Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-03-10

counted for, had he exulted at the pros
pect Of the capture of old Browler, but
which in view Of his apparent liking for
that man was TO me inexplicable, and 80
gave II up.
He was very civil, though, and gave me
. crushing dinner with claret, and box
at the theatre afterward, which put me on
good terms with all but his brains
He said he would follow me to town
and hunt up Van Colt instantly, and al
would be right. I therefore posted back
to the city ct twelve p. m, on Friday,
and entered the Office at ten Q. m, Sat
urday.
There was An awful row directly. Bax-
ser Saye me crca;: Sor rsors wickedness
than ever knew Of. and IL was not until
/ threatened to whip OF my jacket that
he became bearable.
Where was Browlerf
Arrested! Put in the station-house
Thursday night"
"Good gracious, who did that!"
II did," said O'Neil, swinging himself
around on his stool "Do you object,
heyi" , -
too"
"You're fellow of sense; all the rest
set me down for stupid. If q man 10 not
to be punished for robbing you of house,
home, father, property, and making you
90 to work in such a COMPOUNDED stable
as this is, / should like to know it!'
Although / appeared very just and
stern, must say I was little sorry for
the old fellow, after all. 1t would come
hard on him in his old age to be put to
breaking stones, and all that. Baxter said
that he heard that they had to put five
bullets into him before he gave in to the
officers. He and his sisters barricaded the
dining room doors and windows, and laid
in stock of Colts revolvers, and they
only brought them TO terms by squirting
chloroform through the keyhole.
O'Neil was very savage against him, and
vowed he would push him TO the wall, and
would put on every screw the law would
allow him to. he was very rough on
Browier's sisters too. He said they doubt
less instigsted the whole plot, and harped
On their brother 80 that they finally bad
yered him into gratifying their selfshness
he said he always hated their way of
,neaking about town at home, with their
lrab dresses and the pots of two-penny
ely and Cruel for the poor folks They
pretended TO talk well, and know q great
1eal, and used to be SO contoundedly phil
always up to libraries, and CO.
operative wash houses, and that sort of
hing He managed to get up quite q
ceiling among US, in spite Of the sympathy
We felt for his prisoner, and when he des-
ribbed the poverty his family was brought
@ through the rascality of Browler, we
wore to stand by him to prevent any res
,ue that might be attempted by roughs
who might be hired by Browler's sisters.
When we got out Of O'Nen's hearing,
though. we could not help slipping back
again. Even Baxter was not quite 80
hard on him. And when we looked at
his vacant desk, and closed inkstand, and
how gentle he always was
with US and our plumbers, and how he
would oftentimes stand between rs and
he officers for any blame that rightly
to US, and how blind he used to
be to our cuttings-up, we could not help
that we had no cause of spite
against him, for he never was anything
but kind and obliging to US. If his shin
ing old bald head ever bobbed up at any
thing we did, it would only be to wsg
once or twice, but never harsh word
came from him. He never used to make
us pay for postage stamps, and II his
balance came out within twenty
four hours Gas it did about once in ten),
be used to stand US a bottle OF claret,
which we used to drink standing, out OF
paper cornucopias.
After we got pretty blue by talking it
over, Browler's friend boldly proposed we
should visit him at the station house.
This was pretty emphatic, and we were
all silent, but Baxter said we had better do
It, as it would be our only chance of tell
ing him what we thought Of him and his
villainy. Then something was said about
carrying some chicken and Rhine wine,
md Baxter assented on the ground that 1t
would be an additional punishment, as it
would remind him what his knavery had
deprived him Of
l had not told O'Neil that / knew the
of his father, or in fact any.
thing about him whatever, IS did not
know how Browler might like II, and a.
Il could not affect O'Nen to wait little.
We did not ak him to 90 with us to see
Of course, % it would only make
Il more disaereeable all around.
We provided ourselves with permit
from the deputy sheriff. and with trem.
bling legs and humping hearts sat down
In row on the edge of the waiting room
sofa, to have ourselves announced to
Browler, who they said was in No. 10.
"The worst one in the whole house."
said Baxter, under his breath. !" It's
where they put the violent ones. They
probably have got him shackled to the
wall, with his arms and legs stretched out
spread eagle, they call it."
I never knew fellow of seventeen to
know AZ much q Baxter did.
"If were an officer here. ! think /
would try the water punishment. TWO
quarts would make Browler tell where
the money is-he's got such fine bald
head"
To this we made no rejoinder; we
were all too busy staring at the long rows
Of clubs and pistols hung up against the
wall, and wondering if Browler would be
kind to us.
"He'll be very much emaciated," whis-
pered Baxter, land you must not be
frightened at his eyes nor his thin hands,
for he's probably well into the prison
fever BY this time"
Poor Browler. The vision Of his sui.
fcring was wildly before US, and the
memory of our hard words about him
came strong upon US % We gazed through
xho OMAN dOor ~ tha 1on0 whitA.wAslyad