Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1867-03-14

saAVH hhiS lAethVu W lak0 rlue. VI
nezt idea was that somebody had got il
to sleep there; but this passed away a
soon as it came, for no man would hay
broken into my cart for that purpose
And that thought, gentlemen, opened
my eyes. Whoever was there had bro,
ken in. My next thought was of tn
suspicious individual | had peen at th,
,ttaysrp ae heard me say that my loat
was all sold out, and Of course he sup
posed had some money with me. Ii
this ho was right, FOR | had over two
thousand dollars. / thought he meant
to leave the cart when he supposed
had reached safe place, and then Greer
over and shoot me, OF knock me down =
All this passed through my mind by the
time l had got rod from the hole.
In few minutes my resolution was
formed. My horse was knee deep in the
mud, and l knew | could slip off with.
out noise. So l drew my pistol, and
having tWined my reins about the whiE
stock, carefully slipped in The mud and
examined the hasp. The outer door o.
the cart lets down, and is fastened by Q
hasp, which slips over the staple, and il
then secured by a paddock. The pad
lock was gone and the hasp was secured
| in its piece by bit of pine, so that O
slight force from within would break it
My wheel wrench stoodin a leathern
bucket on the side of the cart, and /
quickly took it out and slipped it into
the staple, the iron handle just sliding
down.
Now l had him. My cart was almost
new, made of stout white oak frame,
and made on purpose for hard usage
| did not believe any ordinary man could
break out. | got on my cart as neise-
lessly as l got of, and then urged my
horse.oD, still keeping my pistol handy.
knew that at distance Of half mile
further | should come to hard road,
and SO allowed my horse to pitch his
own way through che mud.
About ten minutes after, this l heard
a motion in thu cart, followed by a grind
ing noise, as though some heavy force was
being applied to the door. 1 said moth
ing, but the idea struck me that the vil-
lain might judge where | pat, and shoot
up through the cart at me, SO | sat down
on the foot board.
'Of course new my unexpecued pass
enger was villain, for he must have
been awake ever sincs | started, and
nothing in the world but absolute vii,
lainy would have caused him to remain
quiet so long, and then star up in this
particular place. The humping and
pushing grew louder, and pretty soon l
heard a human voice. dpfe
'Let me out of this and he yelled
pretty loud.
lifted my head SO as to make him
think was in the usual place, and then
asked him what he was doing there,
'Let me out and l will tell yOu,' he
replied.
Tell me what you are IN tnere tor 2
said.
Il got here to sleep on rags he au-
swered. as'tl Aa
'How did you get in p I asked.
'Letme out or Iii shoot you through
The head 7 he replied.
sJust at that moment my horse's feet
struck the hard road, and l knew that
The rest of therout to Jackson would be
good going; the distance twelve miles,
slipped back to the front board and
ook the whip. In fifteen minutes we
cleared the woods, and away We went at
keen jump. The chap inside kept
velling to be lei. out. o r.
Finally he stopped, and ia few min-
tes came the report Of pistol-One-
-four--one right after the
thsr, and I heard the balls whiz over
nv head. If had been on my seat,
me of those balls, i6not two Of them,
rould have gone through me. / popped
lp my head agoin, gave a yell, and then
SAID " G0d save me IL u ueau
nan l-tben l made kind Of shuff'
ing noise, as though l was of, and f.
tally settled down on the front board
gain. now urged up the old mare by
living her an occasional poke with my
1hip stock, and she peeled it faster than
ver.a sa''
The man called out to me oncC or
vice more pretty soon after this, and as
.e got no reply he made some tremendous
forts to get the door open, and as this
lso at last failed him, he made several
ttempts on the top. But ] had no fear
{ his doing anything there, for the top
{ the cart is framed with doveutails, and
ach sleeper bolted to the post with iron
olts. ; had made il so could carry
Dads there. By and by, after all else
allied the scamp began TO holler whoa
0 the horse, and kept II up until he be-
anne, hoarss. All this time kapt per-
sctly quiet, holding the ieihs firmly,
nd kept poking the beast with the stock.
We were not more than an hour going |
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