The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-09-28

holed, and since hole boring was
right he did not intend to pay for ex-
ercising it.
Arkansaw Bill at once proceeded to
make q nuisance Of himself. He in
sisted on being admitted to games of
chance, cheated and when taken to
task instead Of shooting his accuser in
vited him to put a hole in him. Bill
was doubtless ready to defend himself.
What he wanted was to take advan-
tage Of his enemy's indispOsition to
| pay $1,000 for shooting him to put the
( orphan asylum edict into disrepute.
! He insulted the women, choosing those
who had no men whose duty 1t was
| to protect them.
1t is very hard to make a law that
will not on occasion work disadvan-
tageously. Any man attempting to
put Arkansaw Bill out of the way
must pay $1,000 for the privilege, and
for every additional hole that was nee
essary to do the job he must pay an
| additional thousand. And this was not
the worst of it. Arkansaw Bill was
known to be marvelously quick shot.
and any man tackling him was likely
to get hOled instead of boiling him.
A meeting of the committee was
called to decide upon some way Of get
ting rid of Arkansaw Bill. 1t was
moved that in case any one put hole
in him the fine should be RENTED.
The motion was carried. but since any
one bent on putting a hole in the des-
perado was liable to get hole in him
self the remission of the fine did not
especially improve matters. No one
seemed inclined to tackle him. An
drew Hunker proposed simultaneous
fire the first shot. But his proposition
did not meet with favor; one or more
lives of good citizens were liable to be
paid for that of villain. 1t was con-
sidered advisable that some stratagem
should be devised by which he could
be eliminated without fine.
In the first place no one was sufii-
GENTLY inventive to produce such a
stratagem, and In the second the con-
sensus Of opinion was in favor Of
fair fight even If it was desirable to
eliminate one Of the combatants. 1t
was finally proposed by Mr.. Hunker
, that each man tackle Arkansaw Bill
until some one of them downed him
: This proposition meeting with favor
, Mr.. Hunker offered himself as the first
+ victim. 1t Is to the credit Of the 9th
/ ers that they declined to accept his
e offer, averring that lots should be
4 drawn to determine who should be
1 first, second, third, and so on till the
six members Of the committee eacf
Y had place in the proceedings.
9 Six numbers were written on a.
many bits Of paper, from one to six in
9 elusive, and placed in a hat. Then thu
men successfully put hand in thu
l. hat and drew number. He VIII
drew No. was Abe Billings, mai
y with a wife and four children. Hun
y ker begged to be permitted to chang
numbers with him, but Billings wOul'
e not consent, and the meeting, eac
man having promised secrecy. brOk
&c up. Billings was to choose his owl
C. time for doing the job and was not re
quired to give any notice to any one
= In case he was killed in the attemp
he was to make. the man who ha
;, drawn No. 2 was to make another, an
so on till Arkansaw Bill or the six me
q should be eliminated.
N Twenty-four hours passed, and bot
"a Abe and Bill still lived. During tn
second night after the lots had bee
NJ drawn several shots in quick succe.
as sion were heard coming from the d
k rection of. the quarters occupied
~ the desperate. Every man Of the con
fir mittee believed that Bill or Abe-pe
er haps both-had bitten the dust. Ever
Id one Of them got out of bed and hurrie
o. to the scene of the fray. Abes cabi
OF was lighted. His children were rul
re ! ming about In their nightg0wns, b;
at neither their father nor mother Wa
visible.
&C. One by one the committee as
Vo passed Abe's quarters asked the CHI
OF dren what had happened. but gettir
Ne no coherent response hurried on towal
ne Arkansaw Bills cabin. They met MI
Ell Billings coming away. Asked VIII
III had occasioned the firing. for reply 81
u! turned and led them to Bills hOus
There in the doorway lay body. Son
~ one struck match. held 1t to the de;
Nv mans face and lighted up Bills ash,
= features.
IN "Who did it?" asked Hunken.
81 did it," replied Mrs Billings cali
Nc ly. Il called him to the door and sh
=, him."
ed where's AbeY'
Again for reply she turned and /
ms them this time to her own home. G
nr- ing to door that opened to the cell
as she unlocked 1t and Abe came forth
ed much wonder stricken as the others.
lily what have you been up to-"
an asked his wife angrily.
M 1--WE saved you from being mi
or dered."
ng Then all saw that she had rid t
1t place Of its incubus without danger
ing herself or any one else. Each a
ian every man grasped her hand and exc
ole Grated her from blame.
The orphan asylum was never bu
he for 1t was not needed. The lot and
nty material that had been purchased We
me- used for church, which helped am
nip ingly in the civilization Of the TOW
or Deadshot has long since become one
fOl- | tho most fhriyipy apd otIIfprod rftiac