o Reese
and I were the first to buy Winchester rifles in this section, and I
think in this county. The guns were the common round barrel .44
caliber and we paid $60.00 apiece for them. The same kind of a gun
can now, I think, be bought for $12.00 or $14.00. Previous to the
time I bought the Winchester, I had been using a Henry rifle for a
time, but it was not a good gun for hunting purposes. A few years
later the .45-75 Winchester came into use, so I sold my .44 and
bought a .45-75. I did not like it so I sold it and bought a Colts,
which was a good gun, but one day I was doing some fast work on a
bunch of deer and in my haste I did not work the lever just as I
should and it jammed. This made me rather angry, so I sold it and got
another .44 Winchester, which I used for a long time, but I disposed
of it very unexpectedly.

I was coming out from camp after a new stock of provisions. My
partner, Amersley Ball, was with me. We had not gone far after
getting in the wagon road when we met a man by the name of Lyman who
was on his way to the Cross Fork of Kettle Creek, for the purpose of
inspecting the timber lands and wanted a gun to carry with him.
Before Mr. Lyman was hardly in speaking distance he yelled at me and
asked what I would take for my gun. Thinking that he was only joking
I said $40.00.

Mr. Lyman came up to me, took my gun from my shoulders, looked at it
and asked me if it was alright. I replied that if it was not I would
not be carrying it.

Mr. Lyman replied, "I guess that is right," and taking a check from
his pocket dropped down on one knee, filled it out for forty dollars
and handed it to me, so I was without a gun right in the midst of the
hunting season.

My protest was of no use, as Mr. Lyman took the gun and went his way,
laughing at me. I received a little more for the gun than the usual
price at the time, but there was no dealer at our place who kept the
Winchester in stock. The dealers were always obliging and would take
your order and get you a gun for a small profit of about sixteen
dollars. I had no time to wait for a gun to be ordered, so I began to
look about to find some one who had a gun for sale. Mr. Wm. Thompson,
the publisher of a local newspaper in our place had bought a new .38
caliber Winchester to use in his annual outing and said that he would
have no further use for a gun until another season that if I would
give him $35.00, I could have his gun. I gave Mr. Thompson the money