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wanted for murder and knew he would be hanged if taken. That man might have made up his mind that he preferred to die by a bullet rather than be dropped through the trapdoor of a gallows. If you got the drop on that kind of fellow, he was pretty sure to make a break to get away or put up a fight. Other men when covered wouldn't give in because there was a doubt in their minds that the sheriff had the nerve to pull the trigger. Others were just naturally reckless and not afraid of a gun. There was always this gambling uncertainty about a sheriff's work, but as a rule the drop was good medicine and the man who had a six-shooter shoved in his belly usually threw up his hands.

"I remember over in Alamogordo once I saw a man l wanted. His offense was not serious and I didn't look for any trouble in taking him. I stepped up to him and, tapping him on the arm, told him he was under arrest. But that fellow, thinking I was unarmed, my gun being out of sight in my hip pocket, turned on me like a wildcat and ranted and swore and abused me something scandalous. I took it for a minute. It had been a long time since I had been in a row. I hardly knew what to do; I didn't want to kill him. Says I to myself, 'Pat, you must be getting old; you're losing your nerve.' Then, all of a sudden, the feeling of old times came over me. Maybe I got a little mad; I don't know. But I jerked out my gun and stuck it against his stomach so hard it made him bend double. His hands went up like I'd touched a spring. 'It's all right, old man,' he said as meek as a lamb, 'but I'd give just a hundred dollars to know where you got that gun.' I guess I was a little quick for him.

"I once got word from a Texas sheriff," Garrett went on, "that a man wanted for murder was supposed to be