Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1865-10-19

BY ALBANY FoNBLAaoUE, JR.

cit happened TO nay father" said the tall
man in rhe chimney corner, = and that how
came to know all about it,"
The chimney cornet is that of the Rising
Sun, pleasant little roadside inn, about
two miles from Northampton, and the tall
man is president of bowling club that met
there once fortnight principally to dine
The sit" Of which the speakers relative was
the hero, ia the adventure which forms the
subject Of this narrative.
The reason why we were Listening to
stories instead Of playing bowls, was simply
this. One Of the heaviest thunder storms
that I can remember broke over the Rising
Sun that afternoon. All during dinner we
could see great ragged copper colored clouds
banking up against the wind, and the cloth
was hardly off the table. when spit spat
spat against the damon si4'ped window
panes came u few heav hail-Gtones, then
came the lightning, then came the thunder,
and then came the rain, as though it had not
rained for ten years, and was determined to
make up for lost time SO there was moth
ing fer it but TO sit still and to amuse our
selves, az best we could, indoors and the
DuyerBaton having turned upon travelling,
anu the dangers Of the road before railways
we're invented, Mr. Josh Sandiger, our
president, sitting and smoking his pipe in
the chimney corner, volunteered to tell us
tale Of those times, and said he, . 1t hap
pened to my father, and that's how | came
10 know all about it,
do not think you would like me to give
you the story just rs Mr.. josh gave it 10 us;
you might get yexed with h:s pipe. He al
ways smokes very long clay pipe, which
seems TO require a great deal Of manage
ment to get it to draw properly. He never
says more than about six words at q time:
then he has pull at his pipe, and goes on
again, giving you Il Whit of words, and then
a Whit Of smoke, whilst you are turning
them over in your mind, and wondering
what is coming next. About every tenth
Whit, he takes his pipe out h ) mouth and
looks gravely into the bowl; then he takes
the tobacco stopper, presses down the ashes
carefully, and shakes them ont on the hob
then he looks into it again, and if it is all
right, he dips the shank end into his brandy
and water, looks into the bowl third time,
aud gives it rub with his cuff. Next. he
opens his mouth wide, puts the sealingwaH
end in closes his lips upon it slowly, and
then goes on again with his story, SIX words
at a time as before He s reckoned very
emphatic speaker in these parts is our pre-
sident. And so, OF course, he is; but
must confess, out Of his hearing, that all
this fidgotting, these pauses, and puffings,
aud stoppings, and rubbings and looking
at nothing at all, in the middle of story,
irritate me sometimes to that degree that
feel inclined TO run at him, knock his pipe
cut OF his MOUTH, aTh shyiek az him to get
on faster-that l do
1t would be as well, perhaps, then, if /
were to.quote his own words as nearly as
can recoleet them straight on, and put his
pipe out,
My father contnu Mr.. Josh used of
ten to say no would like to see the man who
could rob him upon the highway, and on
one fine November evening he did see him
You young fellows who are accustomed to
be whisked away hundred miles between
your breakfast and your dinner by an ex-
press train, and grumble vastly if you are
ten minutes behind time, don't know much
about what travelling was in l795--ross
country travelling 81 eoially Folks did not
leave their homes then if they could help it,
It's all very fine to talk about the beauties
of the country, and the delights of change
of scene, but when there are more highway
men than seavengers or police about, the
roads are not so very charming, / can tell
you. Why, it was weeks journey from
here to London and back in those days, and
if you got home with whole bones and full
purse, you were not in hurry to tempt
Providence aud Tom Rocket a second
time
Tom Rocket was highwayman. No one
ever christened him Tom, and his ia hers
name was not Rocket. When he was tried
for his life at Warwick Assizes, we was az
raigned as Charles Jackson, and they were
particular about names then. If you in
dcted a man as Jim, and his true name was
Joe. he got of; and when the law was al
tered-so that they could set such matters
right at the tria.-people leastwise lawyers
said that the British Constitution was being
pulled up, root and branch But that's nei-
Their here nor there.
| cannot tell you how il was that he came
TO be known AS Tom Rocket. and if
could, II would not have anything to do with
nay story. For six years he was the most
famous thief in the Midland counties, and
for six years no one knew what he was like
He was lazy fellow. WAS Tom; he never
came out except when there was a good
prize TO be picked up, and he had his scouts
and his Spies all over the place TO give him
information about booty, and warn him Of
danger But TO Judge by what people said.
he was - on the road AT half dozen diff
tcrent places AT once every day of his life /;
for you see when any one was robbed of
his property, or found it convenient SO to
aceount for it, why he laid it apon Tom
Rocket as a sort of excuse for giving il up
easily, because, yoH see, no one thought OF
resisting Tom.
So il was that all sorts of conflicting de-
scriptions of his person got abroad. One
said that he was an awfully tall man, and
koh a vatra lfLa thunder. annfhpp Tint he
was n mild little man, with black eyes and
light hair He was fiery fat man, with
blue eyes and black hair with some; he had
Jolly red face he was as pale as death
his nose was Roman one day, Grecian or a
snub the next. His dress was all the eolors
of the rainbow, and as for his horse that
was of every shade and breed that was
ever heard OF, and of good many more
beside, that have yet TO be found out. He
wore black half-mask, but some how or