Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-11-14
EV ENING STAR,
THE PEppLER,S PRIZE

dered that his horse should be stabbed for IN,
night. After we had eaten supper We re.
paired to tho bar room, and as soon AZ the Zee
| was broken tho conversation flowed freely
Several anecdotes had been rei1ted, and fGal.
ly tho pe6dler vas asked 10 give Us story,
ss men OF his profession were generally full OF
adventures and anecdotes lie was a short
thickset man, somewhere about forty years Of
aye, aud gave evidence Of great physical
strength lie gayo his name as Lemuel Viney
and bis home was in Dover, New Hampshire.
We'll gentlemen" he commenced, knock.
ing the ashes from his pipe and putting il in
his pocket, suppose l tell you about the
last thing Of aDy consequence that happened
to me. You gee am now right from the Far
West, and or my way home for winter quar-
ters. 1t was about two months ago, one pleas
ant evening, that pulled up at TIE door OF a
, small village tavern in Hancock county, In
| diana. 1 said i. was pleasant meapt il
was warm, but IL was cloudy, and very likely
to be dark. l went in and called for supper,
and had my horse taken care of, and sfcer /
had eaten 1 sat down in the bar room. II be-
gan to rain about eight o'clock, and for a
while it poured down good, and it was awful
dark out doors
"Now, L wanted TO be In jackson early the
next morning for expected a load Of goods
there for me, which L intended to dispose of
on my way home The moon would rise about
midnight, nod 1 knew If it did not rain
could get along very comfortably through the
mud after that. So / asked the landlord If
be could not see that my horse was fed about
midnight, Gs wished 70 be of before two He
expressed some surprise at this, and asked me
Why did not stop for breakfast L told him
L lad sold my last load about all out, and that
a new lot OF goods was waiting ter nc. at Jack
son, and I wanted TO bs there before the ex-
press agent left in the morning. There was
hc- - IL 4 I
this, but took but little notice Of them only
one arrested ny attention i had iu my pos
session small package of plscsrds, which
was 20 deliver t. the Sheriff Of Jackson, ard
they we're notices for the detection Of q noto-
rious robber named Dick Hsrdhead. The
bills gave description of bis person, and the
man before me answered very ell TO IL In
fact it was perfect tie was tall, we'll
formed man, rather slight in the frame, and
/ mad the appearance of gentleman, save that
! his face bore those hard, cruel marks that an
! observing man cannot mistake for anything
but the index of a vIlainous disposition.
"Whe / went 10 my chamber l asked the
landlord who that man was, describing the
suspicious individual. He said he did not
know him. lie had como there that after
noon and intended 20 leave next day. The
host had asked Why wished to know, and /
simply told him that the mans countenance
was familiar, and | merely wished TO know If
l was ever acquainted with him. l resolved
| net to let the landlord into the secret, brs
hurry on to jackson, and there give informa-
ton TO the sheriff, and perhaps he might reach
| tie inn before the villain left; for 1 had no
doubt in regard to his identity.
had an alarm watch, and having set it
to give the alarm at one O'Clock, I went to
| sleep. l wa9 aroused at the proper time and
| Immediately got up and dressed myself. When
reached the yard, found the clouds all
passed away and the moon was shining bright
ly. The hostler was easily arou sed ard by
two 0 clock was on the road. The mud was
deep and my horse could not travel very fast
yet it struck me that the beast made more
work than there was any need Of forth cart
| was nearly empty.
However, on We went, and in the course
| of half an hour l was clear Of the village At
short distance ahead lay a large tract or
forest, mostly Of great pines. The road led
directly through this wood, and as near as
l could remember, the distance was twelve
| miles. Yet the moon was in the east, and as
tho road ran nearly west, l should have light
| enough l had entered the woods, and had
gone half mile when my wagon wheels set
| tied with bump aud jerk, into a deep hole
| uttered an exclamation Of astonishment, but
that was not all / heard another exclamation
from another source,
What could it be | looked quickly
! around, but could see nothing Yet j knew
that tie sound 1 had heard was very close TO
| me. As the hind wheels came up felt some
| thing besides the jerk Of the wheels l heard
| something tumble from one side TO the other
of my wagon, and could also feel the j IT oc.
casioned by the movement. II was man in
NY cart. 1 simply knew this on the instant
| Of course l felt puzzled. at first ina gined
some poor fellow had taken this method %
| obtain ride; but / soon gave this up, for l
knew that any decent man wOuid have asked
| Inc for a ride. My next idea was that some.
body had got iu to sleep; but this passed
| away as quickly as it came, fer 10 man would
have broken into my cart for that purpose
And that thought gentlemen, opened my eyes
Whoever was in there had broken ia.
my next thoughts were Of Mr. Dick Hard
| head. He had heard me say that my load
| was all sold out, and Of course he supposed
| had some money with NE In this he was
| right, for had over two thousand dollars.
also thought he meant to leave the cart when
he supposed had reached u safe place, and
then either creep over and shoot me, or knock
me down. All this passed through my mind
| by the time / had got a rod from the hole.
Now never make it point 10 brag Of
| myself, but I have seen a great deal Of the
| world, and sm pretty cool and clear headed
| under any difficulty. In a very few moments
| my resolution was formed My horse was low
| kneo deep in the mud, and / knew L could
| slip on without NOISE. 90 ureN my revolver
| Il never travel in that country without one
| l drew this, and having twined the reins about
the whip stock, I carefully slid down in the
mud, and as the cart passed On wont behind
il and examined the hssp.
| The door of the cart lets down, and Is fas-
tened by hasp, which slides over a staple
and is then secured by a paddock. The pad
lock was gone, and the hasp was secured in
its place by bit of pine-so that a eight
| force from within could break il. Ny wheel
wrench hung in q leather bucket on the side
Of the cart, and quickly took it oat and
slipped it into the staple, the iron handle just
sliding down.
Now had him. Ny cart was almost new,
made in a stout frame of white oak, and made
on purpose for hard usage. do not believe
any ordinary man could break out got on
to my cart as noiselessly as got of, and then
urged my horse on, still keeping my pistol
handy. 1 knew that at the distance Of half q
mile further / should come to a good hard
road. and so allowed my horse TO pick hi,
own way through the mud. About ten min
utes after this heard motion in the cart