| Show reent recent deaths of two men one in the west and one in the east recall days when gunfighters Gun fighters wrote their names in blood in the wild west r by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western newspaper union HE old west lived again THE A recently and paradoxically it lived again because of the deaths of two men within the e span of two weeks one of them died in the west and the other in the east but both had once been closely associated SOC socia bated ted with events in what was once known as the wil wild d west the west of boarin roaring 9 cow towns and rowdy minin mining CT camps of quick shooting peace officers and equally hair trig ger fingered outlaws of lusty action filled life and boot hill burials bu rials when death claimed the rev endicott peabody at the age of 87 in in groton mass newspaper dispatches chronicled the fact that he had been the founder of the groton school and its headmaster for many years during which time he had molded the minds and characters of many an eastern notable including president franklin delano roosevelt but burt few if any of these dispatches mentioned the fact that this same rev endicott peabody had once lived and labored in one of the wildest towns in the history of the american frontier tombstone arizona into such an environment in the summer cummer of 1831 1881 came a young ep episcopal is i minister recently ordained in boston and what happened thereafter is best told in the words of a man who knew him then and there that man was william M who was one of sheriff johnny behaens deputies in tombstone at the time in his book belldo M k S 4 DR ENDICOTT PEABODY rado bringing the law to the mesquite published by the houghton mifflin company in 1928 billy bre a kendridge kenridge ken ridge writes of the fearless preacher thus Ms his name was endicott peabody he was about twenty four years of age and full of vim and energy he immediately got busy building up A a membership for his congregation and getting funds together to build a church he was a good mixer and soon got acquainted not only with the very best element of society in tombstone and there were some educated people there but he undertook to get acquainted with everybody ery body with the mining magnates and managers the federal county and city officials the professional and business bu siness managers the miners and muckers duckers muc kers the ore haulers or teamsters and the saloonkeepers saloon keepers and gamblers he soon had a lar large ge congregation and had the money donated to build his church when it was completed he had the money to pay for it and the church has never been in debt since how the money bloney was raised an incident which relates sheds light on the young preachers money raising ability one day a group of mining men including E B gage general manager of the grand central and contention mines was sitting in a back room of the prospector hotel enjoying a stiff poker game in which frequently as much as a thousand dollars was in the pot gage was an episcopalian writes mr peabody came back where they were pla playing Y ing and introduced himself and as asked ed them tor for a donation to help b build ild a church he explained that it was something needed badly and the only way it could be built was to get everybody he possibly could to su subscribe b scribe toward building it gage counted out about a hundred and fifty dollars from his pile in front of him and everyone else in I 1 V 5 iak 12 N 4 1 X episcopal church ic tombstone built by dr peabody the room followed his example peabody was dumbfounded for an instant and then told them that it was a muck much larger contribution than he be had expected but it was for a good cause and he knew they would never regret it peabody was a fine athlete and was named the official referee in all baseball games and other outdoor sports that were carried on by the young men of tombstone his decisions were never questioned as he was known as being absolutely square and he had no favorites he loved a good horse race and frequently attended the gymnasium where he kept himself in fine physical condition by exercise he never refused an invitation to put on the gloves with anyone and never was bested bad bian alan backs down ap perhaps that fact had something to do with the back down of one of the bad men who infested arizona in those days when he tried to bluff the fearless preacher tells the story thus in the summer of 1881 1831 the reverend mr peabody was invited down to charleston to deliver a sermon his subject was the evil of the cattle cattie stealing rustlers and the drinking and carousing cowboys billy claybourn the would be bad man who had killed one or two in saloon fights in charleston and who was afterwards killed by frank leslie in tombstone heard of the sermon and sent word to mr peabody that if he ever came to charleston again and preached such a sermon he claybourn would come to the church and make him dance peabody told the man who delivered the message that he expected to return to charleston in about two weeks and would preach a sermon that he thought appropriate and if mr claybourn would come to the church and listen to it and then thought he could make him dance to try it peabody was known to go into the saloons and gambling houses and nd go up to the gamb gambling ai ng tab tables e a when they were in operation with a crowd around them and say gentlemen I 1 am going to preach a 2 sermon on the evil of gambling sunday night an and d I 1 would like to have you all come to the church and listen to it all who could get away went to hear him he had large audiences always less than two weeks after the death of dr peabody the wires carried the news that albert bacon fall had died at the age of 83 in el paso texas the news of his passing served to recall briefly a great national scandal in the recent past how senator A B fall of new mexico was appointed secretary of the interior in president hardings cabinet how he was one of the chief figures in the teapot dome oil case and how he became the first cabinet officer in american history to serve a prison sentence tor for a crime again few if any of the newspaper acco accounts lints gave much space to his career as a young lawyer in the southwest nor told of his association with some of the notables of the frontier yet he was the attorney for the defense who won freedom tor for the slayers of two famo famous Us gunfighters gun fighters both of whom illustrate ate the truth of the age old saying that he who takes the sword perishes by the sword one of these gunfighters gun fighters was jo john hn wesley hardin of texas possibly the most notorious killer in the annals of the wild west and popularly credited with 40 notches on his six gun 39 of them before he was 21 years old the notch it was deputy sheriff charles webb of brown county put hardin in the penitentiary for 15 years he employed them usefully studying law and after his release in 1894 he hung out his shingle in various texas tow towns ns ending up in el paso the following year there he became involved in a dis I 1 with the young john a city policeman and old john a constable who had a record as a killer himself the result was that on the night of august 19 1895 hardin went down before the blazing six shooters of old john selman shot from behind so his friends said as he stood drinking at the bar of the acme saloon selman when tried for the killing denied that he had shot hardin in the back he insisted that hardin was looking him straight in the eye and apparently about to draw his gun when the constable fired A young attorney named fall who had just come to el paso agreed to assist in defense years later ex senator fall recalling the case told eugene cunningham author of A gallery of gunfighters Gun fighters 1 I help being impressed by appearance when he assured me that he had been looking hardin in the eye I 1 knew selman well and I 1 felt that he lie to me and he had all the appearance of a man telling what he firmly believed it puzzled me so I 1 went down to look over the scene of the killing I 1 stopped at the acmes aames door and looked inside there was a man standing at the bar and he lifted his head then I 1 had the explanation of statement for as that man stared into the mirror I 1 had the illusion tor for an instant of looking him straight in the eye apparently falls fails explanation was convincing to the jury for selman was freed few of the gunmen of that era lived past the turn of the century says an editorial on the passing of albert B fall fail which appeared in the chicago daily news recently an exception to that statement is pat garrett slayer of billy the kid the 21 year old gunman with the 21 notches that killing made garrett a national figure three times he was elected sheriff of donna ana county in new mexico in 1901 president theodore roosevelt appointed him collector of customs in el paso texas then he retired from public life and took up ranching in new mexico he had a dispute over some trifling matter wit with h a comparatively unknown young youn 9 va A ej M 4 ALBERT B FALL man named wayne brazel and on february 29 1908 a shot from bra six shooter ended the career of 0 f the great pat garrett brazel was tried tor for the killing and acquitted his attorney was albert bacon fall few of the men who knew these gunmen or who saw them alive remain alive today continues the daily news editorial albert fall knew a lot about many of if them it was popularly aly believed in in the southwest that he might if he chose shed light on my mysterious misterio sterio us circumstances cum curn stances su surrounding the sudden demise of a number of them but if he could he dian didn t and with his death another colorful segment of frontier history grows fainter and recedes farther and farther into the fabulous past |
