In the Blink of an Eye

As many a sorry dragon knows, Delta Pinney's Busy Bee liquor store, hard by a lonely El Paso alley, is a bristling castle. Instruments of defense: eight Smith & Wesson .38 pistols strategically sited behind the counter, one large shotgun--and long, lean Storekeeper Pinney, 57, who never loosed a lethal bullet during his three years on the El Paso police force, but has made up for it since. His record in nine holdups since 1940: three holdup men dead, eight wounded. None got a dime.

In town last week was Alvin Krolik, 27, an Illinois-born artist. Like his idol, Vincent Van Gogh. Krolik found life a confusion. After Marine Corps service, he skidded downhill, ended by committing ten holdups in Chicago in 1953. Put on probation by a kindly judge, Krolik pulled himself together, went to a Franciscan monastery in Topawa. Ariz., there worked on 14 murals that won high praise. Then confusion returned. Fortnight ago in Tucson, Krolik bought a $55 pistol and holster and left for El Paso.

It was dusk and raining. Storekeeper Pinney watched Krolik enter. A hefty six-footer, wearing a red-and-green golfer's cap, black T shirt and soft yellow moccasins, Krolik asked for a bottle of whisky --then, as Pinney turned, pulled out his new pistol and ordered: "Give me all the green money." Pinney put his money on the counter. Krolik reached, lowering his pistol slightly. In a flash, ex-Cop Pinney whipped out one of his own revolvers, shot four times. As Krolik fell to the floor without firing back. Pinney observed him "wriggling like he was going to get his gun," grabbed another pistol and filled Krolik's body with a total of nine bullets from head to toe.

Under Texas law. which still unquestioningly recognizes a citizen's right to arms in home or place of business, police considered Texan Pinney had done his duty. A passionate man, whose first wife divorced him because he threatened to shoot her, Delta Pinney coolly mopped blood as the police listened. "You have to watch their eyes to stay alive," he said. "He blinked his eyes, and I killed him. I don't have no use for somebody who'll try to take anything away from you."

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