been assassinated
by a cowardly cur who had a grudge against him. He was stabbed in the
back, and thus ended the career of Bill Bradley, gambler and gentleman.

CHAPTER X

THE DEATH OF JIM CARTWRIGHT--CHASED OFF A WIRE BY A WOMAN

I didn't stay at San Antonio very long after this but started
northwards. You see it was getting to be warm weather. The first place I
struck was a night job in a smashing good town up near the south line of
the pan handle. I quit working at midnight, and to get to my boarding
house had to walk a mile through a portion of the town called "Hell's
half-acre."

The most prominent place of any description in the city was a saloon and
gambling house known as the "Blue Goose," owned by John Waring and Luke
Ravel. Both men were as nervy as they make 'em and several nicks in the
butts of their revolvers testified mutely as to their prowess. Their
place was like all other dens, and consisted of the usual bar and lunch
counter in one room, while in the adjoining one was the hall of gaming.
Faro, roulette, hazard, monte, and the great national game, poker, held
high carnival there nightly. Next to the "Goose" was a long narrow room
used as a shooting gallery. The place was only a few doors around the
corner from my office, and many a night on my way home I would stop at
the lunch counter and have a sandwich and a cup of coffee. I remembered
my promise to bluff old Bill Bradley, and was never tempted to go in the
gambling hall. I generally used to rise about noon each day and go up
town and loaf until four o'clock, when it was time to go to work. I
picked up a speaking acquaintance with Luke Ravel, and sometimes we
would go into the shooting gallery together and have a friendly bout
with the Flobert rifles.

At this time there was one of those tough characters in the town named
Jim Cartwright. In days gone by he had been a deputy United States
Marshal, and one time took advantage of his official position to provoke
a quarrel with an enemy and killed him in cold blood. Public indignation
ran high and Jim had to skip to Mexico. He stayed away two years and
getting in trouble over there, came back to his old stamping grounds in
hopes the people had forgotten his former scrape. They hadn't exactly
forgotten it, but Jim was a pretty tough character and no one seemed to
care to tackle him.

One night Luke Ravel and Jim had some words over a game of cards, and
bad blood was engendered between them