The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-20

DdHt NiiO AtdlAy idu EO0SlQeTaDI6 courage in his makeup, seeing that the tide was against him, thought to tempor- ize, and, eeasing his struggling, he re- marked so everybody could hear him: All right, boys; the crowds too many for me; I'll let the kid alone
 But it was Burleigh's turn then to astonish everybody, and coming from behind the table, he cried in high-pitched voice: This thing can't end here; that fellow'll always have 1t in for me- and l guess we'd better fight it out right now with pistolsp
 "A wicked smile showed on Gold-Tooth Dams bearded face as he figured 1t out how easy the consumptive would be for him with the shooting irons, and he was quick to yell acceptance to the chal- lenge. But the cowboys had summed up things correctly. and readily appreciated that Burleign knew nothing about pis- tols, so they opposed the combat most strenuously and the half-dozen soldiers backed them up.
 You're right; I wouldn't have a chance with him. said Burleigh, but if he's game I'll fight him on equal terms. We've got four kegs of powder over at our shack, and we'll use two of them right now. light slow fuses to them, and I'll sit on one and he'll sit on the other,
 
 who's still alive can jump to safety
 We were all mortified at the proposition and Dan started back, his face gone sud denly pale. The cowboys, who had as- sumed charge of the whole thing, at first shook their heads negatively, but after they had held moments conference with the soldiers over in corner of the room they came back, and the spokesman said; That's the only thing to do now if that fellow pointing to Dan, is as game as he pretends to be; let him accept the challenge
 ''Dan faltered out that he wasn't used to such business as that, but then the crowd began to jeer and hoot him, and the cowboy leader said: If you don't take the challenge, you'll hit the desert trail and we'll be after you hot-foot.' Dams face darkened at this threat, and with an oath, he announced himself as being ready for the powder test whenever Burleigh was
 Two of the cowboys, accompanied by two of the soldiers, left the dance hall and hurried to the Great Northern hotel. They entered without ceremony, and in a few minutes came staggering back under the weight of the kegs, the soldiers car ring one and the cowboys the other.
 Kegs Are Placed.
 'The kegs were placed on their heads in a clear space to the rear of the saloon and two fuses, each about 12 inches in length, were produced by the cowboy leader. Here, you he said, ad- dressing Dan, you take the first choice of these things; they're both alike Dan, without word, indicated fuse, and the cowboy dropped on one knee and placed one end of the cord into small hole that had been drilled in the keg. The same was done with the second fuse, and a committee was selected to examine the fuses and see that they were of equal length and that chances were even for both duelists. The committee had little trouble in making the investigation, as the moon was at it's full and bathed the earth in a light that made objects almost as clear as at midday.
 "The crowd formed wide circle around the kegs, and when Burleigh, with pale face and clenched teeth, sat On one and calmly folded his arms Dan, who had been relieved of his brace of guns and bowie knife, summoned up his courage and seated himself on the other. The kegs were about 15 feet apart, and two of the cowboys stood with lighted match ready to set the fuse off The order was finally given and both fuses were fired simultaneously, and as the sparks began to splutter and hiss the cowmen sprang to their feet and fled helter-skelter toward the gaping, excited crowd.
 "The fuses burned before the men 5 eyes, right at their feet and from where we stood we could see expression Of terror spread itself over Dams face. As for Burleigh, he sat upright with com- pressed lips and eyes raised toward heaven, as though offering silent prayer We watched the fuses, fascinated, and they seemed to burn very slowly. At first the spark appeared closer to Burleigh' s feet, and then again the glaring red eye showed almost between Dams widely spread boots. Finally the fuse attached to the bullys keg glared and sparkled and quickly shortened and, to our astonish5 ment, Dan with a yell of terror, sprang from his perilous seat and raced helter- skelter toward the crowd Some of the onlookers, with cry of fury, drew their guns, and but for the command of the chief cowboy to stay their hands would have filled the coward full of lead. As 1t was Dan pitched forward on his face closa to the jeering ring and lay groyeling in his terror.
 Boy Shows Courage.
 "Burleigh sat motionless, and the crowd cried to him to run for his life. but the boy needed not the warning and showed the rarest of courage. Meanwhile the fuse on Dams keg had spluttered and sized into the touch hole, but the crowd waited in vain for an explosion, and while they waited the cowboy who had engineered the scheme walked composedly up Go the keg on which Burleigh sat and kicked away the slow fuse, which still had about an inch to burn. The cow boy turned and, addressed the crowd saying: This was only a test of nerve; them kegs has noth in in 'em but sand; we emptied the powder out up at the 'otel'
 "The crowd gave great oh eer, and, rushing forward, surrounded the con sumptive youth to shake his hand. He had known nothing of the change, and thought that he was sitting on mine soon to be exploded. He stayed to tn 2 end of the business and by the ordeal proved himself as being pure grit.
 Gold Tooth Dams reign was over, and the next day he mounted his horse and rode away into the desert. Six weeks later we received news of him. His body was found in the wastes minus It's scalp and horribly mutilatej. He had encountered a band of Apache Tontos on the war path. Nobody was particularly sorry about Dan, he'd been such bully, but they took his corpse up to Tuscon and gave it decent burial.
 "Burleigh stayed several months in the locality and then the diesase that had such tight grip on his young life asserted its claim, and he, too, went to the Great Beyond. They buried him in Arivaca, within a stones throw of the spot wh ere he showed his cour- age, and the whole settlement turn d out as mourners at that funeral