The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-06-25


lev from me; all in the house is the Lords
take it if you dare!" -.... ....5...
we must and will have it, said We, a.
we entered the inner room, after taking the
precaution Of fastening the chamber door al
we entered.
"We soon wished we had suffered it to re-
main open as you will see,
.New consider us face to face with the Ole
Gardener /. and pretty sight we presented.
Three ruffians (ourselvesl with white wagon
er's frocks and blackened faces. Before Us
the Old Gardener, sitting on the side Of hi
bed. He wore red worsted nightcap a check
ed shirt. and flannel jacket; his iron-grey
face, fringed with grizzle beard, looked az
cool and undismayed as if he had been i'll his
pulpit preaching. A table was blythe side o.
the bed, and Immediately in front Of him, on &
large deal table, was an open bible, close tc
which we observed, to our horror, heap o.
gunpowder, large enough to blow up cas-
tie. A candle was burning on the table, anC
the old fellow held a steel in one hand and q
large flint in the other We were all three
completely paralyzed. The wild, iron-faced
determined look of the cold Gardener" the
candle. the flint and the steel, and the great
heap of powder, absolutely froze our blood, and
made towards of us ALL The Gardener saw
the impression he had made on us.
'''What, do YOU want to rob and murder +?
exclaimed he. You had better join with me
in prayer, miserable sinners that you all are
Repent, and you may be saved. You will
soon be in another world !!
''Ryder first recovered his speech.
* Please to hear me Mr.. Gardener. / feel
II. a,,I do
part, we will make reparation, and give you
all the money We have in our pockets"
We laid our purses on the table before
him.
THE Lord has delivered you into my hands.
1t is so revealed to me in dream. We shall
all soon be in an other world. Pray, let us
pray" And down he fell upon his knees,
close to the table, with the candle burning,
and the ugly flint and steel i'll his hand. lie
stopped and eyed the purses; and einptied
one of them on the table He appeared sur
prised and thought gratified, at the large
ness Of it's contents. We now thought we
should have leave to retire; but to our dis
may. the old Gardener said:
|'Now we will praise God by singing the
hundreth pslaln,"
This was agony to us all. After the pslanl
the old man took up the second purse; and
while he was examining its contents, Ryder,
who was close behind Tom and myself whis-
pered SOFTLY ar,
i have unfastened the door; when you
hear me move, make a rush"
The Old Gardener then pouring out the con-
tents Of the second purse exclaimed, =
why there is almost enough to build our
new house of God Let me see what the
third contains"
He took up the third purse
Nov whispered Ryder, make a rush"
We did so and ut the same moment heard
the old fellow lIammering away with his flint
and steel We expected to be instantly
blown into fragments. The front door, how
ever flew open before us the next step we
found ourselves in the garden, The night
was pitchy dark We rushed blindly through
the nursery ground, scrambled through bram-
bles and pIIiclly shrubs, ran our heads against
trees, then forced ourselves through a thick
set hedge. At last, with scratched faces, torn
hands, and tattered clothes, we tumbled over
a bank into the high road. This was the
work but of few minutes. If our faces could
have been seen, it would have been thought
from our horror stricken countenances, that,
instead Of having risen from prayer, We had
been pursued by Old Nick himself.
We fell upon bank by the side of the road
and there we lay without speaking word;
one of US groaned with the fall. A night gang
of miners, who We're returning from their
work carving, as is usual with them on dark
nights, lanterns in their hand, preceiving
three men fall from the edge on to the bank
and thinking that an accident had happened
ran to our assistance. They raised their
lighted lanterns to our blackened and scratch
ed faces The sight we presented was more
than sufficient to frighten any person Of
strong mind 1t was too much for the poor
superstitious miners, who Immediately sepa-
rated olf.-some towards the mine, others to-
wards the town-as fast as fear and their legs
would carry them Each of us left portions Of
his skin and clothes sticking on the thorns
and branches through which we had scram-
1led. Our horses were soon found. and we
galloped to I;yders residence. Lights were
and we sat down. We were black
ragged and dirty We looked at each other,
and i'll spite of our miserable adventure roared
with laughter.
I'VE may laugh" exclaimed, Tom, but
if this adventure is blown, and we are found
out, Cornwall will he toohot for us for the next
seven years. We have made pretty night
Of it, Here we are, as black as three infer
nails we have lost our money; been Obliged
to pretend to pray for two long hours before
a great heap Of gunpowder, with lighted
candle splitting and tizzing close to the pow
der, while that iron-faced. wild-looHing ugly
red-capped brute, with his horrible flint and
steel. threatened us all with an immediate
passage into eternity Oh, how | wish some
tiger or bear had taken fancy to him when
he lay wounded on the field Of battle! but
nothing in nature could stomach such mon
ster even shark would have been Disguised
at such meal. And our money forsooth,
must 90 to build Methodist meeting house!
BAH 1t is truly horrible. The fellow has
PLAYED the old soldier on us with a vengence
and we shall be the laughing stock Of the
whole country
We washed ourselves and sat down
to a good supper. Good cheer and
good wine gave us better appetite than could
have been expected. Young spirits
SOON recover their elasticity.
The affair however was not ended yet,
Reports We're spread that three men, DISCUS
ed as black demons, with tails and horns, had
entered the cottage of the old Gardener, who
had not only terrified them. but had tnght-
ened them out of a good sum Of money, which
he intend to devote to the building of new
Methodist meeting house. 1t was given out
that on the following Sunday, the Old Gar
dener intended to preach a sermon, and after
wards solicit subscriptions for the meeting
house. when he would relate the remarkable
manner in which he had been providentially
assisted with funds for the building. Our
modification was complete. Tom, whose
hatred of methodism was most intense
swore he would blow up the meeting house
as soon as it was built. Our curiosity, how
ever, was excited, and we all three determ-
ined to hear our adventure Of the night rela-
ted by the Old Gardener if we could contrive
to be present without being suspected.
Sunday evening arrived. The meeting
house was crammed to suffocation, and with
the dim lights then burning in the chapel we
bgd no diHicultv in coDceahng ourselves. The