Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 March 1890 — HE THREW UP HIS HANDS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HE THREW UP HIS HANDS

CAPTURING AN lOWA DESPERADO AND MAN-KILLER. “Big Sam” Was a Tough Customer, but He Quailed in the Presence of “Old Jack”—An Episode of the Early Settlement of lowa.

HEN lowa was admitted to the Union as a State there ■were within her borders many rough characters, who had left their quiet homes in the older States and sought the wild West in a pure spirit of adventure. Most of these men, though brave to a fault, were

peaceably inclined, and rarely participated in those brawls and affrays which are of such frequent occurrence in frontier communities. Unfortunately there were others who were never so happy as when engaged in knock-down arguments or shooting scrapes. To terrorize a town or a neighborhood was their delight. These were the “bullies,” the “desperadoes,” the “terrors,” as they were variously characterized. It was one of these pests of good society that has prompted the penning of this little sketch. Shortly after the admission of the State a brutal and unprovoked murder was committed at old Fort Des Moines by a notorious desperado known as Big Sam. Big Sam was one of many of that class who spent their summers in the mountains and drifted back to the border of civilization to spend their winters. While the majority of them were honest plainsmen, Big Sam was a ruffian of tlio most pronounced type, and was never so well satisfied as when bullying some inoffensive stranger. His latest victim had been a young man from Ohio but lately arrived in the country. Kef using to dance in a saloon for Big Sam’s amusement, and calling him a cowardly .ruffian when the bully threatened him, was sufficient to raise Big Sam’s anger to the killing point, and he shot the young man dead on the spot. Eealizing that for once he had carried things too far, and that vengeance was about to be visited on him by a neighboring vigilance committee, Big Sam lied to the then straggling village of Council Bluffs. The news of his crime soon followed him, and also the announcement that the Governor had offered a reward of SSOO for his arrest. Several local officers attempted his arrest without success, for he was very watchful and suspicious of all who approached him. Besides, he had badly wounded one officer who had attempted his arrest. The desperado was disturbed no more after this third attempt, and he became quite bold and full of swagger. Stopping at the De Koven House in Council Bluffs at the time was a man who, like Big Sam, wintered in the settlements and summered in the mountains. Unlike Big Sam, Old Jack was no ■desperado. He was nervy and gut clear through, and he would go two oxthree miles any night to spin a marvelous yarn of border adventure, to some company of westward-bound emigrants, or do them a kindness. Old Jack was seated in the bar-room of the hotel one morning when a couple of officers came in. As they stepped up to the bar one of them remarked: “I wish we could take that fellow. It would be a pile in our pockets if we did, but it’s most too risky a job for me.” “Yes,” remarked his companion, “a fellow might get him, and again he might not; but I would like to see him punished for so cowardly and unprovoked a murder as that was. ” “Who is it you are talking about?” asked Old Jack, rising and walking toward a window looking out on the street. “Why, Big Sam, of course,” was the reply. * “There he goes, now, into that saloon over across the street.” Old Jack glanced across the street and saw the burly figure of Big Sam enter the saloon and pass toward the bar. , • : “Well, he don’t look like suoh an awful bad man; what has he done ?” asked Jack. Thereupon one of the officers briefly outlined the crime for which Big Sam was wanted. “Well, a fellow that would kill another that way ain’t fit to run loose. Just vou deputize me, and if I don’t get him for you just see that I get a

decent plantin’; that’s all I ask,” said Jack. “Agreed,” said one of the men, “but just remember the risk you run, and you are under no obligations to do it.” “Never mind that, only give me the papers,” replied old Jack. He was forthwith deputized, and pinning a star on his vest underneath his coat, he crossed the street and walked into the saloon which Big Bam had entered a while before. Stepping to the bar, he called for the drinks, then remarking in casual way that he did not like to drink alone, he turned toward the man seated at the stove and said: “Come up, stranger, and drink with me.” “I don’t care if I do,” responded Big Sam, as he arose and swaggered up to the bar. They both drained Their glasses. As old Jack put his hand down to return to his pocket the change he had received from the bartender, he let the money fall to the floor, and, dexterously whipping out his pistol, he had Big Sam, who was leaning back against the bar watching him closely, covered before he realized w hat was coming. “Throw up your hands, and be quick about it,” commanded Jack; “you’re my man now,” and he pushed aside the lapel of his coat and showed his star. “Don’t!” he exclaimed, as Sam’s hand started to drop, “don’t, or I’ll kill you.” Up went the hands, for big Sam saw he had met more than his match. “Here, barkeeper, just step around here and put these bracelets I have in my pocket on the gentleman’s wrists, will you?” said Jack, addressing the dispenser of drinks. The man complied. “Now, open the door for us and you can have that change on the floor for your trouble,” said Jack. “Now, Sam,” he said, as the door swung open, “just walk over to the De Koven House, ahead of me, that’s as far as we’ll go now.” Sam complied, and at the hotel he was turned over to, the waiting officers, who deprived him of a couple of revolvers and an ugly-lookiDg knife. As old Jack surrendered the star he remarked that “he was done with it.” “Well,” remarked big Sam, “if 1 had known you were doing this for fun, somebody would have died.” “Well, I guess you know who would have died,” all old Jack replied. Big Sam taken to the scene of his crime, where he suffered the full penalty of the law. W. L. French. Loveland. lowa.