Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-10
BY TEX RICHARD.

BY TEX RICHARD.
In Collaboration with Bozeman Bulger.
lcopyright, 1929, by the North American
Newspaper Alliance.)
THROUGH the promotion OF big
boxing matches has brought me
considerable fortune, 1t always
has seemed to me more like q
plaything than business. TIC
mo the game is real sport. / get just
as much thrill out of pulling of sue
cessful fight as the golfer does IN max
ing his best score.
when I tell you that the amount OF
money invested, earned or lost never
has given me much concern L am ilKeiy
to be accused of exaggeratlon. assure
YOU, though, that such is the IacC'
Money itself never meant anythns
more To me than one of the factotS 70
he moved in a game-like pawn in
chess. I have had plenty of money al
times and have been broke occasionally,
but in either event I never had much
thrill or much distress.
have seen frequent references ID
what writer's call my nerve or gameneSS
in making enormous offers OF money
tn land a fight They have expressed
wonder at the chances I took.
How do you know" one man writes,
"that the men you deal with Will be
honest? How do you figure them as
being on the square?"
That reference to nerve always gives
me a laugh. To offer big money for a
fight is not a matter of gameness. ]
fail to see where any nerve is required
in paying out money that you feel
pretty sure of getting back with a
profit besides. AS say, the money
itself means nothing to me-. IL is
simply a thing to be used in playing a
game. If I haven't any money, then !
can't play, that's all.
Real People Are Honest.
AS to depending on the honesty Of
people, I always have done that. Real
people are nearly always honest. II
Judge a man to be a rat, / don't deal
with him. With fighters, for instance
have never had the slightest argument
over money or agreements. A few OF
the little two-by-four managers have
shown rat tendencies, but it didn't take
long to find them out.
The big city man may be surprised
when I say that I never knew very
much about people being dishonest until
I was nearly 40 years old. There were
no dishonest men in the early Klond1ke
days. There were not any among the
cowboys with whom I worked and as.
ISOLATED on the plains. Petty thieves
couldn't live in that atmosphere. They
didn't fit.
Real gameness, to my way Of think
ing, has nothing to do with money. II
Is q personal quality.
The gamest man / ever knew, for in
stance, was Cooper Wright, a sheriff in
Texas. was a young fellow about the
town Of Henrietta then, just feeling my
oats. I had been on two or three OF
the long cattle drives and had seer
enough to know real man when
saw him.
A man had committed some crime.
forget lust what at the moment, and
was in the town calaboose. The cattle
men and other citizens were much in
censed.
One day the cowboys all rode in town
and began "lickering up" at the many
pine boarded saloons. In time nearly
200 of them got together and marched
on the calaboose to take the prisoner
out and hang him. They couldn't wait
on the law.
Jailer Was Helpless.
The jailer was helpless. The mob
simply walked up to the jail, kicked
open the door and yanked the prisoner
out. They dragged him to telegraph
pole nearby and strung him up.
With two other young fellows ]
watched this from the roof of a shed
Just as the body dangled and the
cowboys shot their guns off in the air
Cooper Wright, the sheriff; came on the
run. He was all alone-had no support
They didn't stop him, though.
The sheriff pulled his six-shooter out
and stood on the step of the Gala.
boose.
stop that!" he called out to the
crowd, leveling his gun over their heads
"I'll shoot the first man who moves!
There was something in the ring
Of that single mans voice that made
every one stop and listen. There
wasn't even growl.
Wright then took deliberate aim and
in three shots cut the rope with q
bullet. The form fell to the ground.
Don't one of you novel" ordered
the game sheriff.
The whole rough crowd stood as II
spellbound.
BY this time it was seen that the
man was not yet dead. He half rose
and staggered to his feet like a drunken
man, the moose still hanging around his
neck.
Takes Him Back to Jail.
Cooper Wright, still keeping his CUR
in front of him, coolly walked through
that mob, grabbed the man by the arm
and led him back to the Jail. He
locked him up and then ordered the
crowd to clear out. And I'm telling
you, they did it!
oil NM liFa xrroc ho ~ nci
act ever have seen performed by q
lone man. Above all it showed whaf
force of character means.
Now, when I hear people talk abou
1t requiring gameness to bid a fortune
on a prize fight have to smile. I al
ways think of Cooper Wright.
In those days to be game was no
unusual. That was expected of every
body. 1t was the liver-hearted fellow
who was the exception. In that BIZ
crowd Of cowboys there were man.
Others just as game as Cooper Wright
But they knew he was in the right ant
they knew that he would stake his lif
on doing what was the right thing
They were in the wrong and he mad
them feel it. That's where he licket
them.
Oddly enough there were some out
men would not bother because thei
crimes did not concern the immediat
community. remember quite we
when the Jesse James gang came I
Henrietta was small boy then. w
had no newspaper. but we knew a
about the James boys. Secretly, we ad
mtred them.
James Boys Visit Sister.
Mrs. Allen Palmer, a sister of jess
and Frank James, lived directly acros
the road from our house One nigh
We got word that the James gang wa
coming to visit the sister. / never wi
forget how we turned out all the light
closed the green blinds and peere
through the cracks at the band of out
laws. They all were there. saw thei
drive up. Jesse James in the lead an
Frank following. There were eight {