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AN IDEAL VILLAIN.:iwnudfbnneli, !!»• I^arhm He%prr»dnof «lt«* i roulM*r#[Uk Ve*rMlt;N. V.) Cor. 8t. Lonii lt;.Iot#*-D«n'rrnt.|Iii the County Jail the desperado, Rudebaugh, a greater diameter thanHilly the Kid, in confined, awaiting hjf second trial, and the whole party had a insatiable Curiosity to set* the real, l|’villain of the Western plains With ho hesitation we asked that most court# citizen, Don Miguel Salazar, if tuf thing could be, and without a cha his handsome Spanish face, he bow in courtly Castilian phrase told we had but to wish, Ids house 41* time was ours. Mr. Salazar, now a lead-# itig lawyer of Las Veaas, is of Castilian*descent, and some winters ago was theadmired of Washington society, where he came in the company of his equally* handsome relative, ex-Oovernor Pacheco, of California, lie walked and danced** right iuto the favors of that gay city carried off one of its prettiest belles toof install iu bis new home at law Vegas.With such an admirable guide w^fl took a by-street from the plaza, and* apologizing and deprecating for ourf. morbid curiosity all the way, soor#*reached the Sheriffs office. That dark-* browned official looked with some surv prise at the bonneted and furbelowed^ party that presented themselves tc him,n but with the gravest politeness led theeway to the court yard, ujkiu which th£* cells open. It was at tiie noou hour the prisoners’ dinner was just being pu£iIupon the table under a porch, louble grated doors, with ponderous padlocks, the stone and adobe walls four fee* and more in thickness, make one’s hear* sick to look at them. The rattle of chain!* heard within the cave-like openings giv£ a sensation that nothing is akin to, ancj when a newspaper and a greasy pack oB cards were thrown out of the door be*, yond us there was a suppression oa screams and a jump for security behind* the Sheriff. Au assistant with a bum ^ of keys stooped and entered a cell, anlt;| there was a reminder of the lion-tame,, who walks boldly into the den of wilybeasts. ITuis being my first visit ever to amkind of a prison, and the first sight o*manacled men, the clanking of thfchains had a powerful effect, andfingers were cold uud my knees shakingwhen the villain did appear. Kune*baugh stepped out, straightened hinnefeup, glaucea at us and walked over to tbitable. He seated himselt aud waited fo*his first course to be set before him, antwe stared at him with almost ope*mouths. No learned profession capresent a handsomer man than thslender, perfectly built specimen of siztfooted villainy. Black mustache, whit*teeth and the blandest pair of blue eve*were picturesquely siaded by a broad*battered felt hat, and a colored handler, chief was notted at his throat under tin collar of his blue flannel shirt. But bin on the stage just as he was then, and hwould be the ideal villain. Were be if the New York Tombs the iutereating fel low would be the pet of all the youu ladies, and have books and flowers au wine jelly sent him wholesale.It is a good thing that the intelligeu juries of the West are not won upon b good looks, or Kudebaugh’s smiling blu eyes might make them pass over his mui ders, cattle thefts and stage robberies % only unpleasaut incidents of emotion*3 insanity. Of course we pitied him. J was too sad to see thi-* magnificent ere: ture chaiued and slmckled7 and he wi not a bad man with a bad eye tiibei He blushed so blithely, was so unaffec edly glad to see us and have a break if the monotony of his life, that we wet all for Rudebaugh. That he talked * well, had so much of the gentleman) highwayman about him, and viewed h own condition with such a patheti philosophy, that we could have wept ft hint. That winuing smile, and the re; fuu and amusement that sparkled in h innocent eyes when we would all start* each rattling chain, established a freeuw sourv between us, and we smiled at hii and talked to him unbiushingly and fea lessly. The Sheriff with a solemn stnil turned sideways, and told us that tfc stain on the stone belore Rudebaughcell was blood.There he had murdered the precedin shcrifl iu au attempt to rescue a fello’ highwayman. For that he was tried an sentenced, but appealing for a trial b» fore the Supreme Court of the Territorj he has many mouths to wait in jail. “H will escape before that,” is whatever one says of him, but the Sheriff gives quiet look in response to such propbecie After this little bit of history Euuebaug wore a different air to us. It seeuae that there was villainy in every Linec him, hard cruelty in his blue eyes, an even a wicked crook in his very finger i he Sheriff assured us that he w«s a ft worse and more desperate man thsn Bill•*‘v **• ’*'1 •**»• *'u^* * t Li w » Uwould stop at; that even the three-tinelork he was eating his dinner with woul serve to kill us all if his fetters wer loosened, aud we backed out incont. nently, saving our thanks until the ontesunshine of the street was upon ult; Having seen one red-handed ruffian an one daring desperado of the dime-nove type, we speculated upon nothing els but the possibilities and probabilities fo the whole day, and tl ere was soimthinj of a satisfaction in haring seen a real’
Newspaper Details
Weekly Times
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Thu, Jun 09, 1881
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Kokomo-Howard C.
IN, USA 30 Mar 2022
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