The weekly Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1860-1863, 1863-01-01
ENTRApPING A MURDERER.
A spECuLAroR's STORY.

In the year 1883 1 went to the Red
River country with view OF speculat'ng
in horses, lands or anything that might
give promise of profitable return for
cash investment o. course carried
good d,sl OF money with me. but know
inv was going intoa a wild, lawless class
Of every grade and color, among half CT
viIirel Indians. Negroes Gamblers, Roo
b.rs. Thieves, ,Murderers and ASsassins-
with perhaps few settlers Of some claim
to honor and honesty, if they could be
sited from the mass-l thought 1t The
s.frsl plan mt TO seem we'll Oft in the
worlds goods. Accordingly. l secured
my money in belt around my 90 ~,
nut on a very course, rough dress. which,
by international carelessness, soon had q
very mean, sloveuly APPEARANCE, and al
lowed my hair and heard to manage mat
,ers their own way, withou, any trouble
SOM interference OF raz r. or comb mus
prepared snl rmed with Two revolvers
and bowie knife, passed over some
dangerous territory In comparative SAFE
tv, and flat,ered myself ttat no one guess
ed my riches through my apparent pov
er,y.
In fact. on two occasions, | brg"h to
think it ishl have been to my advantage
to have looked a little more respectable
The first oi these wAs. when travelling
through the Choc.ah nation, | iound
drove Of horses that pleased me very
mu,h, aud WAS told by the owner Ia re,
ply 20 my question 81 TO wha' he "ou'u
t.ke a1esd for the entire lot, that he WAS
not ia tn. h.bit Of naming his price to
every wandering beggsr that chose TO ss,
tisry An idle curiosity. | was disposed
al 6rst to put On some dignity aid get IN,
diymant, but concluded, after careiul
survey of my person, that tile man had
good cause for speaking as he did, and 50
merely assured him that knew an lndi
vldnal who wished to buy horses, II he
cou,d get them at fair price. Tie horse
owner, however, was not disposed 10 De
lieve my statement, and so passed hin
bv with q resolve ttat if nothing bctt"l
turned up, | wouli give him Snothe'
call under more advan.a Geous appear
ence As the second instance alluded
to was similar to the FIRST, il may be pass
ed over without further notice.
But oal of this same cause grew Vcf.
remarkable adventure which ii i5 my pre-
sent purpose 10 relate.
While passing between two settlements
over IA very lonely, gloomy horse PAIN
leading through a dark hemlock woou
aud while ia the mos, solitary part, lher
suddenly came befure MI, leaplng ovc
the thi ket on the right, human figure
of a most startling appearance. 1t wa
aman of medium height. but OF s!ou'
powerful frame. all covered with art
tatters. th.t he appeared t. have worn an
wallowed 10 for wears. He had no &C
vering for his head or feet. and his SEl
was so coated with CRIME that 1t was a i
fcult at 6rst look to tell whether ne o.
longed to the white race or not III
face, high upon his checks, was coNere
with dirty brown heard, and his matte
hair hung in wild confusion all sroun
his head, except little space before n
swollen bloOdshot eyes, and although !
looked like mailman or human devil
mis- hand he held and swung formldao
club. and his attitude as he leaped lo'
the road before me- was one OF nero
menace and defiance.
stopped in alarm, and while uxln
my eyes sharply upon his quietly 81
nv hand into cOnveniep. poceet an
prasped the butt of one OF my revolver
firmly determined to keep him al sno ~
distance tha, divided US, or kill him II
advanced. .
For perhaps minute we stood s'len
ly regarding and surveying each o,h'
and then, resting one end of his clud
the ground, and partly leaning torwa
on the other, he said, in a course 81