The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-20
THE TENDERFOOT'S TEST OF COURAGE Conquers In Gun Contest In
 Cowboy Camp IN TROUBL0US POSITION Phases of Life In Arizona In Early Days Which Brought Out All
 That Was Good or Bad
 In Man.
IN TROUBL0US POSITION

In the old days of Arizona--by that I mean the late sixties and seventies-I saw a phase of life which brought to the surface in man all that was good and bad; a phase of life that will never be seen again on this continent, for it is buried in the dead and strenuous past, an epoch that slowly gave ground and finally fled altogether before the advance of enlightenment and civilization; and, while am in the mood, if you are all of the mind to hear it, I will relate to you one of the little incidents it was my good fortune to witness, an incident which proves the contention I always make that fellow never knows what he Is capable of until diversity demands that he show himself.'
 Edmund Carter, stock dealer, willing away the dull hours of warm night under the sweep of the paddle fans in the Denechaud hotel, was speaking to
 several friends gathered near in easy leather chairs and, as MT. Carters be- ginning promised great things, the friends were unanimous in announcing themselves
 as being In the mind for the narrative.
 q could tell you lots of stories of mur derous Apaches, sneaking Mexican ban
 dits, Gila monsters and what not" MT. Carter resumed after lighting a cigarette and idly blowing a smoke cloud or two from his pursed lips, but Pn devote my time instead in an endeavor to interest you in an account of what, I dare say, was one of the strangest duels on record; a duel between a swaggering bully and modest, unassuming little man, who, judging from appearance hadn't the heart to abridge the days of a prairie dog.
 
 A Godforsaken Place. Tt was in '6S, during the winter months when Southern Arizona is no longer the blistering furnace and the weather Is easily to be endured, that I spent several weeks in Arivaca. Ever been in Arivaca? No? Well, hope you never have to go there. It's a God-forsalSen place; a col
 lection of shanties set on a sandy plain, with a range of mountains towering be- hind 1t, and, worst of all, it's only a few hours ride from the Mexican bor- der.
 Tt doesn't matter what I was doing in the place. The war was just few years l thing of the past. and, as you remem- Der, there were a lot of the fellows-sup- porters of the Lost Cause-who went to Mexico or followed the wild life of the west, and I was ore of them. "Arivaca wasn't metropolis then, and it isn't now, as I understand-and the life l encountered in the hell hole was made up for the most part of cattle rustlers. Mexican bandits, soldiers from the post, gamblers, women of sin and isolated cases here and there of good honest men, who believed in law and who want ed to see justice triumphant under all circumstances.
 "Arivaca had its bully-most all such places had in those days-and the bully was a big, hulking fellow known as Gold Tooth Dan from the fact that one of his missing laterals was replaced by gold substitute, and Dan had the reputation of being the worst kind of bad man, He was a card sharp and confidence man, after the order of the westren type and as he was known as a lightning hand on the gun draw and in first-class company with the bowie knife, nobody said him nay and he was allowed to work his bluff and tyrannize over the country with out hindrance
 Gold Prospectors. 'In November of '6S there came to Ari- vaca small company of prospectors who hoped to find gold deposits in the hills. and on the night of the strangers arrival Gold Tooth Dan made the play to bring them under his sway. There were four men in the party, an old fellow-some ment in the party, an old fellow-some who was the leader, and three young sters who looked as though they'd just left college.
 "One of the latter was William Burleigh, a pale, sickly youth of 20 or thereabouts, who, as I afterward learned, came from somewhere in Alabama, and was seeking in the western climate not gold, but that which is far more priceless-health.
 "The strangers stopped at little tavern. constructed of rough logs, dis tinguished by the high-sounding title of the Great Northern hotel, and in tho evening the young men visited the Three-Legged Dog, Arivaca's principal barroom and dance hall. They retired to a table in the far corner, and, sit ting down, ordered some of the vile , fire water that the 1ow-browed, bullet headed chap behind the counter was dispensing. They didn't drink the stuff; no. just bought it so that they would be allowed to remain in the place and view the strange scene presented with out being considered trespassers. In the place at the time were several Mex ican cutthroats, three or four be- roughed, brazen women and mixed crowd of soldiers from the fort, cow boys and blank eted Apaches.
 Gold Tooth Dan.
 of course, Gold Tooth Dan was there and, as usual, he was swagger- ing about, bluffing where he thought it was safe to bluff and passing sneering remarks on everything and everybody Several cowboys, strangers from New Mexico, watched him with a dangerous gleam showing in their eyes, but as Dan aimed none of his caustic remarks directly at them they offered him no interference
 "Finally, Dan walked over to the table where the three young prospec- tors were sitting, and, drawing up chair, he joined their party without be- ing invited, and, after calling for drink, directed a cruel thrust at Bur leigh You look like you are full of consumption, stranger he sneered. I'd rather have smallpox than that dis ease
 "A flush came to Burleigh's cheek. but the boy said nothing and Dan. tossing down his whisky, made a sec ond and more cruel thrust: Your ma orter have kept yer home, close to the graveyard sonny, for you certainly are a sickly looking cuss.'
 "The soft spot with consumptives Is their disease, and poor Burleigh, the in suits given him, did the one thing that a person of courage would have done under the circumstances, ssnatched up the glass which stood on the table at his elbow and dashed the contents full into the leerine. ugly face of Gold-Tooth Dan, crying as he did so: Damn you, take that!
 "Dan rose to his feet, and, with bel low of rage leaned over the table toward Rur-leiph who had also risen, and reached