Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-01-31
time reached the spot had pretty clear


The poachers had waited and waited for
Mr.. Darke's return, in ignorance oil his
having taken another road, and supposlng
the ball to have been kept up, as had some
times occurred, until very late, or rather
early hour About the time when the
maii-cart passed, they bad, however, come
to abandon all expectation of falling IN
with Mr.. Darke; and either the sight OF the
mail-bags had excited their cupidity, Or
as seemed more likely, no pursuit having
been made-they fired the shot as Joke,
to alarm the postman.
When | reached the exact spot, dis
mounted and carefully examined the
ground. The dew was still on the grass,
but there was not footprint to beseen on
it. Invent over every inch of the bank,
and the border of the fields below, with as
much minuteness as a well trained pointer ;
then ! examined the bank Of the canal,
and, crossing by lock little way below,
went over the farther bank with equal
care. There only remained the road TO eX
anime. No vehicle had passed over 1t
since the previous night except the mail
cart, whose wheels were freshly marked.
AS / followed them with my eye, | noticed
a little spot of ground slightly blackened,
and caught a glimpse OF bright metal. L
fastened to the place, and found strange
looking object, made, apparently, with
two pieces of tin or zinc, which bore the
traces of recent explosion This, then,
was some clue to the mystery.
[ walked along the road, scrutinizing it
carefully, and about twenty yards farther
found another of these internal machines,
not exploded Farther on, | came on the
track of q child, which had crossed the
road from the canal bridge to the fields. i
could see that the child had stopped in one
place, foi the footprints were repeated,
one over the other, and there were the
marks of hand IN the dust, where little
fingers had scraped it in the act Of picking
something UP. / looked across the fields
and saw small lad Keeping birds" He
was the only one astir, so hailed him and
asked him if he had anything like what
held in my hand and he at once produced
one from his pocket, saying he had found
it in the road. gave him siXpence, which
was of more value to him, and safer-even
surprising he had laid it all out in sweets
than the explosive article took from him.
Then | mounted the cart again and
drove on towards Grasslands, but did not
see anything more. In order to test wheth-
er the things had found would sound like
a pistol, selected a safe and quiet bit of
the road laid one down and drove over it.
1t exploded with sound and flash very
like pistol. Being prepared for it, l saw
whence the flash came; but the DOING
driver was hardly likely to observe so much
as that.
AS I was driving on, I was surprised
by the sudden appearance of Mr.. Darke's
keeper. III
"Hold hard!" he cried stopping the
horse. "Was that you shooting? That's
the second this morning. What haye you
got in the traps Il saa
did not choose to explain matters to
him; and he clearly suspected me of
poaching, and vowed he'd take me before
his master To this had no objection !;
so he jumped into the cart, and we turned
round
To make long story short, Mr. Darke
was reused, and came down, to find me
virtually in custody. A few words ex-
planned how it was. The keeper was sent
away,--not without praise, though, for his
vigilance, and then related my,discovery
to Mr.. Darke. He at once recognised IN
my @ internal machines the signals in use
on railways.
He insisted on my coming in and taking
breakfast before prosecuted the search
farther, and / readily consented. Mary
came down in charming morning wrap
per, and presided, and-the danger being
over-was told all about it.
1t was determined that the mail cart
which was an unusual conveyance, and
might attract needless attention-should be
put up at Grasslands, and that should go
on the nearest railroad in Mr.. Darke's dog
cart
On reaching the station, I found from
the station master that there was an almost
objectionable carelessness about the fog
signals; they were not served out to par
ticular men, but kept in box accessible to
anyone about the station The plate-layers,
he told me were the men who used
them eftenest; and found that a party
of them were laying fresh rails about a
mile OF.
| drove to the nearest point to the place
he named, and made my way across coun-
try to the gang on the line | recognised
my two friends of the post Office among
them; and mode of procedure at once
suggested itself to me. 1t was not strictly
legal, perhaps, but it answered my purpose.
| went the ganger, or foreman, and told
him wanted two of his men on the charge
of murder. He did not seem inclined to
assist me, and told me | must help myself
Luckily I had the pistols with me. Invent
up to the two men, told them | was a
police officer, and that had come to take
them up on charge OF numbering MIR.
Darke They seemed a little taken a back,
but denied the charge stOutly.
"You laid fog signals on the road last
night to frighten his horses, and they upset
1. al. l,r1e, II ,,5.lO
said I, SO it's murder, my lads. Come
al0ngl"
There seemed some inclination to
resist the capture, so took out the pistols.
"Look here" said |, elf can't take the
two Iwant, lads, shall shoot the first two
that come to hand, and they'll be the
quiet all, all of you, for there's a warrant
out against you all for poaching, Il saw
most of them look unc 0mfOrtable at this
land if ! give you bad word, it will go
hard with you"
This had the effect, coupled with the APP
pearance of the pistols; and | got my men
off and marched them in front of me to
the road, where l made Thorn get into the
dog cart The groom drove and l sat be-
hind with the pistols cooked and in this
form we went back to Grasslands.
| sent the porter on from the lodge,
where [ made an excuse for a minute
or SOS delay and by the time we reached
the hall, in accordance with the instruc-
tons T had given him, all the blinds were
drawn down, and Mr.. Darke kept out OF
sight. ana .........s
The clergyman, who was magistrate,
was sent for and he examined the prison
ers, who broke down completely and con-
fessed all, giving up their accomplices.
They had intended to brighten the horses,