The Winchester news., 1909-02-24
STALKING THE BIGGEST OF BIG GAME.

warn't right.
"Well, Kelly says to me-we was
markin' timber that morning'-he
says to me When | go down to Jack
son fer the end of the week Pm goin'
to snoop over to Scotts Corners, if
the rivers froze over an set fire to
Ben's house thar an he told me he'd
allus wanted to get squar' with Ben,
an / was kid an to keep my mouth
shut. An he done it jes' as he says.
81 reckon it give him some worry,
cause he says to me when we got
back: The things done, an there's a
lot of talk about it down to Bailey
vile and around, an the sheriff In
Pope county is mad, all if you open
your mouth I'll tell 'em you done it,
an l reckon you cain't give no ac-
count of yo'self nohow, an I'll get
you penitentiaried.'
Newt whistled scrap of plaintive
melody.
81 was a fool, shore He skeered
me. l kinder feared he'd put it on
to me, so | went over into Virginny,
but couldn't get no job, an we was
drinkin' thar, an i wrote to Kelly
an told him how matters was stand
in, an that / wanted to come back,
md he mustn't say done the work on
Ben's house. Hit was whar | bust my
Ipuckerin' string, cause then he had
that letter to show. He KEEP it six
years, but let me tell yer, stranger,
they didn't find it on him. No, sir.
The First Shot.
But he give me no end of trouble.
Once he got money from me. He had
some schoolin', and he knew them
tricky ways. He told me how even
if they could prove it ag'in' him he
didn't fear nawthin', because he was
a friend of Judge Pendleton and
could get a pardon from the COVER
nor jes' by askin' for it, but how |
warn't in no such honey. He bounded
me good.
"Then thar come a time when
was in jackson In Starbuck'S blind
tiger, an we was drinkin' and so on
and | tells Henry Perch, Johns
brother, how matters stood, an he
met Kelly on the train goin' down to
Lexington an told him to go on out
of the State, and if he didn't go an
leave me alone Henry said he knew
of sOmethin' that would put Kelly's
name into the grand jury, shore. The
next Saturday | was standin' waitin'
for the up train at Maplesap. There's
a rise of ground across the track
grown up with second cutting timber
and | heard a rife talkin' up thar
She spoke up twice, an chunk of
lead hit the station wall behind me-
The sun was shinin' so in my eyes
| couldn't see nawthin' of where il
, was comm from. But hit was Kelly
, shore. | was mad some. / says. tC
myself, I'll get you now if | have to
stop everthin' else to do it, l jes
didn't give a dang-a-lang for any
thin else nohOw."
"Was it right to kill a MANI"
Newt shook some tobacco into a
cigarette paper.
The Ethics of Man-Hunting.
81 reckon So" he said: "more right
than to get killed yo'sef. | amt the
kind of feller that would walk up tC
Kelly an pull open nv shirt an say
Shoot away eff YOU is wicked enough.
A hole in his shirts jes' as good. q
hole as one in mine an some bet
ter. That's the way we think whal
come FROM" He twisted the enc
Of his cigarette, then pointed a bOny
forefnger at me. "But let me tel
you right here, brother, hits a hear
of trouble to kill a man an kill him il
slick shape." Thereupon he delivered
an opinion on the ways, means. man
ners, methods, why's and wherefores
of the sport of bagging the biggest
of the big game.
The local ethics of the chase made
it proper he said, to bring down the
quarry in any wav that could be de-
vised. The experience of the region
had shown that shooting was the
most successful method; only per-
sons in fits of temper used knives
To shoot a man in the back was con.
sidered as perfectly sportshanlike as
to shoot bear in the back. This
was one of the "ground rules" and
like shooting from ambush, found it:
sanction in the fact that, if you dc
not, the other fellow will. Duels are
questionable.
Newt also had much advice to Civ,
9 about stalking game. Solemnly anC
with great earnestness he cautioned
me against man-killing in thickly set