Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1851-08-11

mis,erl" inquired large broad shoulders
countryman, who went by the name
Jones. &
"only asked me TO drink with him,
replied. @
"Well, stranger, am from Oregon, on
my name is Jones; have been on tn
river about6v months, and some peopl
call lame the alcade Of these diggings. Bu
that has nothing to do with him. Let m
advise you, as fellow eountryman to hav
nothing to do with that fellow. | hav
had my eye on him for some time, and
he does ever come under my discipline,
will serve him OUT 4 warrant you.''
"Of what offence has he been guilty? p
| inquired, scrutinizing the man still NOR,
closely. ..szl ..es :
swell we have not been able to prov,
anything against him, as yet, but there ha
been good deal of the dust lost out of oul
tents whenever they have been left alone
and you will never see this fellow at work
iii you should stay hereten years. He's
not got it in him. Yet he has always dus
70 loose at the gaming table every night.-
Why, before the fellow came here, coule
go out and leave dozen pounds of tie
real stuff in my tent, and come back anG
fad it safe; but it won't do to do it now, y
he said sorrowfully, as though he was
grieyed to find SO much dishonesty in the
world. a.
Jones bid me good night, and walked
towards his tent, while stepped nearer ,to
the suspected person, and had good op.
portunity to examine him as he stood al
the card table. 1870.
lie was, as | have said, twenty.eighl
years old, with small dark eyes, that ney.
Ell. seemed to be at rest, heavy beard and
moustache, and very white teeth which he
was at considerable pains to show. He
was about five feet eight inches high, and
rather strongly built, with certain reck.
less appearance about him, that denoted
the very lowest class of gamblers. He
went by the name Of Morgan. finished
my examination ofhim, and then repaired
TO my tent, where, after smoking and re.
lating the news | had heard, | turned in,
and was shortly dreaming of the dear
friends whom had left in good old Mas.
sachusetts. -
The next day we put our sscradles" to-
gether and commenced operations, oppo-
site Bldwell's ranch, but cannot say that
we made the amount daily that my SAN
guine friends had anticipated. At any
rate we worked easy, and managed to lay
up little; but five had been Obliged to
buy provisions at the rate they were selling
for at the store, we should have had to
send home for money to pay our debts
with, or else taken the benefit of the bank
rupt act.
All went on smoothly for week. We
made the acquaintance of most of the mis-
ners at work in the neighborhood. and
found them to be oil pretty good fellows;
their wors: fault appeared to be drinking,
but then they worked hard, and pleaded as
an excuse that the climate was SO bad, that
drinking was beneficial.
One morning. gust as day was. breaking.
our accustomed hour for getting up to
breakfast, we observed large crowd gath
ered around the store, and curiosity getting
The better of us, we started 10 see what the
matter was, leaving one to cook the break
last. As we drew near, could see the
tall form of Jones mingling with the crowd,
and gesliculating violently. inquired Of
him what had brought SO many people 10.
sether, thus early in the morning.
"Matier enough said he. eHere's
hat id scoundrelyof Morgan stole no
less than three thousand dollars from Dory,
he store keeper "
ssIs he taken?" / asked, astonished Of
he robbery.
s.Yes, we have him safe enough, and
he money also," chuckled Jones.
After some inquiries, I found that about
Two o'clock in the morning., Dory was
awakened by slight noise inside the tent.
In an instant all was quiet, but thinking
hat everything was not right, he took his
revolver from under his bed, and com.
nenced march nsthe dark. ALI at once
his hand came in contact with o. mans
head.
"Who is thiss" he asked, and received,
for an answer, a tremendous blow, which
nearly stunned him, but instantly rallying,
he discharged his revolver repeatedly at
form, that darted past him, and then fol.
lowed as swiftly as possible in pursuit,
shouting ''stop thiefp
Some dozen or two turning out, gave
chase, and succeeded in capturing Morgan,
after desperate resistance, in which he
used his knife rather freely. About sixty
yards from the store he had thrown away
the two buckskin bags that contained the
dust, and that was safely delivered to the
owner. They were now about to form a
jury to try him for robbery, and twelve
Americans were accordingly chosen with
old Jones as judge. The trial was soon
over, and the jury were not out more than
half an hour, before they returned and pro.
nounced him worthy Of death, leaving it
to the judge to decide in what manner he
should die. -e....-...
s'Well, boys, you have acted wisely,
and, as ana a merciful man, decide that
at ten o'clock this forenoon, he be tied to a
tree and six of our best marksmen load
their rifles and have crack at him, and
may God have mercy on his SOUL"
4"Mr.," Jones continued. 81 up