146 BUFFALO LAND. 



about Wild Bill that is pure fiction. I do not be- 

 lieve, for example, that he could hit a nickel across 

 the street with a pistol-ball, any more than an Indian 

 could do so with an arrow. These feats belong to 

 romance. Bill is wonderfully handy with his pistols, 

 however. He then carried two of them, and while 

 we were at Hays snufi"ed a man's life out with one ; 

 but this was done in his capacity of officer. Two 

 rowdies devoted their energies to brewing a riot, and 

 defied arrest until, at Bill's first shot, one fell dead, 

 and the other threw up his arms in token of submis- 

 sion. During his life time Bill has probably killed 

 his baker's dozen of men, but he has never, I believe, 

 been known as the aggressor. To the people of 

 Hays he was a valuable officer, making arrests when 

 and where none other dare attempt it. His power 

 lies in the wonderful quickness with which he draws 

 a pistol and takes his aim. These first shots, how- 

 ever, can not always last. "They that take the sword 

 shall perish with the sword ; " and living as he does 

 by the pistol, Bill will certainly die by it, unless he 

 abandons the frontier. 



Only a short time after we left Hays two soldiers 

 attempted his life. Attacked unexpectedly, Bill was 

 knocked down and the muzzle of a musket placed 

 against his forehead, but before it could be discharged 

 the ready pistol was drawn and the two soldiers fell 

 down, one dead, the other badly wounded. Their 

 companions clamored for revenge, and Bill changed 

 his base. He afterward became marshal of the 

 town of Abilene, where he signalized himself by car- 

 rying a refractory councilman on his shoulders to 



