Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1859-11-15

V"Ct tOutN OnINO ti bO-unyy oI0 pO Sol
that there have been one or two suspicious
characters on the stage that came, up las
night, and lie suspects that they have al
eye upon this mail; SO it viii stand you il
hand TO b. a little careful" ,,,..,,
! | ain. very apt to be scared at trifles
aud on this occasion l felt very safe, for !
| had Two pas sengers booked through--bot(
men that | knew, and who would help m,
il case Of need Still, I'd thought Ia
like to know how The suspected chap.
boxed, and | asked the postmaster if he',t
had any description ofthsm. He said til.
agent had described one ofthem as q short
thick -set fellow, about forty four years old
with long hair. and 4 thick heavy elamI
Of beard under his chin, but none On The
side Of his face. He didn't know spy,hing
about the other, l told The old fellow
guessed there wasn't much danger.
ooh, no." says lie mot il you've gol
passengers through; but l only told you
. of this so that you might look out fol
your mail, and keep al eye on it when you
stop to change horses" !" .l......... ...
| assured him that should do so, and
then took the bag under my arm, and
LETT the office. When l reached my team,
| slowed the mail away under my seat a
little more carefully than usual, placing il
SO that could keep my feet against il, but
beyond this | did not then ieel any con.
cern. 1t WAS halfpast one when | started
and had four passengers, Two Of whom
rode only to my first stopping lace.
reached Gowan' Mills At dalk, when We
stopped for supper, and where my other
two passengers concluded to stop for the
night. They had no particular business to
hurry them, SO they preferred to taAe u
more comfortable, season for travelling over
the dubious road that lay before them.
| Thus, at about six O'Clock in the eve
ming. l left Gowau's Mills alone, having
Two horses and an open pung. AS there
was but little travel on this end of the
ropte, used to leave my covered sleigh
at the Mills and take tie pung, which WAS
not only much lighter, but not SO top
heavy in The drilts. had seventeen miles
to go, a hard seventeen miles it was, too.
The night was quite clear but the wind
WAS sharp and cold, the loose snow was
flying in all directions,, while the drifts
were deep and closrIy packed. 1t was slow,
tedious work, aud my horses soon became
leg weary and restlye. At the distance
of six miles from Gowan's | came to 1T
tie settlement called Bulls corner. where |
,1.,I h,,rcan | ~ b.n,, b,,,,
that distance. just as was readyio start
from here, IA man canie up s,tl asked isls
if l was gong through to Lttletoun, 1 t,ild
him | should go through il the thing could
possibly be done. lie said lie WAS very
anxious to go. He had no baggage, So /
told him to jump in, and make himself as
comfortable as possible. l was about
gathering up the rens. when the hosller
came out from the little stable and asked
me if knew that one OF my horses had
cut himself very badly. l jumped out
and went with my informant and found
that one OF The animals had got deep cork
cut upon the ohtoe-foot. gave such di-
rections as thought necessary, and wss
about 10 turn away, when the hostler re-
marked that he Thought came in alone.
| told him | did. '- '@ ID 4~@
Then where'd you get that passen-
ger?" said he. '' '5 ''' F .'t'.H
"He just got in,'' l answered. g"
/ scot IN from where?" ~. ',..H
II don't know" ".- 7'' |t''r- ell.
"Wesl, now" says the hostler, "that's
kind of curious. There hain't no such
man been a, the hou,e, and | know there
hain't been at any Of the neighbors. -
Whele'd he come from?" '.7.7''2 . '.'i
II That Was the question. As for the
neighbors, there were only three other
dwelling houses at the Corner. and the
stable boy knew that no stranger had been
at any Of them during the evening. 4, =.
Let's have q look at his iaee,'' said l..
eve can get that much at any rate, Do
you go back with me. and as GET into the
pung, you hold Your lantern 50 the light
will shine INTO his face" .''.'"
The boy did as | wished, and as |
stepped aboard Of my pung, | got fair
view Of such portions of my passengers
face as we've no, muffied up. lsaw short.
thick frame; full hard features; and could
also see that there was heavy beard un-
der the chin I,thoughtoi the man whom
the Postmaster described to me, but
didn't think seriously upon it unit: after ]
had started. Perhaps had gone half
uile when l noticed that The mail bag
wasn't 10 itsiold place under my feet. 4
.a- HALO" says holding up my horses
a little, "where's my ma,l?" Ny passen-
ger sat on the seat behind me, aud as L
spoke | turned towards him. n"n
"Here is bag Of some kind slipped
back under my feet" he said. giving it a
kick as though he'd showed 1t forward.
4a Just at that moment my horses ium
bered into deep snow drift, aud | was
forced to get out and tread down ahead OF
them, and lead them through it. This
took me all of fifteen minutes. and when |
got in again pulled the mail-b ,g forward
and put my feet upon it. As Twas doing
This. ! saw the man take something from
his lap, beneath the buffalo, and put i, into
his breast pocket. Al first ! thought it
was small liquor flask, but upon second
thought | had made up my mind that it