The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-05-06

dIlapidated structure We saw that u was
made Of logs, roughly hewn, containing
but one room the doorway in which We
stood being the only entrance, and SIN
sle shutterless window. directly opposite
the door, admitted the only light the hut
received.
Our plans were soon formed, as follows
Belden and Jones were to conceal them
selves in the bushes and guard the door,
whist was to take charge of the window
in the rear, and at a given signal from
Belden we were to make our appearance
at our respective stations, and with lev
eled guns demand the surrender Of the
party.
Long and patiently we waited for the
unsuspecting rogues, and it was fully one
. clock when we first received an intima-
tlon Of their approach. They we're
mounted, and came so swiftly up the path
that we had barely sufficient time given us
to conceal ourselves.
They dashed up to the door, four in
number, flung themselves from their horses
and impetuously Hurst into the hut.
Strike light some Of you growled
a hoarse voice, and the next moment the
whole of the interior of the hut was illu-
minated. Stepping silently to the win
dow ] looked in and beheld a strange
sight. There were four Of the despera-
does, one Of whom was holding pine
knot, which he had Just lgnited, and which
cast lurid glare over the scene /; two
others had lifted large, flat stone. which
answered the purpose Of hearth, and
were busily employed in emptying a hol-
low space, which the stone concealed, of
valuables f; while rey-hesled, iron Wis
| aged man was stamping around the room !;
his face destroyed with passion sud pain !;
utteriug IN the meantime the most fright
( fu imprecstions.
= Drop that swag, ye hounds, and one
Of ye come and bandage this arm for the
cursed thing is driving me mad
| | then perceived that his left arm hung
loose by his side and the blood flowing,
! from a wound above the elbow, had liter
ally dyed his coat sleeve deep crimson.
| While one of the men employed him
self in bandaging his arm with his hand
kerchief, the other, who had been ordered
to drop the swag," suddenly asked -
Where's Glenn and Joe, | thought they
we're to meet us here M.
| " How IN HI do ] know! yelled
Captain Bob. Scragged, ! suppose, and
ii We don't light out Of here instantly,
well be in the same box, for this night 1
work has finished us around here The
whole town of Dixo.. will be down on us
in less than an hour, so don't wait to di-
vide, but Just snatch what you can and
separate, every man for himself and the
devil take the hindmost 4 III,
1t was at this moment that Belden gave
the preconcerted signal, and simultaneous
~ crying Surrender we brought
our guns to bear upon the outwitted and
astonished robbers.
Fire and furies, here they ar. al
ready yelled Captain Bob, at the same
time snatching the burning torch out Of
the hands Of his stupiied companion and
dashiRg Ii full in the face Of Belden; fol
lowing the torch with his own person, and
firing. as he rushed to the door. | did
not wait for orders but emptied both bar
rels Of my shot gun into the now darken.
ell cabin, and by the yell Of mortal pain
which followed, | knew that | had done
for one Of them. Running rapidly round
to the door | was just in time to save Bel
den from one Of the scoundrels who wa,
holding the old man down with one hand
whilst in the other cleaned, in the flick.
erlng light Il the expiring torch. large
bowie knife, which he was about to plunge
INTO Belden's throat; quietly cracking him
on the head with my gun | released Bel
den, aud after Lighting lantern which VT
had, We surveyed the battle ground.
Captain Bob lay across the inside of the
cabin stone dead, riddled with buck shot
from my gun another lay outside the
door insensibe from blow, evidently de
hvered by Jones, and the one whom had
released Belden from lay where he fell
/ After securing these two we began our
HINT for Jones, who we had not missed
until that moment We looked around the
cabin in every direction, we whistled
aud shouted, but we received no answer,
and We had about made up our minds that
| lie had deserted us when he suddenly APP
I Peared at the head 81 body Of mounted
men, and leading the other des-
/ perado, who It appears had escaped in the
melee f.; but bsing observed by Jones that
individual gave chase and succeeded in
capturing him just as the body Of horse
men rode up.
This party was from Dixon, a town
some twenty miles from there and they
were the pursuing party which Captain
Bob mlstook us for. II appears that Cap
tam Bob and his men had been detected
In an attempt to rob the Dixon bank, and
had been fired upon by the Waterman of
the bank, with what result we have seen.
The men were highly pleased when we
showed them our other two prisoners, who
mad, by this time, recovered their senses
and sat scrowling and glaring at us like
devils. Four Of the men volunteered to
accompany us, with our prisoners and the
dead body Of the Captain, to Hot Springs.
We gladly avaied ourselves Of this kind
offer, and by seven O'Clock that morning
We had them safely behind the prison bars
where they were kindly welcomed ~ by
their fellow wOrkmen Joe and Glenn,
alias Charles ID. johnson and Andrew
Folz- These two men had received good
education and they we're always called
upon, by the gang, to do the fancy and
confidence work. They were the actual
robbers Of the Bank of Commerce, and
performed their work in the manner in
dIcated in the Gazette; but the reason why
they did not answer the description given
IN that paper was because they were al
ready disguised when they engaged the
second floor of the bank building, and
when We saw them they had thrown away
their disguise and appeared in proper per
son they also perpetrated the robbery Of
the Merchants and Manufacturers Bank
~ Little Rock, some six weeks previously.
Captain Bob Henderson was, as the reader
has learned, dangerous man, and the
community was happily rid Of him he
was buried in pauper's grave
We recovered the sixty thousand dol
lars, besides large amount Of bonds be-
longing to the Merchants and Manufac-
lures Bank, also a quantity Of silver
plate and jewelry that had been stolen
from private residences. We we're all
amply rewarded by the banks and those
private parties who. had recovered their
valnables. Belden represented my con
hnct IN A llar. DtnG