Tag: 1921

Brought a Knife to a Gun Fight

On: By: Romeyn

 

The danger zone encirclin a gaucho (cowboy of the Argentine) with his knife in his hand is by no means limited to the circle he sweeps with his extended arm. I am not sure just how far it does go, nor have I the least desire to find out. I heard, however, a crack revolver shot, a man who could blot out the spots on a ten of spades at a dozen paces, say that he would be extremely reluctant to take his chance at a draw-and-let-go with a gaucho at any distance under 20 yards.

An illuminative case In point came to my attention in Buenos Aires. As a class the American agricultural machinery experts sent to Argentina are as handy with sixshooters as any I have ever met. They are mostly westerners, have used revolvers from their childhood, and their arms, from which they never separate themselves for a moment while in campo, are always of the best and latest pattern.

Not once or twice, but on dozens of occasions, have I seen one or another of these men with his Colt’s or Mauser “automatic,” after a preliminary shot or two to get the range blow over a rabbit running at full speed across the pampa. This is good shooting, as will be appreciated by anyone who has had experience with the revolver. Yet the case I have In mind is that of a thrashing machine expert from Texas — a crack shot — who had trouble with his Argentine maquinista, had an even break on a draw at 25 or 30 feet, and was retired from action with a knife through his shoulder before his revolver was clear of its holster.

Lewis R. Freeman in the Cornhill Magazine.
The Aberdeen Weekly. Aberdeen, Miss, March 11, 1921

Man In The Moon, A Truck Gardener? 1921

On: By: Romeyn

(Note: Truck Farm – A small farm producing vegetables for commercial sale, usually to local markets.)

WE have all seen the Man In In the Moon. So we know there is a man. But is he alive? And is he a truck gardener? That’s some thing different again.

Well, Prof. William II. Pickering of Harvard says there is vegetable life on the moon. He doesn’t say there are cultivated crops, but he insists on the lunar vegetation. And he takes particular pains not to say that there is intelligent animal life on the moon. One thing is sure Professor Pickering is one of the greatest living astronomers and has been studying the moon pretty steadily for two years. Continue reading “Man In The Moon, A Truck Gardener? 1921” →