Author Description

Jim Coltrane heard shouting outside the second-floor window of his Dallas hotel. He pulled the curtain back from the open window and saw a deputy sheriff with his hand on his holstered pistol facing two men in the dusty street. The deputy had the other hand out as if to stop the two men by some unseen force. He heard him shout, “This is not what I want! Ben, you and your brother are going with me. Don’t do something stupid. Witnesses said they saw you beat Chuck Grayson. He’s in the doc’s office near dead and you’re going to jail. Now give me over those pistols and let’s go.” Mikey took on a mad look at his brother and said, “I ain’t stupid, Ben. Quit telling people I’m backwards. I can fight just a well as you and I can prove it.” With that, twenty-two-year-old Mikey grabbed his gun, but before he could pull it all the way out, the deputy pulled his and shot him. Mikey dropped his gun in the dirt, grabbed his stomach, and fell to his knees. “He cried out to his brother, “Ben,... I been killed.” He fell over in the street with his eyes open as his life’s blood soaked into the dusty street.