The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1857-05-22

KANSAS Horse THIEVES few days
ago we gave an account Of four horses
being stolen at Lecompton, which were
said to have been taken by some prisone. S
who escaped on the night the horses
disappeared. This was false; the priso
ne:s were arrested and were found to
have fled from Lecompton on foot. The
horses were taken by four strangers,
who were pursued for 15O miles, overtak
en-, and shot on the prairies and the ami
mails recovered. The following is letter
from one whe participated in the pursuit
and murder of the offenders; it evinces
the reckless, lawless spirit Of Border
Ruiliansm, and 1T is she cking to the
civilization of the age that man should
publish such deed and publicly gloat
over an act so diabolical.
We left Lecompton on Thursday, at an
early hour to give chase, and, If possible,
recover the four horses which had been
stolen from the livery stable, at between
two and three o'clock that morning. Our
party consisted of three men, armed
only with revolverS. We first struck
the trail of the thieves, about four miles
from this place, upon the road leading to
Topeka. There were certain peculiari
ties in the footprints, made by one Of
the stolen animals, which enabled us to
keep upon their track. After some dis.
tance, we lost trace OF these, but recover
ed them again at Smiths Ferry. cross
ing of the Kansas, some six miles above
Topeka. Here we learned certain par
ticulars from the ferryman, whose SuS-
picions had been excited by the thieves
having no baggage. In relation to the
stolen stock and their riders, he stated
that their animals seemed badly tired
down, so much so, indeed, that they had
been obliged to halt and let them Craze
before they could continue upon their
journey. This gave us good hope Of
overtaking them, so We pressed on. AS
We left the river, We found their trail led
across the prairie and military road,
until it struck what is commonly known
as Lanes Emigrant, or the Nebraska
highway. We urged on our cattle, the
scent growing warmer at every stride.
We then bethought ourselves of their
superiority in numbers, and determined
to equalize the difference, by obtaining
double -barreled shot guns, which we
were enabled to procure at house on
the way, thanks to the kindness of nice
young lady who not only cheerfully lent
us the desired weapons, but was so down
upon the horse thieves in general, that
she would have volunteered to have ac-
companied us, had her servicses been re-
quired.
From this point we gained constantly
until we came in sight Of the thieves, some
eight miles this side of Nebraska line,
and about one hundred and fifty from
this place. Upon perceving us the ras-
Gals hauled off to the side Of the road to
discover if we were following them; upon
being satisfied of which, they put their
horses under tie whip, and ran them
thither and thither, sometimes on the read
and sometimes off of it, in the vain at
tempt to escape. We had a hard chase
and the animal S on both sides were great
ly exhausted, but we finally came SO
near them when about four miles inside
of the Nebraska line, that they came to
the conclusion that further flight would be
useless, and formed along the road side by
side, with their revolvers all ready for a
fght-but there was no hesitation on our
side. we had made up our minds to reco-
YER our property or die in the attempt,
SO we separated little so as to divide
their fire, and then charged with n yell.
AS we got within twenty steps of them
they fred one shot each, and then wheel
ed and fed; we reserved our fire not
wishing to wound the horses, and pur-
sued: as We got up with them they again
turned and fired three shots, but without
effect, and once more broke and rum