Show 0 TALES OF 0 THE OLD 0 0 0 0 0 FRONTIER I 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 by ELMO ELMO SCOTT WATSON 0 0 k ii 4 HU union SAM BASS TIIE THE OUTLAW HERO RO I 1 OF A SONG i sam dass bass he be came f from rom indianna Ind Indi lanny anny it was vas his nat native lve hom and at the age of 0 saven teeR sam buni he began to lie we went way out to texas tex A A cowboy forleo or to be 1 A kinder teller seldom ever se ee I 1 old cowboy song IT THAT Is the first of many stanzas of a tong that has been sung la in every cow camp and along alone every wind inz trall from the ric grande to the canada line for saw sam bass whose ex molts were thus Imm immortals ortall ze d by ame biome frontier bard vies etli jesse jama for the honor lioner of being tile robin llod hood hero of the most typical native american ican ballad if there are some who would paint sam as nothing more inore than a sondhi murderer lie has lias plenty of apologists who ile say any that lie he was a not unnatural product of the environmental environment Af of cowboy life in texas As evidence that lie he v was as not utterly bad they would cite the incident of the boy to whom bass once offered a drink ot of whisky I 1 the boy ie refused fused to take it say 14 mother allow we me tol to drink dring 11 right sonny mind your ma eald the outlaw and as have so many transgressors ho he added sadly 1 I 1 be whre 1 I am today if I 1 had minded mine bass first went outside the law by robbing a union pacific train and followed low edIt it up with bank holdups more train robberies and an occasional kalli ing until he became the most notorious outlaw of hta his time once a mob caught him and hanged him from a tree on the bank of a river they began A at the dangling body and a shot cut the rope the out outlaws avs body dropped to the ground rind and then hen rolled into the river A big rattlesnake ilai was seen to cragi craft 1 away from the place where he had struck and although the lyn chera bers dragged tho the river they could not find him upon their return to town they were asked if the notorious sam bass were lefo really dead well wel 1 if he be aint he ought to be replied one man lie ile was ft as shot hanged snake bit and drowned I 1 that ought to be bb enough but sam dead As lie he afterwards related it the force of his fall stunned the snake and before it could strike he rolled into the rivera tile the cold plunge revived him and upon coming to the surface lie he hid bid under a pile of driftwood until nightfall gave ehlin him a chance to escape bass was finally killed in the town of round rock tex tec te c by a texas ranger after lie he had bad attempted to rob the bank there set so great was his fame that the legislature then in session at austin adjourned and accompanied by the governor came to round rock to see for themselves that the notorious sam lines bass had at last come to the end of his trail |