, 1860-06-15
The Unwelcome Passenger.

A cold Winters night found a stage load Of us
gathered about the fire Of tavern bar-room;
in New England village. Shortly alter we ar
rived, paddler drove up and ordered that his
horse should be stabbed for the night After we
had eaten supper, we repaired to the bar-FoOm,
and as soon as the ice was broken, the cogyersa-
tiOn flowed freely. Several anecdotes had been
related, and finally the peddler was asked TO give
us a story, as men Of his profession were gener.
ally full OF adventures and anecdotes. He was
q short, thick-set man, somewhere about forty
years Of age, and gave evidence Of great physi.
cal strength. He gave his name as Lemuel
Viney, and his home was in Dover, New Hamp-
shire. a,t
swell, gentlemen" he commenced, knocking
the ashes from his pipe and putting Il In his
pocket, suppose tell you Of about the last
thing Of any consequence that happened to me.
You see | am now right from the far West, and
on my way home for winter quarters II was
about two months ago, one pleasant evening,
that pulled up at the door Of q small village
tavern in Hancock county, Indiana ] said il
was pleasant meant, it was warm, but it was
cloudy and likely to be very dark. vent In
and called for supper, and had my horse taken
care Of and alter had eaten, sat down in the
bar-room. II began to rain about eight O'Clock,
and for awhile it poured down good, and il was
awful dark out Of doors.
"Now, wanted to be IL jackson early the
next morning, for | expected q load Of goods
there for me, which intended to dispose Of on
my way home. The moon would rise about
midnight and knew, II II did not rain, could
get along very comfortably through the mud
after that So | asked the landlord IL he could
not see that my horse was fed about midnight,
as wished to be of before two. He expressed
some surprise at this, and asked me why l did
nof afOn fn hraa kfaaf I told him had aald
last load about out, and that new lot Of goods
was waiting for me at jackson, and wanted TO
be there before the express train left in the morn
ing. There was a number Of persons sitting
round while told this, but | took but little mo-
tice Of them one only arrested my attention.
had in my possession small package Of pla-
cards which | was to deliver TO the Sheriff at
jackson, and they were notices for the detection
Of the notorious rubber named Dick Hardhead
The bills gave descrii ton Of his person, and
the man before. me answered very well 10 Il. In
fact, il was perfect Hewas tall wel-Iormed
man, rather sight Of frame, and bad theappear-
ance Of gentleman, save that his face bore
those bard, cruel marks which an obseryi Z
nan cannot mistake for anything but the index
to vlainous dis siiOsition. n
When went 70 my chamber, asked the
landlord who that man was, describing the sus-
pcious individual. H. sald he did not know
him. He had c0me there that afternoon, and in.
tended to leave the next day. The host asked
why wished to know, and simply told him
that the mans countenance was familiar, and
merely wished 10 know if ever J was acquainted
with him. ! resolved not to let the landlord into
the secret. but to hurry on to jackson, and there
give information 70 the Sheriff, aud perhaps be
might rcarh the inn beEFe the villain leh, for l
had no doubts with regard to his identity.
" had an alarm watch, aud having set It to
give the Lhrm at one O'clock. l went to sleep
! was aroused at the proper time, and immedi-
ately got up and dressed myself When |
reached The yard, | found the clouds al passed
away. and the 1niun was shining brightly. The
hostlrr was easily aroused, and by two o'clock
was on my rQad. The mud was deep, and my
horse could not travel very iast-yet II struck
me thai the beast made more work than there
was any need Of for the cart was nearly empty.
" However, on we went, aud In the course Of
half an hour | was clear Of the village. At a
short distance ahead, lay large tract Of forest,
mostly Of great pines The road led directly
through this wood and as near as could reinem
Der, the distance was twelve miles Yet the
moon was in the east and as the road ran nearly
west, should havclight enough. had entered
the woods, and had gOne about half mile, when
my wagon wheels settled, with a bump and
jerk, into deep hole. Iutteredan exclamation,
but that was not all. heard another exclama-
ton from another source.
"What could tibet Hooked quickly around,
but could see nothing. Yet knew that the
sound | heard was very close to me. As the
hind wheels came up [ felt something besides
the jerk Of the hole heard something tumble
from one side to the other Of my wagon, and
could also feel the jar occasioded by the move
ment Il was simply q man IN my cartl
knew this on the instant Of course felt puz-
zled. At first imagined some poor fellow had
taken this method to obtain ride; but ! soon
gave this up, for knew that any decsnt man
would have asked me for ride My next idea
was somebody had gone in TO sleep; but this
passed away as quickly as il came, for no man
would hare broken int ) my cart for that purpose.
And that thought gentlemen, opened my eyes
Whoever was there had broken in.
"My ueNt thoughts were Of Dick Hardhead.
He had heard me say that my load was sold out,
and Of course be supposed I had some money
with me. In this be was right, for | had over
two thousand dollars. ! also thought he meant
to leave the cart when he supposed | had reached
some quiet place, and then either creep over and
shoot me, or knock me down. All this passed
through my mind by the time had got a rod
from the hole. - .V fe.rt
snow, never make It point to bragg Of my
SELF but have seen q great deal Of the world,
and am pretty cool and clear headed under dif.
ticulty. Ina very few moments my resolution
was formed. NV horse was now knee-deep in
the mud, and knew could slip off without
noise. So drew my revolver-l never travel
in that country without one-I drew this, and
having twined the reins about the whip-stock,
carefully ipp,d down in the mud, aud as the
cart passed on, went behind It and examined
the hasp.
"The door Of the cart lets down, and is ias.
tened by a hasp, which slips over staple and Is
then secured BY paddock The paddock was
gone, and the hasp was secured in its place BY
Ia e.r 49,