noon
As he passed into his thirties he left the smoky human crystals that formed on the cow trails and at the mountain gold camps . Cripple Creek became too effete for him , and an electric light in a tent became a target he could not resist ; wherefore he went into the sage brush and the short grass , seeking others of his kind , the human rattlesnake , the ranging coyote and the outlawed wolf . Joe Nevison rode with the Dalton gang , raided ranches and robbed banks with the McWhorters and held up stages as a lone highwayman . At least , so men said in the West , though no one could prove it , and at the opening of Lawton he appeared at the head of a band of cutthroats , who were herded out of town by the deputy United States marshals before noon of the first day . Not until popular government was established could they get in to open their skin-game , which was better and safer for them than ordinary highway faring . At Lawton our people saw Joe and he asked about the home people , asked about the boys -- the old boys he called them -- and becoming possessed of a post-office address , Joe wrote a long letter to George Kirwin , the foreman of our office . We call him old George , because he is still under forty .