San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-11

THE good old Wild west days,
when the six-shoOter was the law
and a man wasn't a man unless he
,ed two guns-are they gone forever?
! OF at all. The picturesque days of
ect action" still live in some sections
he great United States. The recent
III duel at Greasy Creek, KY, between
chool teacher and her brother-in-law
the question whether siXteen-year-
boy ought to wear his two revolverS
he schoOlhouse, reveals that in Ken
/ ~ they have a hair-trigger, gun-toting
immunity that equals the palmiest days
he old mining camps
/ he trouble which Mrs. Coleman and
brother-in-law have Just settled out of
| t so tragically began last August,
n school opened in the little mining
mountainccr community of Greasy
| ek. Pine County, Ky. The teacher in
rye of the school was Mrs. NJ. NJ. Cole
h, a woman thirty-five years old, with
|sfderablc experience and excellent rep
Lion as a school teacher. Among her
Ills was Ebert Coleman, a youth of
Teen, whose ambition to maintain his
hts and live the free and untrammelled
of hardy mountaineer started series
shootings that got himself wounded
/ his father killed.
|oung Coleman may have tried to pre-
he on the fact that his father, Ernest
|eman, and the teachers husband were
|thers, or it may have been just noun
beers wcll-knOwn jealousy of diScl-
Be. At any rate, there was trouble
m the day school opened. Finally,
ny Ebert refused to take any more
ers from woman and Stalkcd boldly
of the schOolrOom. The other pupils
/ Id see him through the window, sitting
a boulder and smoking a cigarette.
en- school was over the teacher notified
rebellous pupil that hereafter he
|uld submit to discipline or be expelled.
Most good-for-nothing boys rather wei
ne expulsion, but for some reason this
N or his father was anxious to finish
his schooling, so Ebert appeared in
morning ready to argue the matter,
h he carried two rcvolvcrs. This would
Iinarily not have caused any more I'M
,orable comment than a girl carrying
0 vanity cases. But young Coleman
listed on wearing them at his desk in
|, school-room and in flourishing them
enever he and the teacher had words.
nv not? That is what the boys father
h everyone else did around there. They
cked one gun always, and when there
S going to be an argument-two guns.
Mrs. Coleman had no prejudice against
ms. She carried one of her own, along
IN her handkerchief and powder puff,
her wrist bag. But as a school teacher
believed that guns, pct animals, chew
! tobacco and all other such distractions
Il no place in the schOolrOOm.
,9he boy thought this another sample
petticoat tyranny and refused to give
the firearms. Rather than make such
unmanly surrender, he would shoot 1t
{ with teacher and see who was right.
dn't he and his father wear their guns
church and did she think her school
IS better than a church?
Mrs. Coleman used diplomacy on the
ruly youngster. She got one of the
,ooi trustees to reason with him-a man
10 wore two guns, himself and therefore
IS respected by the youth. Under his
rsuasion, Ebert promised to leave his
nootin' irons" at home, and he did for
while. When new trouble with the
lcher arose he felt that his promise was
mistake, and one day, in the midst of
argument, he pulled two six-shOoters
t of his desk to emphasize his points.
r that gesture the teacher expelled him
,m school.
Elbert's father thought this an outrage.