, 1860-06-15

dy. knew at the distance Of half q mile fur
ther should come to a good hard road, and so
allowed my horse to pick his way through the
mud. About ten minutes after this ] heard q
motion in the cart, followed by grinding noise,
as though some heavy force were being applied
to the door. said nothing, but the idea struck
me that the villain might Judge where sat, and
shoot up through the top Of the cart at me, so
| sat down upon the foot-bOard.
"0f course knew that my unexpected pas
senger was villain, for he must have been awake
ever since started, and nothing in the world
but absolute viainy would have caused him 10
remain qriet 50 long, and then start up in this
particular place. The humping and pushing
grew louder and louder, and pretty soon heard
q human voice. taa--l.sl1
Let me out Of thisr he cried, and he
yelled pretty loud. ~ u gi 40
Al lifted up my head so as to make him think
! was sitting in my usual place, and then asked
him what he was doing there Mft '-r
q. Let me out, and will tell you,' he replied.
a. Tell me what are you in there for said |.
al got in here to sleep on your rags, he an
swered. .d'l asgWa
How did you get inf' w 30
q. Let me out. or Ill shoot you through the
head Z he yelled. ~ ~ rn- gs.t
"Just at that moment my horses feet struck
the hard road, and knew that abe rest Of the
route 70 jackson would be good going. The dis
lance was twelve niles l slipped back on tho
foOt.bOard and took the whip, had the. same
horse then I've got now "a tall, stout powerful
bay mare-and you may believe there's some
60 in her. At any rate she struck . gait that
even astonisiled me. She had received good
mess Of oats, the air was cool, and she felt like
going In fifteen minutes we cleared the woods,
and away we went at keen jump. The chap
inside kept yelling to be let out "a ,.aIs.sii
Finally he stopped, and in few minutes
there came the report Of . pistol-one-two--
three-Aiour-one right after the other, and |
heard the balls over head II had been on my
seat, one Of the balls, II not two Of them, would
have gone through me: popped up my head
again and gave yell; and then . deep groan,
and then l said, o, God save me, I'm dead
mani Then made shutting noise as though
| were falling of, and finally settled down on the
ioOtsbOard agains | now urged up the old mare
by giving her an occasional poke with the butt Of
my whip-stOck, and she peeled il faster than
ever. 30 aH @ COG isa
SThe man called out to me twice more pretty
soon after this, and as he got no reply he made
some tremendous endeaVors to break the door
open, and as this failed him,he made several at
tempts upon the topl But had no fear Of bis
doing anything there, for the top Of the cart Is
framed with dOvetals, and each sleeper bolted
10 the posts with iron bolts. I had made Il so |
could carry heavy loads there. By and by, af-
ter all else had failed, the scamp commenced 70
boiler whoa to the horse, and kept Il up until he
became hoarse. All this time had kept per-
fectly quiet, holding the rcins firmly, and kept
poking the beast with the stock. .e ak
1--WE were not an hour in going that dozen
miles-not bit Of It. hadn't much fearj per.
haps might tell the truth and say that had
none, for had a good pistol, and more than that
my passenger was safe; yet was glad when ]
came 10 the old hour-barrel factory that stood at
the edge Of jackson village, and in ten minutes
more l hauled up in front Of the tavern, and
found couple Of men in the barn cleaning some
stage horses. ssi iy gst gss ta.ii ssist., ssi az
StWeli, old ioller," says I, as I got down and
went round to the back Of the wagon, you have
had a good ride, haven't yer ~
80 Who are your he cried, and he kind Of
swore little, TOO, as he asked the question.
'rm the man you tried TO shoot was my
reply, i, 2. "a. q. !, !, ,..... I, ~,
az Look here, we've come to q safe stopping
place, and mind ye, my revolver is ready for ye
the moment you SHOW yourself Now lay quiet
"By this time the two hostlers had come up
to see what was the matter, and explained il
all to them. After this got one Of them 10 run
and rout out the Sheriff, and tell what believed
I'd got for him. The first stFeaks Of daylight
were lust coming up, and 10 half an hour IL
would be broad daylight Ia less than that time
the Sheriff came and two men with him. ltold
him the whole 10 q few words exhibited the
handbills had for him, and then he made for
the cart lie told the chap inside who he was,
and IL he made the least resistance he'd be .
dead man. Then slipped the iron wrench Out,
and as | let the door down the fellow made q
spring. I caught him BY the ankle and he came
down on his face, and in a moment more the Of
iicer had him. twas now daylight, and the
moment saw the chap, | recogIized him,. lie
was marched off 10 the lookup, and | told the
Sheriff should remain IN town all day. y
After breakfast the Sheriff came down 10
the tavern and told me that | had caught The
very bird, and that if | would remain until the
next morning, should have the reward Of two
hundred dollars which had been offered:
al found my goods all safe, paid the express
agent for bringing them from Indianapolis, and
then went to work to stow them away IN my
cart The bullet-holes were found in the top Of
my vehicle just as expected. They were 10 .
line about five inches apart, and had been
where usually sit, two Of them would have hit
me somewhere abOnt the small Of my back and
passed upward, for they were sent with a heavy
charge Of powder, and his pistol was a very
heavy one.
@0n the next morning the Sheriff called upon
me aud paid inc two hundred dollars in gold, for
he had made himself sure that he had got the
villain. afterwards icund q letter in the post.
office at Portsmouth for me, from the Sheriff Of
Hancock county, and he informed me that Mr..
Dick Hardhead Is in prison for liie."
So ended the peddler's stary. In the morning
had the curiosity TO look at his cart, and found
the four bullet holes just as he had tod us,
though they were now plugged up with vial cOrkS
Lord Palmerslon says he once began 70 learn
10 write short hand, but found two dilhcu'ties
which proved insurmountable The one was to
write Il. "A the next and greatest, 20 Rad it