ARKANSAS WILLIAM.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 66, 28 August 1880, Page 3

ARKANSAS WILLIAM.

IHE ' BXOITINft /STORY QF A TBRBlSliB; ..;"? :'^ v' wis'IBB* JJESPiRADO's EAST • --,•;■; : ; ; ." . ' ZKOpUNTBZ. ■'- . • ..■ ..{..-'" :■. ■*„ DPhjere ar« dozens of 'mien in Michigan who vill remeipber rqeeting Arkansas WilHairi;' -this Great - Gul6lv terror m julesbnrg, Oal M DcflTer, Laramie, and other places m that territory a dozon years ago. He waV a shooter, a slasher, *vn_lndian killer, a Government scout,. a cleftnler-;dut.©f mining camps, a. tornado when he struck a town, and a doublle-jcinted gon of a dynamite gene, rally. All this he.told v* and soughfrto impress it on our minds, and it came to pass by and-by that whenever he qrowed • ire-ail cackled.' We'd hare bet all the horses m the First Cavalry against an Indian dog ihat A.T"»>ansa« William wtm » match for any four tribes of Indians * pn the plains, and we'd bar* ' backfd > him against all the other terrors, tarantulas, "wild cats, Eocky. Mountain lions *nd : howling bears between; Omaha and -'Frisco. -True, we nerer saw.him ■hoot, nor out,;, nor slash, nor knock down, nor drag out, but it must be him because J?e said, it was. It was an impressire . sight ; tor see him stalking •round with a rifle, two revolvers, and a bo wie strapped to-him,and, htavens ! how he could yell I It was enough toinake; eTery- mule at the' post tremble to hear Arkansas William utter his war-whoop— th» same one he uttered, he told usi whea he rode down 300 Pawnees ' and scattered them * to the. wiads. iooyr many- of us bought his ati2dois) ; apiece will /nearer be known, but he was more eager to sell them than to take the war path. When the Michiganders left .Colorado; iWil^ liam was 'hankering- to l^y m a-Trihter ■apply of 250 scalps, seven barrels of gore> and .* barnful pi. caps and nosepti: and his wild wan-whoops followed the regiment for more than two miles. ' The other day something was heard to drop.in the ' Hack Hills, and; Arkansas William, the Great Gulch terror/ walked m upon a .mining camp, and |m thuadfer, tones asked :^what- kind of* a graveyard they had there. When they' tremblingly jianswered-; that they had' none at all, and that »11 the men were m the best of health, the terror mounted a barrel, J4app«4^^ cr^ ed out:' •-. ■ ■•■■ " : --, :■; ■'.■'■'■;. ;';■..>' , .. '<■ ■' : '' ..'.'•• 3STo graveyard '%jit\ ■ Wo, m which to lay my victims ! Whoop 1 I'm the. Great Gulch terror ! I'm th«s gigai> tic. graveyard starter of. the Big West! I'll tie both hands beh\n4w» andifigl^ your whole town !'* - ; '■■'■"<{ if ; Thty tried t> coax him not to. Th«y even offered him 6 f teen cents to g<Ju poEtly awajr and leave them alone. Indeea^they pfE«red;ta writo him play, m whi.ch, ; he y as the hero^ should yill 155 men inaide.of an houp^anda half, but he would not go. . Arkansas. • William could not be bought with golA, and had fanie enough. ; ':^ r j- _:- : .:-' : . realised^ th>t he wanted bloody and must hart it/ a

tr aisted man from Ca¥s county, Mioh., who weighed about 120 pomnds,: offered himself as a sacrifice. He had never fought anything or anybody, and he was so tam> and humble- that tke m«n 'u'ssC to wipe T the grease off their tnives on his brick-colored hair after the close of a meal. He crawled out of kis tent and said he'd as soon fight as not. He had just received i. l«tt»r from home to the effect thfct Ms "wife had! Tun / <$(tirith a blonde tin peddler, and no> he didn't care to live longer; ! :-w ' ".Him ! He 'That man ! That toothpiok! Why, I'll make hash of him m a second!" roared Arkansas William, as j hit caught sight of his victim. Y«s, he would do that very thing, and that would start a graye r yard. He thr«ir down kis rifle, put off his revolvers and crowed for blood. The little man didn't crow any; but his lugged out a wicked big knife drew a hair across the edge of it ; and said .he'd do the best he could. /Thriwror crowed again, and told how many men he had killed, but the weason faced maa cut another hair witli his knife. The terror finaly offered to let him off on account of his consumptive look, but :he wouldn't b 6 i let loff ; He wanted :■ to die then and there... Then the terror, wantsd a fair show. He want«d to goup tothe. trail and came down to the attack on the run; This was his jbest hold, and the way he had always-fought^ Th« 'iittljß man :was:i perfectly 'willing, i All -he wanted 'was to fight to the -death, - and he^didh'f care ho^r; he |[ofcit.' Arkinsa's Williahristarted up the trails but haltejd and r«tumed and said : - - i ''•-■ ! 'Boy, I'm th« Gr.at Gulch Terror, and I've put 198 white "men and over 600 Indians under : th« sod. Bat I'm no monster. Something m your face touches my heart. llt give you one more chance to draw out and live on." The Cass countryman wouldn't take it Hi didn't, want 'to live since his wife west back on him, and, .moreover, he was mad for the first tim* m his life, and wanted to see how he would act m ,a-fight.^ •■ /■■;;.- . .:.-..;-■/ -v^Vr '. ■ 'Very; well— get ready to die ? yslled the t«rror, as he backed up to the trail. -He\;Wai^ : :backing v aid\.spijitMg'_on--his;' bowie-knife and getting an awful look On:nis fact when last seen. Theminers waited for the rush, and expected every mmu t« •to hear ;his yellsi but 1 th'iiy. ■ came not" Three— five— ten minuts, rslipped- away, and then they, investigated. Arkansas William was nowhere to be : fbund/-but they saw a man a mile away, heading for Readwood. .And jmaking -the earth ache as he ."passed over it — • Detroit Free Press