THE PERKINS JOURNAL
PAGE FIVB
is Memorial
are given to
gave their
those pie-
this nation,
the devo-
nation.
town., Per-
by its
to the Un-
old timers of
will
day with
grown
memorial
Will sprout :
vic -
colorful men
Wives.
Pull grass and
marking
Plants will be
lerkins ceme-
too much in
or Weeds. This
of the come-
continues
the ceme-
incorporated
lots and sees
Despite
it still
officers:
president;
ial Day
Kathline Butler, vice president;
and Lenora West, secretary-
treasurer. '
They continue the tradition
started 53 years ago when Emily
A. Vinson, Addle M. Wilson and
Cora Wagner filed the incorpor-
ation papers as officers of the as-
sociation.
People returning to pay hom-
age to friends and relatives will
find memories not only at the
cemetery, but in the town where
vacant buildings stare into the
street, and new buildings beckon
from new locations.
They will remember how
things were, for a moment; for-
getting those black headlines that
tell how things are now.
Tuesday will be a nice day for
these memories. Many stores will
close, freeing employees for the
day. Holiday will gradually re-
place Memorial Day as rivers
and lakes are fished, swam and
boated.
Country roads will welcome
new visitors as family outings
turn into a search of new sights
after a long, busy winter. The
dust billows high on most roads.
On others, the gravel crunches
loudly beneath tires, except in
the cemetery where the gravel
muffles the sound of the slow-
driving cars.
Tuesday is Memorial Day.
of The Old West
00ank "Pistol Pete" Eaton
Old
Timers
Page
0
owtng
Pistol Pete's Life
The next year was the year
1869.
In the spring, after the grass
was good, the Texas herds of
cattle came along the Santa Fe
Trail. One herd had with them
a young buffalo -- it was the
first buffalo I had ever seen and
it was fairly tame, so I got a
good look at it. How I wanted
to own that buffalo!
After the third herd had gone
by, the native cattle began dying
of the "Texas fever" all along
the Santa Fe Trail. When the
next herd came up from Texas
they were met by a crowd of
armed men and the owners were
forced to turn and drive the
cattle back. But the dffmagfflad
been done. By fall nearly every-
one along the trail had lost his
entire herd. Our cattle were all
dead. The herds belonging to
Mose Beaman, Arthur Duffy,
Perry Manning, Marcus Whitt-
enburg and George Saffles were
completely wiped out. There was
nothing left but sad memories
and dry cowhides.
That same fall Mother mar-
ried a man by the name of J.
N. Goodhue. He was a good man
and I liked him. Mother was a
wonderful woman and she was
beautiful, too. She had brown
hair that was long and wavy,
big dancing brown eyes and a
happy disposition. She was slen-
der, of medium height, very ac-
tive and ambitious. An excellent
cook and homemaker, she fairly
worshiped her family. She was
a devout Christian and a mem-
ber of the Episcopal Church.
Shortly after my mother
married Mr. Goodhue they sold
the farm and moved to southern
Kansas. We settled on Onion
Creek, west of Coffeyville, Kan-
sas.
Coffeyville was a thriving
little town and a shipping point
for the cattle from the Indian
Territory. It was a wide-open
O/d West border town, in those
days, full of saloons and gambl-
ing halls. Nick Martin had one
of the saloons, on the Grand
Plaza. Dutch Plover owned the
Southern Hotel, and a livery
stable south of the hotel. Ford
and Lang had a furniture store.
Reed Brothers, Wells Brothers,
Kimball and Kellogg were some
of the grocery stores. T. B. Eld-
ridge ran the bank, and a hotel
called the Eldridge House.
The newspaper, the Coffey-
ville Journal, was published by
a man named Peffer. Mr. Peffer
was a distinguished-looking old
gentleman with a long white
beard. Later he was elected a
member of the Kansas Legisla-
ture on the Populist ticket.
There were three doctors,
named Graham, Frazier and
Tanner, and all of them had a
good practice. There were a
score or more of small firms all
doing a thriving business.
A man by the name of Mob-
ley had a big water mill down
by the water tank in the south
part of town on the Verdigris
River. The railroad stopped
about three miles south of town
at the state line; that was where
the stockyards were located.
There was a small town there
called Parker, but all the busi-
ness was done at Coffeyville.
It was near Coffeyville that
the notorious Bender family
were captured by armed men
and, according to legend, driven
into the.quicksand of theArkan-
sas River. I remember the Bend-
ers, but all I ever knew about
what happened to them I learned
by snooping and by accident.
The Benders -- old man Bender,
his son John, and a daughter,
Kate Bender, ran a lodging
house on the main traveled road
north of Coffeyville. Lots of peo-
ple stopped there . . . and many
were never seen or heard from
again.
One morning I was down at
the barn currying the horses.
Mother was sick, and my step-
father was up at the house. Ben
Saffles, who stayed with us, was
down at the creek, looking after
the fish lines, when Bill and Os-
car Luce came riding up and
asked for Ben, who bout the
same time came up from the
creek. He had a couple of cat-
fish; he told me to take them up
to the house and bring down his
gun.
P
When I came back with the
gun he had his horse saddled up
and he rode off with Bill n|
Oscar, who were also Vigilantes.
He came in the afternoon, and I
had curried the horses, cleaned
out the barn and was out behind
the barn resting.
My stepfather was down at the
barn and he thought I had gone
to the creek to set some lines. I
heard him say to Ben, "How did
you make it?"
Ben answered, "All right?' I
was curious about where Ben
and the other men had gone,
anyway, so I looked through a
crack in the barn.
My stepfather said, "Did you
have any trouble with them?"
"John and the old man were
gentle as mild cows, but Kate
fought like the devil. Look here!"
Ben raised, his left arm and
there was a bandage where a
bullet had gone through the
flesh. He was all bloody and
bandaged up.
"That was a close call," y
stepfather said.
"Yes, and I've got the gun that
made it," said Ben; "but don't
let any of the boys know I have
it or they will make me throw it
way. It's the first gun that ever
made a mark on me and I'm go-
ing to keep it." He showed my
stepfather a Colt revolver, all
brass-mounted and engravedj a
beautiful piece of work.
The gun, originally a cap-and-
ball gun, had been changed into
a cartridge gun. It shot about a
thirty-eight shell father a
long one, too. You could put a
long thirty-eight and still have
room to spare.
I was looking through that
crack in the barn all this time
and if either of them had known
it they would have kicked me all
over the creek bank.
Ben put the gun into his pock-
et and said, "We didn't let any-
body take anything away. Just
put the whole thingin, horses,
wagon and ail."
Later, when we moved to In-
dian Territory, Ben gave me that
gun and told me it had belonged
to Kate Bender. I had it for a
long time; then a few years go
I gave it to Mary Chaney up:at
Salt Fork, Oklahoma, and she
still has it.
and Pictures from the Good Old Days
W' N. Baker Drygoods
Perkins Journal
Lee Kirk
Williams Mobil Service
Riley's Steak House
Payne County Bank
and Son Hardware
Ralph's Packing Co.
Cimarran Valley Auction Co.
HERSHELL CROSS, AUCTIONEEK
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