The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-12-11
aUERILLA HUNTs.

GUERILLA HUNTS.
Shortly after he Joined the Union
forces gang of about forty guerillas,
under a leader named Jack Harkle-
roads, committed some outrages near
Fort LeavenwOrth, Kansas, aud "Fate"
went after them with JiUc men. He fol-
lowed them into the Ozark mountain
country, and only four or five out OF
the forty escaped to tell the tale of that
terrible six weeks of trailing, ambus-
cading and bush fighting. Arnold him
self is said to have picked off singly
nearly one half of the marauders.
Shortly after this, gang ofthe worst
desperadoes that ever disgraced the
earth commenced operations in john
son county, near Clarksville, where
Arnold was stationed. They went to
the house of a defenceless old man and
put him to what was then and there
called 'the rack"-to-wit: they trussed
him up to four posts set in the ground,
built slow fire under him, and asked
him where he had hidden his money.
Not having any, he could not tell them,
and the fire burned on remorselessIy
until the poor old man was roasted to
death. This, by the way, was no un-
common experiment or result for those
days in the Southwest. We who fought
it through there can testify to meeting
such men and such incidents many a
time, during our experience on what
has better earned the title of "the dark
and bloody ground" than ever Ken
lucky did during the days of Daniel
Boone and his cOmpeers.
Well, Fate" swore vengeance, and
vowed that he would "clean QUIT that
gang. There were plenty of willing
tongues to carry the threat, and in
few days he received n counter message,
couched in such terms as reused all the
border man within him. With some
difficulty he obtained permission from
his commanding officer to ''Go on
scouting expedition" He started with
his trusty lieutenant and ten mem
twelve in all-Well mounted armed and
appointed. Forty.eight hours thereaf-
ter he returned with the loss of only one
man wounded, but drew up in front of
headquarters with eleven riderleSs
horses, saddles and all complete, and
with the blood-chilliuG assurance that
the guerrilla gang, supposed to number
| some thirty or tOrty, was "wiped out. :"
At least, none of them ever returned to
disturb the quiet of Johnson county.
Whether or not they all fell in open
conflict, no historian of that brief but
bloody expedition has ever recorded.
FIGHT FOR A BRACE OF PISTOLS.
His next adventure to be related here
was in connection with noted "border
ruffian" named Hardgreaves, or some
thing like it, who had won an unenvia-
| BILE reputation for atrocities which stood
out in bold relief from even that dark
background. HardgEeaves possessed
a remarkably fine brace of pistols,
handsomely mounted, and noted
among the border men for their accu-
racy and for their singularly bloody
| history.
After one of the worst and most da-
ring exploits of their owner, "Faten
declared to his comrades that she must
have those PISTOLS" and started of
alone, although Hardgraves was known
| to have a strong party with him. BE
had to follow him through the nation y
The Cherokee and Choctaw country is
familiarly known in the Southwest as
"the nation" !" and Arnold merelyssmeant