The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1875-03-18

the wind. a run OF hundred yafus
placed me beyond view of the scene of the
and l paused a moment to listen,
I heard angry voices, then Gathering foot
steps, and knew they were after me.
l knew that to come within range of
their rifles was death, and darted away
again. After run Of three hundred
yards, the bushes and trees suddenly grew
sparse, and | saw in advance Of me stretch
Of straight road quarter Of a mile long.
I knew they would reach this open space
before I could run half the distance, and
thus bring their rifles to bear upon me
and without seconds hesitation [ sprang
out of the road, on the lower side, where
it was rot near SO steep as at the point l
had recently left, and few yards from the
road found group Of large high rocks.
Between two of the tallest there was
crevice three or four feet wide, and dash
ed into it to see where it would take me to.
1t was somewhat winding, bat at a dis
tance Of fifty yards from the entrance, [
suddenly came upon bare, open space of
about an acre, nearly level, and entirely de-
void of vegetation Just then I stumbled
and fell head-long, and before I could rise,
1 was seized roughly by the arms by several
strong men, while one exclaimed:
49,,
won't try to describe the terror of that
moment.
"a word and you are dead man said
another, presenting the cold muzzie Of a
pistol against my temple.
"See if he has any weapons p suggues-
ted another.
This will fix him." said one, who still
held me to the earth, and something cold
touched my wrists Now get up"
To any amazement, [ found pair Oh
hands cuffs upon my wrists; and as l rose,
almost paralyzed with the terror of mo-
ment before, I beheld standing around me,
with reyolvers in their hands, Baird, vii
son and Melhorn
"Why, Beekman !" they all exclaimed
in breath
"Hush y l said, in low tone, "Our
men are near.
And while they took the hand cuffs from
my wrists, | hastily examined the situa.
ton.
Creeping back among the rocks, We
found the FIVE ruffans standing in the road
engaged in consultation. They lost my
trail
"Counterfeiter, [ command you to sur.
render p shauted Baird in tone Of thun
der 'Resist or try to escape, and ] shal
order the soldiers to riddle you with car
bine bullets You are surrounded y
With this, he stepped boldly out from
among the rocks, while we followed, max
ing as much noise as possible. The coun
terfcitcrs looked at one another with amaze
ment and chagre.
"Thow down your arms this instant, OIL
| shall order the cavalry to FIRE !" sale
Baird in an authoritative tone. Il am the
marshal
They we're completely taken in, an6
meekly dropped their rifles. We then ad
vanccd and placed hand cuffs upon then
all. They were all very pale.
cts all upr' said one of them in ;
husky voice.
Certainly it Is" said I. you didn't
know l ran from you just to get you in al
ambush, did you?"
We marched our prisoners back to where
l encountered tire former and there WI
found the gentleman sitting with his back
against a tree, rubbing his head. He was d
little astonished at the new state of things
but he was too weak to try to escape, and he
soon were ornaments like those which
graced the wrists of his companions.
Well, we found the counterEeiters der
deep down in the gorge, where human fee
seldom tread Their nuraber was six, anC
We had them all In their rendezvous we
found some Of the finest instruments fol
counterfeiting, and much counterfeit mon
ey, all of which We seized.
On returning to the Half Way House We
took the landlord into custody but nothing
could ever be proved against him he VA
released. l rewarded the girl with tiy,
dollar bill
You viii wonder how Baird, Wilson an,
Melhorn so opportuneiy happened to be a
the spot where they mistook me for a coun
terfeiter. | viii tell you
On reaching Richmond they received m,
dispatch and instantly started to join me il