The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-01-30
Hunting a MuEdarar
h the year 1874, / was living iii Il

I body knew that tie murderer was lurking
somewhere in my neighboThood, in the hop
Of obtaining passage to America. An I'm
usually large reward had beeflofFercd for hi
apprehension, and the police were scourin,
the country, night and day,in every direction
| One fine summer evening I had returned
from along days fishing in the bay, and wa
smoking farewell pipe for the night, when
heard the tramp Of horses feet on the grave
outside, followed by a sharp ring at the bell
It was with no small delight recognised til,
wellknown voice Of Frank Butler, constab
ulary officer and one of my Oldest friends.
When we had seen the horse made up {;
splendid hunter, which had carried its naste1
nearly sixty miles that day. and sat down te
supper, noticed that Frank looked more tree
and care worn than | had ever seen him be
fore. It was not long until the cause came
out.
"You have heard of this murder, of course
Harry" he said; ''lhat is what brought me
over toni ght; it occurred in my district, and
the gentleman was an intimate friend.
would have dincd with him that day, but was
called suddenly on duty, and sent an apology
at the last moment. was told since that lie
walked down to his avenue gate to meet me
His hand was on the latch when the villain
fred from behind tree, and he did not bring
his life to the ground. You know this coun:
try well?'' he added abruptly.
$50 well, that if the fellow is lying out any
where within five miles, | think could under
take to put you on his track"
Frank sprang from his chair and walked
hurriedly through the room.
Il would give my right arm to be face to
face with him, Harry. If you had seen poor
--'s wife; her weary, hopeless face has
been haunting me ever since; I can never rest
until the murderer is taken; and I have GER
tain information that he is lying out somewhere.
Every house has been searched over and over
again, but cannot think of bringing you into
the business. One victim is enough. II it
were known you would be a marked man"
Make your mind easy on that score, Frank:
no one of the fellows here will touch hair of
my head, especially in a strangers quarrel
My life is in most of their leases, and the heir
at law is not such favorite that they would
shoot me to bring HMM. Sonow to business.
will get The ordinance map and we can trace
out the plan Of our campaign"
Our task was not such difficult one, after
all; the ground to be searched was limited
and toleraby open, consisting chiefly of bog,
and shore, with every foot of which
was acquainted. pointed QUITO Frank each
days work on the map; and without assistance,
and hunting in couples, three days would be
amply sufficient to beat it all.
l had a brace of young settlers in, training
at the time, and to prevent suspicion, it was
agreed that We should 80 out as if dog break
ng was our only object accordingly, early
he following morning, well provided with all
he "etceteras' for such work, VIC started on
our first days hunt. 1t proved blank; but
he second day showed us that our game was
IN foot and not far of. In little wooded
glen we came upon several artfully concealed
airs, which were evidently lately occupied,
md in one Of them | picked up an old pisto!
lint that had been thrown away and replaced,
IS there was some paper lying beside it, from
which small piece had been torn as if to
over q new one. We tracked footsteps for a
considerable distance from it until they were
ost in & heathery bog, and, darkness coming
n, were forced to give up the search.
don't think either Of us slept much that
3I1. ~ ilSLi VClib " l dIlh > room III the .
morning he was already dressed. Gone word,
larry he said, ''belore we 60. This man is
rmed to the teeth, and swears lie will not be
aiken alive. These fellows seldom die game
'hen run to the earth, but he cannot be worse
IF, and may keep his word Promise me, if
here is any fighting, you will act as a reserve,
nd leave me to deal with him alone
l did promise, with some mental reserva-
ons, and we started. There was long days
ork before US; all the likely places We had
ome across in our previous search had to be
sited, some Of them miles apart. Franks
.nscs seemed to be preternaturalIy sharpened.
o trace, however slight, escaped his notice.
rcd Indian could hardly have displayed
ore sagacity in following up his cnemy's
all. It was then for the first time that |
armed how exciting a man hunt becomes I'M
er certain circumstances.
Towards evening We reached a mountain
II last hope. There was only one face Of it,
7cr the sea, where a man would be likely to
mccall himself. That side was composed of
number of perpendicular cliffs, separated
ON each other by green platforms, varying
breadth from foot 10 tcn but all sloping
onward at considerable angle, so as to
axe the footing rather precarous. The cliffs
adually increased in height until the lowest,
hich went right down, for one hundred feet
to the Atlantic Ocean,
While taking hurried cast through some
oxen ground, we met little boy herding '
tile. He could not speak English; but we u
anaged to ascertain that a stranger had given
nj penny the day before to run down the T
i for lighted turf; when he returned, the c
an was gone, and he had not seen him since. '
The scent was getting hot, and our spirits u
Sc as we commenced the seaside of the u
ountain. There were caves in several of b
? platforms, and these we agreed 10 search '
5ether. They were very narrow, scarcely
hitting one person abreast; and it was ner- {
US work feeling our way onward mot knowing II
moment when the darkness would be illu- {
mated by the flash of a pistol, which must IL l.:
We proved death-signal for one or the II
Ter. Frank always insisted on going frs;, $!
omitted no possible precantion, examining N
outside carefully for tracks, and sending II
dogs forward. The latter however, were Il
"red, after three days continuous work, as OF
)e Of little use
Ne had reached the last shelf but one, and 10
1t contained no caves, and was nearly all
Die from the platform Immediately above, pr
ch had just been searched, l was about to ne
on to the lower one just over the sea,
IN mark in some fresh earth, scraped III