Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-28
a Bulls-eye by Match Light

There are several versions of his encounter
| with Jack Evans, which differ in miner de
| tails but this is most frequently told AS
| tAc true one:
Evans, who was tn" bully of "a neighbor-
| Ing town. was an occasional visitor to Fos-
| ter's gaming house. lie developed Il griev-
| anr", real ol fancicd, against the house. and.
| nursing il, vowed to shoot Foster on eight
one evening he Sudd>uly appeared in the
doorway. gun in hand y player near the
| door. to prevent trouble, picked up IL stool
ANA threw it at the big lamp swinging over
head, I'm the darkness that followed the
smashing of the lamp the inmates scattered
t. places Of safety. Most Of them did. but
not ali.
From his place at a table in the far
corner of the room Foster called:
'Arc you there. Evans"
Yes said he.
"ls there any one else in the room" asked
Foster.
The voice of the bartender issued from
"I1vans" said Foster, ''if YOU won't go
away peacefully suppose we let this man
light II candle and we'll shoot on sight"
III right" said Evans.
But before the match was struck Evans
bcgau firing in the direction from which
Fosters voice had come. There was no
reply from Foster until the match narcd
up ir the :,aud Of the bartender Now il
was the iaSHlCn among sporting gentry in
those days to affect huge cravatS in the
center of which We're mbcdded one or more
large but not necessarily genuine. diamonds
Evans was wearing such an ornament and
the story goes that the CLINT of the ting
match tlamC reflected upou "a facet of the
stcn" in EvarsS tie furnished the target
at winch ! ostcr fired In some versions of
th' story h" hit il, but it is enough TO show
mat thr luiiet struck $50 close to the bul's-
eye a. TO accomplish the same purpose
1t was Some time after this that Fosters
partner died at the hands of another visitor
from cut of town. II had become the habit
of some towns in Texas to pick out the
champion bad man of the community and
make him sheriff. on the principle that it
was cheaper to do this than to be forever
pursuing him. Such a man visited San An.
tonic during the absence of both Foster
and Miller and after losing at faro every
thing he had but his gun used that to COM
pei the dealer to return all ne had lost
When Miller returned the dealer told him
of the occurrence, and Miller notified the
lawlcss sheriff that he would never again
he admitted To the place. The sheriff sent
back word that when he was coed and
ready To come back he'd come and that he'd
pay particular attention on that occasion
To Miller
Some weeks after that Il scout Informed
Miller that the sheriff was in town. and
Miller prepared to receive him. Miller who
hdd only one arm waited behind his bar
with II sawed.oT shotgun resting upon il
and aimed at the door There was a lattice
screen at the entrance. however, and peep-
ing through this the sheriff saw him ana
fred, killing him instantly.
The Promise
In all this controversy Foster. who was
often out of town on other business had
taken part. The boiSterouss sheriff had
II" quarrel with Foster, but he loudly an
nounced his intention to get him, too. when
it pleased him.
1t was about this time that Joe and Mrs.
Foster came nearer to a serious quarrel
than they had ever before in their short
married life. The affair with Evans had
occurred before the arrival Of Miss Rut-
ledge from Philadelphia and might, there
fore, be set down as an incident of Joe's
wild bachelorhood; a thing not to he too
severely censured, but scarcely to be re-
peated by a staid married man
They had many warm discussions of the
matter and the upshot of 1t all was a prom.
Use made, s,sd apparently kept which sweet
ened memories fer more than forty years
after
When. some time later the beligerent
sheriff blew into town and appeared at Eos
ter's place there was an alteration. in which
several other men were concerned, although
the prime mover in IL never lost sight cf
his main object out of this fracas Joe Fos-
te, emerged with a bullet in his groin but
his own gun was found in his pocket without
a chamber discharged He was Carried
home to the little house on Soledad street
and there he died.
Only few years ago, in telling the story
of his passing, his widow said proudly: "Mv
Joe could easily have killed that man. but
he had promised me that he would quit all
that sort of thing. and he Kept his word"
And this was what helped to make her
the sweet and lovable character she was TO
all who knew and associated with her in
San Antonio. r. A. d.
EDITORIAL. EPIGRA,Is