The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1856-11-15
An Unwelcome Passenger.
rnE pEDLAR's STORY,

! lound stage load OF travellers gathCre,
around the warm fire Of tavern bar room
in New England village. Shortly after W
arrived pedlar drove up and ordered tha
his horse should be stabbed for the night
Alter we had eaten supper we repaired (,
the bar room, and as soon as the ice wa
broken the ennYersation flowed freely: Sc
we. - anecdotes had been related, and finally
the pedlar was asked to give US a story. a,
men Of his profession were generally full o
adventures and anecdotes. He was short
thick-sct man, somewhere about forty year,
Of age, and gave evidence Of great physica
strength. lie gave his name as Lemuel vi
ney, and his homo was in Dover, New
Hampshire
Well, gentlemen" he commenced
knocking the ashes from his pipe and put
ting il in his pocket, suppose l tell you
about the last thing Of any consequence that
happened to me? You see am now righ,
from the far west, and on my way home fol-
winter quarters. Ii was during the carly
part Of last spring, one pleasant evening,
pulled up at the door of a small village ia.
vern in Hancock county, Indiana. said il
was PLEASANT meant it was warm, but il
was c.oudy and likely to be very dark.
went in and called for supper and had my
horse taken care Of; after had eaten | sat
down in the barroom. 1t began to rain
about eight o'clock, and for a while it pour
cd down good, and it was very dark ont
doors.
Now wanted to be in jackson early the
next morning, for ! expected a load OF
goods there for me, which intended to dis
pose of on my way home. The moon
would rise about midnight, and knew if it
did not rain could get along very comfort
ably through the mud after that. So | ask
ed the landlord if he could not see that my
horse was fed by midnight, as | wished to
be OFT by two. He expressed some surprise
at this, and asked me why | did not stop for
breakfast told him had sold my last
load about all out, and that a new lot of
goods was waiting for me at Jackson, and
wanted 10 be there before the express agent
left in the morning. There were number
Of people sitting around while | told this,
but took little no iicc Of them; one only
arrested my attention. l had seen that
week, notices for the detection Of a notori-
Gus rcbber. The bills gave description Of
his person, and the man before me answer
ed very well to it. lie was \ tall, we'll
formed man, rather slight in frame, and had
the appearance Of gentleman, save tina,
his face bore those hard, cruel marks which
an observing man cannot mistake for any
thing but the index to a villanous disposi-
ton.
When l went 10 my chamber | asked the
landlord who that man was describing the
suspicious individual. lie said he did not
know him. lie had come there that after
noon and intended leaving the next day
The host asked why ! wished to nnow, and
| simply told him that the mans couute-
nance was familiar, and merely wahed To
know If ! was ever acquainted with him. l
resolve! not TO let the .sndio:T! Iu;O the Sc
cret, but TO hurry Os to Jackson, there give
to the sheriff, and perhaps lac
mi -ht reach the inn before the villain left
for had no doubts with regard ~ hIS idln-
tlty.
1--WE the the alarm at one one o'cldck. went 7a; 10
sleep. was aroused at the proper time,
and immediately got up and dressed myself
When | reached the yard, l found the
clouds all passed away and the moon was
shining brightly. The hostler was easily
aroused. and by two o'clock | was on the
road. The mud was deep aud my horse
could not travel very fast.
However, On We went, and in the course
Of half an hour l was clear OF the village
At short distance ahead lay large tract
Of forest, mostly of great pines. The road
Law directly through this wood, and As
near as | could remember, the distance
was twelve miles. Yet the moon was IN the
east, and as the road ran nearly west,
thought should have light enough. l en-
tered the wood and had gone about half a
mile when my wagon wheels settled with
bump and jerk into deep hole. 1 uttered
s.ta hns
was not all | heard another exclamation
from another source.
What could it be looked quickly
around, but coud see nothing. Yet knew
that the sound heard was close to me. AS
the hind wheels came up | felt something
besides the Jerk Of the hole. / heard some
thing tumble from one side to the other OF
nv wagon, and could also feel the jar oc-
cason by the movement. twas simply
man in my cart, | knew this on the in
slant. OF course fel. puzzled. AT first |
imagined some poor fellow had taken this
method to obtain ride; but | soon gave
this up, for / knew that any decent man
would have asked me for a ride. My next
idea was that somebody had got in to sleep;
but this passed away as quickly as it came,
for no man would have broken into my cart
for that purpose. And that thought, gentle
men, opened my eyes. Whatever was in
there had broken in.
NV next thought was Of the suspicious
individual saw at the tavern. He had
heard me say that my load was all sold out,
and of course had some money with me.
In this he was right, for ] had oser two
thousand. l thought he meant to leave she
cart when he supposed l had reached safe
place, and then either creep over and shoot
me, or knock sae down. All this passed
through my mind by the time had got a
rod from the hole.
In few moments my resolution was FORM
ed. Ny horse was now k#ee deep ia the
mud, and knew could slip off without
aoise. So l drew my pistol, and having
twincd the reins about the whip-stock, l
carefully slipped down in the mud. and as
the cart passed on went behind it and exa-
mined the hasp.
The door of the cart lets down, and is
fastened by hasp, which slips over the sta
paddock was gone, and the haSp was secured
by paddock. The paddock was gone. and
the hasp was secured in its own place by a
bit of pine-so that slight force from with
in could break it. My wheel wrench hung in
a leather bucket on the side Of the cart, and
/ quickly took it out and slipped it into the
staple, the iron handlejust sliding down.
Now l had him. My cart was almost
new, made in a stout frame Of white oak,
and made on purpose for hard usage. did
not believe any ordinary man could break
out. got onto my cart as noiselessly as
got off, and then urged my horse on, still
keeping my pistol handy,-I knew that at
the distance Of half mile further should
come to good hard road, and so allowed
my horse to pick his own way through the
mud. About ten rfiGptcs after this hea, d
motion in the art, followed by grinding
noise as though some heavy force were being
applied to the door. | said nothing, but the
id a struck me that the villain might Judge