what is he doing|
"'Waiting for Pete Smith Of Patch
ems RANCH replied the clerk.
"'Will-will he shoot himY
less Pete shoots first
".Is the the gentleman expected
soonT went on the man from the Hub.
Pete comes in at 2:45 for a drink
.The visitor consulted his watch and
found it was 2:30.
lis there no way to stop such n ter
rible thing?' he inquired earnestly.
1.-The clerk shook his head. No. he
replied. Bill has shot twenty two men.
and, you see. he's got three cornered
file in his mouth now to file the TWEEN
ty-third notch in his six shooter after
he gets through with Pete. But add
ed the clerk confidentially, perhaps he
could be hired to postpone the opera
ton for few hours, say till after you
have left for the mines
1.-The upshot of it was that for $40
the Rattlesnake agreed not to shoot
Pete till after ) O'Clock, and the Bos-
ton man again drew full breath.
Naturally so easy and rapid way
of making money could not be left I'M
cultivated. and Wildcat Bill became a
regular thing behind the hotel door at
train time. He divided profits with the
clerk, and they did a thriving business.
His terms for consenting to postpone
temporarily the awful slaughter of his
enemy varied from So to $50. accord
ing to the means or terror of the sub
ject. Only one attempt proved total
failure This was in the case of roll
licking youth from Louisville. who sat
down and announced that he was GO
ing to wait and see the fun. He was
finally tired out by the inexplicable
failure of Pete Smith to arrive
'"The game was kept up several years
and would perhaps have been still go
ing on had it not been for an unfortu
nate accident. One day man came
i,1%o xx-ffh III