Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-20

"Halloa! Come in" the proprietor
called out. catching sight oil me, and,
although 1 certainly did not want
to do so. l could not very we'll refuse,
and in I went. There. in the center
of the room. was Jeff Kent, sitting in
front of the iron heating stove, with
his head on his breast, apparently
doing.
Kent's friend was there, and he told
me quietly that he had had terrible
time with him, particularly when he
tried to get on his horse and ride out
to the dance. 1 was invited to take
seat near the stove, which was piled
up with wood and red-hot and round
which we sat in silence. Suddenly
Kent, who was sitting opposite to me,
jumped up and demanded more whis-
ky. This time the barkeeper, who
had fortunately taken possession OF
the cowboys revolver, refused to give
him any. Jeff's rage was terrible,
and in an ungovernable outburst of
fury he plunged his hand into his
pocket brought out handful of cart
ridges and threw them on the top of
the red-hot stove!
We were all on our feet in an in
stant, and as, personally, 1 had had
quite enough of jeff Kent for one day,
I made for the door, followed by the
other two men. Before I could even
open it. however, the bullets were
flying all over the place, and the eX-
plosions of the cartridges sounded
like a miniature battle in progress.
Fortunately, none of us were hit,
which was little short of miraculous.
as the room was quite a small one.
How il was that Jeff himself escaped
is a mystery to me. for he stood close
up to the stove all the time, piling
cartridges until his stock was ex-
hausted. After this last mad act of
folly he quieted down, and a little
later on in the evening when / looked
in at the barroom window, saw him
stretched at full length on the floor,
sleeping soundly.
Early the next morning. the sheriff,
Charlie Perry. one of the bravest men
I ever knew. who had got wind of the
affair. arrived at Seven Rivers to ar
rest Jeff Kent on the charge of "shoot-
ing UP the town" and for carrying
a revolver.
The latter offense was a serious
one. according to the laws of the
country, and was punishable by a
very heavy penalty. Most of the cow
bows. of course. carried weapons. but
they were careful to keep them con-
cealed Occasionally an officer would
hold up a man and search him for
firearms. but it was 4 very risky thing
to do. for if the cowboy managed to
draw" first the sheriff stood a very
poor chance of his life. But an open
display of firearms and reckless shoot
ing would put any sheriff on his met
tie. III this case, however, Charlie
Perry missed his man. for Jeff Kents
friends managed to get him out of the
town before the sheriff's arrival. AL
though he called out a deputy and
went after him, the cowboy had
long start and got clean away.
The next we heard of Jeff Kent was
at Ft Sumner. about a hundred miles
up country. There he shot a man
who tried to arrest him, but again got
clean away from the pursuing sher-
ifs. After this he was. of course,
outlawed, and disappeared altogether
for several months.
Then, in an amazing fit of brava-
do. he turned up again at Seven Riv-
ers. hanging about the town and
sinking in furtively at night to drink
with his old friends.
His presence, needless to say, acted
like a red rag to a bull upon Perry.
He was at Roswell, sixty miles up the
valley. when the news reached him,
but Immediately called on a deputy
to ride with him to Seven Rivers.
1 happened one night to be sitting
in the postoffie store talking with sew
eral of the stockmen and cowboys
from the neighboring ranches, when
in walked Jeff Kent. His outburSt of
lawlessness had certainly not improv-
ed his appearance; he looked haggard
and worn, and his blOOdShOt eyes had
| in them the restless look Of hunted
animal. He appeared. however. in no
wise concerned about his misdeeds,
and carried himself with a jaunty air,
greeting the company as though moth
ing at all had happened. Nobody
made any reference to past affairs, and
we had been talking quite casually for
some time when a footstep was heard
outside and Charlie Perry appeared
in the doorway The sheriff was alb
solutely taken by surprise at finding
himself confronted by his man, for
he had just come in after his long ride
and had simply called at the postotiice
to make inquiries, but without a mo-
ment's hesitation he whipped out his
revolver and, covering Kent, eX-
claimed: Hands up jeff"
"All right. Charlie" replied the
ltbN DbN, anu MS ll'liuN went HhS
ward.
| Perry then called to his deputy,
who was tying up the horses, and
told him to search the prisoner. The
deputy came inside and incautiously
walked between Kent and Perry
This gave the desperate his opportu-
nifty. and he Immediately grabbed his
revolver and fired point blank at the
deputy. who was too surprised for the
moment to draw his own weapon
while Perry was unable to fire for
fear of hitting his companion. Kent
at once closed i'm with the deputy
pulling the trigger of his siXshootel
as he did so. and then fired over him
at the sheriff. who fell backward onto
the floor apparently killed outright
1.-THE deputy also fell. evidently badly
hit. but dOdging behind some boxes
he pluckily continued to fire at Kent
who returned shot for shot. All the
other men in the place. including my
calf wore ,Ipurnnr1 and So unable tC