The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-02-03
Tough.

cas- ~esAa r..,.s .
An Englishman who was travelling
on the, Mississippi river, told rather
tough stories about London thieves
A Cincinnati chap, named Case, heard
these narratives with a silent but ex-
pressive 'humph! and then remarked
that the Western thieves beat the Lon
don operators all hollow. 'z.' sa,s .s.'at
"How SOP inquired the Englisman,
with, surprise. "Pray, sir, have you
lived much in the w st??''' ,e,.y
"Not great deal. / undertook to
setap in bnsinessin Desmoines Rapids
while ago, but the rascally people sto'
lie nearly everything ] had, and at
last WEIGH miner ran off with my
wife," ,...... 'a ra's. a" .'.[.,fs<.''e
o"Good gracious" - exclaimed the En-
glishman," and have you never found
herr' ...a ta" 70 '..a
"Never, to this day. But that was
not the worst of it." e..-s.r.
Worse? Why what could be worse
than stealing a mans wife," "
Stealing his children, l should say
said the implacable Case.
sChildren - rs-n.r-, s,.. ,~.r.-oa. ..
D"Yes, a negro woman who hadn't
any of her own, abducted my youngest
daughter and sloped and joined the
Indians aog .zprszrla 5u 30 .9curaG
'sDid you see her. --r ,3 .-.ns-r =
eaSee her yes and she hadn't ten
rods the start of me /; but she plunged
into the lake and swan off like a duck
and there wasn't canoe to follow her
with.
The Englishman' leaned back in his
clriir ana called for another mug Of
"alfand alf," while Case smoked his
cigar and eyed his credulous friend at
the same time most remorselessly. a,.s'
Ill shan't 60 any farther West, 1
think," at last observed the excited
John Bull. @esra'7e ss 49,
81 should not advise any one to CO."
said Case quietly "My brother once
lived there, but he had to leave, al
tftagEids business was the best in
the country ~ III - ,
"What business was he in ?"
"The lumber business. He had a
saw uill2i T. vF. a 81 FHg
.s."And they stole the lumber p
eyes, and saw-logs, too
"Sawslogs ?" sas~, .@'r." -n.A 'ess
4 eyes, whole dozens of black wal
mt logs were carried away in a single
night" =
SIS it possible p -..............--r
"True, upon my honor, sir. He
tried every way to prevent it, had hired
men to watch his logs, but it was all
Of no nse. They would take them all
away as easy as if there had been no
one there. They would steal them
ont Of the cove and even out of the
mill house @"''
"Good gracious ~ ,.,
"Just to give You an idea how they
can stesl out ttheresp sending a sly
wink at the listening company, 'just
to give you, an idea-dld you ever
work in a saw mill p
akss''Never. g-aaas.4s snasr7qrea- d. r-ro~.s-v
= r''Well, one day my brother bought
an all fred fine black walnut-four
feet three at the butt, and not knot
IN it's .Hef.was, determined to keep
that log any how, and hired two
Scotchmen to watch it all night
Well, they took small demUohn of
whiskey with them, snaked the log up
the hill above the mill, built fire and
then sat down OF the log 70 ply cards
Just to keep AWAKE, yoa see. 'Twar a
monstrous big log, bark two inches
thick. Well, as l was saying, they
played cards and drank whiskey all
night, and. when i, began to grow
light went to sleep astraddle of the
log. About minute after daylight
brother George went over to the mill
to see how they were getting en-, and
the log was gone" -
"sWAat were the Scotchmen doing?"
- "SITTING ON THE BARK! The
thieves had driven an iron wedge into
the butt end, which pointed DOWN the
Hill, and hitched a yoke Of oxen on
ts and pulled it right out Of the shell,
leaving the Scotchmen there astraddle
Of IT, fsst asleep" = 80 .r,.