In Cowboy Land 263 



shoot at my feet," which certainly did seem 

 to offer presumptive evidence of meanness. 

 Simpson continued: 



"I didn't have no gun, so I just had to 

 stand there and take it until something dis- 

 tracted his attention, and I went off home to 

 get my gun and kill him, but I wanted to do 

 it perfectly lawful ; so I went up to the mayor 

 (he was playin' poker with one of the judges) , 

 and says I to him, 'Mr. Mayor,' says I, 'I 

 am goin' to shoot Fowler.' And the mayor he 

 riz out of his chair and he took me by the 

 hand, and says he, 'Mr. Simpson, if you do I 

 will stand by you;' and the judge, he says, 

 Til go on your bond.' ' 



Fortified by this cordial approval of the ex- 

 ecutive and judicial branches of the govern- 

 ment, Mr. Simpson started on his quest. 

 Meanwhile, however, Fowler had cut up an- 

 other prominent citizen, and they already had 

 him in jail. The friends of law and order 

 feeling some little distrust as to the perma- 

 nency of their own zeal for righteousness, 

 thought it best to settle the matter before there 

 was time for cooling, and accordingly, headed 

 by Simpson, the mayor, the judge, the Turk, 

 and other prominent citizens' of the town, 

 they broke into the jail and hanged Fowler. 



