The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-05-31
The Registered Letter.
A Tale OF Washington Territory.
BY BORAX.

Mr.. Peterman had been detained in the town
Of -, in the Territory of " Washington, sew
eral days on business, and expecting an import
ant registered letter to reach him there. In his
repeated inquiries for it he had been so worried
and snubbed by the pompous little postmaster,
that he determined on a plan of revenge. His
business required him to travel from thence to
Olympia by way of the old military road, which
passes through quite Il thIckly settled region, and
his project was to call at every house and leave
word that there was q registered letter for the
man or lady of the house, as the case might be,
at the aforesaid pOst-Office, and that the postmas-
ter requested him to ask them to go for it imme-
diately. Mr.. PeteTman prided himself on his
keen sense of humOr, and it was with the most
complacent feelings of admiration of his own
witty self, that lie started off one morning on
what proved to be an eventful journey. When
fairly outside the city limits he stopped at the
very first house, and politely inquiring who lived
there-as if to make sure of delivering his errand
correctly-told the tale he had so ingeniously in
vented. But to the astonlshment and horror of
Mr.. Peterman the mistress of the house gave him
to understand that she was the mother-in-law of
said postmaster, and had returned within half an
hour from a visit to him; and at the inevitable
signs of confusion and embarrassment on the part
of Mr.. Peterman. the lady became decidedly hos
tile, and turned loose half a dozen hungry hounds
upon the traveller, and although he fed precipi-
lately to his horse, the dogs managed to get sew
eral hurried but judicious nips at the calves of
his legs and small of his back. This first attempt
would have been a damper to any one having a
less acute appreciation OF the cOmical, but the
Jolly Peterman was not in the least discouraged.
1t was an exquisite joke, be thought, to run on the
old fellows mother-in-law the first thing. So be
rode merrily along to the next house, half a mile
further on, saying, as he alighted from his horse,
''here goes for the grandmother" Now, unfor-
tunately again for Mr.. Peterman, the old farmer
at whose house he now delivered the false errand,
70. I-SIls-- I,r,.oIC n axr lffahon ond bod IN
vited a number of his neighbors to assist him to
raise the frame that morning. Among others,
the son of the postmaster himself bad come out
from the town to lend a helping hand, and Of
course exposed the falsehood. The old farmer
and his friends made up their minds that whoever
would 60 out of his way, as 1t were, to tell such
an uncalled for lie, must have some sinister object
in doing so; and after q hasty consultation they
concluded the stranger could be no other than
Shultz, a notorious criminal and outlaw, who had
lately escaped from the Oregon State Prison, and
popularity supposed to be hiding in Washing
ton Territory, and for whose recapture a large re-
ward was offered. Bill Appleton, a retired sailor,
suggested that here was chance for prize money.
One thousand dollars! dead or alive!
Mr.. Peterman had fingered a little to hear how
his news would be received, and through the half
opened door, he heard the low, omin0us words,
: catch him alive! catch him alive, if you CAM"
They acted like magic on the terrified man, and
in q twinkling he was on his horse. But not I'M
til twenty men were after him with ropes and
axes, pitchforks, matches, and what few
rusty firearms the house afforded.
Peterman Galy looked back once in his fight to
see them all pause in their pursuit, and to extract
4 hand-axe from the left shoulder blade of the old
farmer that Bill Appleton, in his mad haste for
prize money, had wildly thrown at the supposed
outlaw.
As soon as the traveller had recovered from his
he comiorted himself with the thought
be must have struck the Territorial Insane
ASYLUM at this last place. and there couldn't be