East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-01-07

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Sierras," who in 1861 had his head
quarters in Walla Walla, has an in
teresting article on "Badmen and
Frontiersmen," in the January issue
of the PAcific Monthly and some new
tales of the early days in Walla Wall
la are revealed. Some of the most
noted toughs that ever visited Walla
Walla are spoken of by the now ia
nous poet, who during the early days
had an interest in a pony express
business between Walla Walla and
Orofino, Idaho.
The article is lengthy one and
contains personal knowledge Of the
famous gun men.
Many Walla Wallans know that
Joaquin Miller has visited In Walla
Walla, but only the old timers remem-
ber when he lived here, says the Wal
la Walla Bulletin.
After dealing with the lives and
deeds of few of the bad men of CAL
ifornia, Miller says of Jakey Williams,
deputy sheriff: "In 1862 he led
the fight against Cherokee Bob at
Florence, Idaho, in sort of ball room
where men literally lay in heaps.
Cherokee Bob was the last to fall.
Standing in the middle of the floor,
laughing, swearing, yelling, he sped
his last shot, then hurled his gun in
the face of Williams, and fell on the
heap of dead, friends and foes Only
few days before he had killed three
men in theater fight in Walla Wal
la and the handsome dusky fellow had
long and bloody list still back of
the three"
w. S. Gillian, 315 Jewell street,
was sheriff at the time of the theater
fight and recalled the incident when
asked about it by a Bulletin reporter
today. Cherokee Bob was a sympa-
thizer with the south, at the time"
said Mr.. Gillian, "and one night in
theater he got in a quarrel with
some of the soldiers stationed at Fort
Walla Walla. Cherokee Bob pulled
I his gun and in the fight which fol-
lowed, several were killed. Joaquin
Miller is probably right when says it
was three but l do not remember
definitely"
Miller continues with his story un-
! til he reaches Matt Bloodsoe, a real
bad man, who is well remembered in
Walla Walla by the old timers. He
says:
Matt Bloodsoe was bad-bad to
the core-and killed simply because
he could. After two terms in the
penitentiary he was killed by Mexi-
can woman in Arizona. 81 Bradley
was the bravest of the lot. He had
been set upon me by Bill Hirst, who
had teased me, boy, to desperation,
and then, not brave enough to do
battle, swore out a warrant and put
it into the hands of Officer Bradley.
We met, mounted, in the road. Bill
Hirst ran away but Bradley fought
and fell from his horse with a bullet
in his groin, which he afterward
handed me as my own property, over
my counter in my express office in
Walla.
He denounced Bill Hirst bitterly as
and always being beaten. But for all
his dislike of fighters he somehow
kept fighting until he was killed by
his closest friend as they stood drink
ing side by side in an Arizona bar
room. And here let US leave the
bloody trail with all its ugly lessons
and not one-half its "heroes" are so
much as hinted at.
"The notion prevails that every man
in those days was a sort of animated
arsenal. Not so. Chinese Gordon,
butchered at Khartoum, on the Nile,
was not the only man who disdained
six shooter. My partner, founder
of Mossman & Miller's express, was
truly the "bravest of the brave but
never carried a pistol when he rode
express. / followed his example, for
pistol is cold and heavy and hard to
keep dry in a 200-mile dash through
slush and snow and rain.
Matt Bloodsoe stuck gun in my
face one night in a gambling saloon
in Walla Walla, where I was deliver
| ing gold dust, and backed, ran back,
in fact, to a monte table and sprang
like a cat right up into heaps of gold.
AS he rushed up the dealers thrust
their guns in his teeth and he dived
under the table. They kicked him
out at one end and got down at
the other end. At least that is what
Mossman says"
"I remember Joaquin Miller WE'LL"
said w. S. william. II used to live on
Dry creek and Joaquin Miller often
stopped over night with us while on
his way to Orofino, the center of the
gold district then. That was long
before he became famous, however,
and he seemed just an ordinary man."