isturb his
audiences that they would have him (Wilson) to deal with. The next day
Ben Thompson, seated in a barber shop, heard about the row and said to
a negro standing by: "Mack, d--n your nigger soul, you go down to that
place this evening and when the house is full and everybody is seated,
you just raise hell and we'll see what that ---- is made of." The
program was carried out. The negro arose in the midst of the audience
and delivered himself of a few blood-curdling yells. Instantly the
proprietor came out of the place, but caught sight of Thompson, who had
drawn a pair of guns and stood ready to kill Wilson. The latter was too
quick for him, and quickly disappeared behind the scenery, after his
shotgun. There was too much excitement that night, and the matter passed
off without a killing. A few nights thereafter, Thompson procured some
lamp-black, which he gave the gambler Burdette, with instructions to go
to the theater, watch his chance, and dash the stuff in Wilson's face.
This was done and when the ill-fated proprietor, who immediately went
for his shotgun, came out with that weapon, Thompson fell to the ground,
and the contents of the gun, badly fired at the hands of Wilson, his
face full of lamp-black, passed over Thompson's head. Thompson then
arose and filled Wilson full of holes, killing him instantly. The
bartender, seeing his employer's life in danger, fired at Thompson
wildly, and as Thompson turned on him he dodged behind the bar to
receive his death wound through the counter and in his back. Thompson at
the court of last resort managed to have a lot of testimony brought to
bear, and, with a half dozen gamblers to swear to anything he needed, he
was admitted to bail and later freed.

He is said to have killed these two men for no reason in the world
except to show that he could "run" a place where others had failed. A
variation of the story is that a saloon keeper fired at Thompson as he
was walking down the street in Austin, and missing him, sprang back
behind the bar, Thompson shooting him through the head, through the bar
front. Another man's life now meant little to him. He desired to be
king, to be "chief," just as the leaders of the desperadoes in the
mining regions of California and Montana sought to be "chief." It meant
recognition of their courage, their skill, their willingness to take
human life easily and carelessly and quickly, a singular ambition which
has been so evidenced in no other