The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1910-09-30

Nebraska Democratic GubernatorIaI
Candidate Frankly Tells How He
Shot Man Years Ago for Desert
ing His Sister.
Lincoln, Sept. 29.-James C. Dahl
man got his man" in Texas thirty
two years ago and came to Nebraska
under the name of Jim Murray"
In 1884, wishing to marry and hear
Ing that he had not killed his victim
after ALL he resumed the name of
Dahlman.
Because such rumors were anoat
and because they would probably be
printed before the campaign is over,
Mayor Dahlman was asked to give an
authoritative account of his early life
before he became known in the polit-
ical world. He readily agreed to this
and told his story in frank and I'M
hesitating manner. Following Is his
story:
Mayor Dahlman's Story.
My father settled in Dewitt county,
Texas, in 1S45 and there | was born
and raised, with a rope in one hand,
spurs on my heels and six-shooter
on my hip. 1t was a wild country
as early as ] can remember and was
but little better when | left there.
There were seven children i'm our fam
lly of whom | was the fourth Dur.
ing the war and afterwards Dewitt
county came to be the rendezvous of
about the toughest gang that could be
found in the United States Feuds
were common and unrelenting in char
acter between such groups as the Har-
dins, the TaylOrs. the Suttons, and the
Clemmons factions. ! think am safe
IN saying that more men died violent
deaths in Dewitt county than in any
other territory of equal size i'm the
country at any time in the history of
Texas. ! have seen as many as seven
men killed in one fight between these
factions.
This was the atmosphere in which
grew up and, naturally, as | became
a young man about the only right I
knew was that of the pistol and a
quick hand. The law was but poorly
enforced and men lived by the right
of might. | got to be pretty tough.
| admit it. ! went around a good deal
of the time with a chip on my Shout
der hoping some one would knock it
off. The country was full of maverick
cattle and no one was better hand
than ! with the rene chasing down
these strays and putting the brand.
ing iron on them. Everybody did it.
was training with a bad crowd as
bad as there was in the country,
harum-scarum, devil-may-care fell
lows, you know | can see now that
1t was only a question of time when
would get into trouble. SO came
10 Nebraska to get away from it.
Why He Left Texas.
The immediate cause of my leaving
Texas was this An old sister mar.
ried a man named Charley Bree.
shiftless sort of fellow, nothing more
or less than an outlaw. They lived
together for two years and some time
after their child was born he de-
serted her for no apparent reason
than that he was tired of married life,
and his innate cussedness. was a
fiery, quick-tempered boy less than
20 years of age. There was scarcely
any law in the country and none that
was likely to reach cuss ike that.
sent him word that | would shoot him
the first time I saw him. Things went
on in this condition for some time and
Bree and did not meet Then one
day, purely by accident, we met in a
town where neither was known. No
sooner did we face each other than we
both pulled and shot. | got him; he
missed me. We shot but once each.
My shot hit him above the eye and he
dropped like lead. | thought he was
done for and wasted no time in get
ting away. | rode through into Ar
kansas and stayed there in secret.
Well stayed in Arkansas for six
months Finally my money ran low
and, dead broke, I wrote to friend
in Texas for loan, meanwhile going
to work for a butcher. This Texas
friend did not send me the money. 1t
happened that an Old-time acQuaint-
anCe was coming to Nebraska and my
friend told him to stop off and get
me. lie did so and we came by rail
to Omaha and thence west on he
Union Pacific. Re had $40 whom he
dropped off in Arkansas and divided
even with me. | afterWard paid him
back with interest. II /, not true that
J followed the trail Gom Texas to
Nebraska, This was in 1878, and I
was p years of age.
His Arrival in Nebraska.
| guess | was a hard.lOoking Gus
toner | wore the high hCeled boots
of the cowboy, with pants TUCKED in
at the top OF them. ! affected also
Il mustache and little French goatee.
Wy luggage was carried in pair of
leather saddiebags, | would give $500
today if | could get one Of those sad
dlebags. had never seen snow nor
ice until ! saw them i'm Nebraska.
WcN we went west on the Union Pa
ellie to Sidney and from there over
land north. | remember the stage
was so heavily laden that we had to
take turns walking We were not
dressed to trapse through snow six
inches deep in the midst of a bliz-
2ard, and finally ! got so mad that |
tumbled the whole crowd out at the
point of a gun. got in, and threat,