The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1877-10-16

Saturday morning Mr.. Abel Knight, a re-
spectacle farmer OF this county, residing
twelve miles southeast from Setlalia, was
hunting his cattle in the Lamine bottom.
when he suddenly came upon camp FIRE
near which were hitche,l two unsa.ldled
horses. Surprised at the circumstance, he
drew up his horse, and was in the act Of get
ting down TO ace what WIS up, when he was
confronted by two men, one Of whom pre-
sented q drawn revolver ut his breast and
told him to light" Meaning thereby,
Tor him To di.mount.
Mr. Knight replied. that ia inst what I
Wa going to do. But wha, does all this
mean?'
ask us no questions and we'll tell Won
no lies" answered one Of the rnffians
1t WIS evident to Mr.. Knight by this
time that the men he had encountered were
either honse thieves or robbers. The spot
was admirably suited Tor hiding place. 1t
was in n thick growth Of bottom timber, .
4
a habitation. The horses looked ~ II they
had been
RIDDEN ALL NIGHT,
and the men in manners and appearance in
Dictated that they were desperate characters.
Under these circumstances he thought it
best to comply with their demands, and get
into a. little trouble AZ possible. Besides,
they were armed and he wss not. Having
dismounted, one Of the strangers proceeded,
in not uniriendly way, to interogate him
regarding the lay Of the country, and wanted
To know what was their best route to Boon.
Vile without passing through any towns.
This information Mr.. Knight gave as we'll
as he vas able. lie even went 20 far as to
make
/ A ROUGH CHART
for them ON piece Of paper which one Of
the men had in his pocket. This done Mr..
i knight told them that he was in hurry
and would have to leave them. Al this the
man who had chiefly addressed and Who
acted the part Of q leader, told him that he
would have to stay with them until thsy
were ready to leave. That they didn't care
about him telling what he had seen. and to
prevent his doing this they proposed to keep
him with them. 1t was useless to argue,
and so he submitted with the best grace
possible. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon
the men got ready to start, and to Mr..
Knights infinite surprise, told him that
they wanted his money. This demand,
however, he was disposed to resist until
THE PERsU AsIvE REVOLVER
was again brought into use. He had twelve
dollars in his pocket, and this he gave theIa.
The leader then proPuced piece OF rope,
and while his companion held . pistol
against Mr.. Knights herd, he proceeded to
tie his hands behind him. This done he
was pushed up against tree and securely
fastened to it. All this was done without
a word. When Mr.. knight vas firmly
dashed to the tree, in = way that it was ut
terly impossible for him to release himself.
the man made half way apology, saying
that II was q matter Of
LIFE AND DEATH
with them, and that they could not afford
to lie overtaken.
"But you are leaving me here to die.
You surely don't wish to do that l"
Somebody will come along after awhile.
II thy don't YOU must boiler until they
hear you"
With that they rode of, taking Mr..
Knights horse with them. OF course he
tried to get loose, but the rope resisted all
his efforts to unloOse it. He took the rob
ber's advice and yelled until he vas hoarse.
But il did no good He was lett alone in
desolate bottom, and night was falling fast.
Then it
BEGUN I'd RAIN.
He said he had read Of men being tied to
trees before, and had often wondered what
we're their sensations. He understood il
now perfectly. In the mean time his
family had become alarmed. and BY day
break his wife had aroused several of their
neighbos, who had begun the search for
him. She knew he had gone to the bottom
to hunt cattle, but what part Of it had only
general idea. Her fear were that he had
been thrown from his horre and was killed
or desperately injured. The animal he had
ridden was wild and young and this fact
intensified her approximations. So his
neighbors turned out and began TIE hunt
for him through the rain Of that. what
will be to Mr.. Knight an ever memorable
Sunday. He had yelled himself hosne,
and his londest halo could not be heard
over hundred yards distsnt. Fortunately,
however, towards night fall they found him.
MORE THAN HALF DEAD
from want and exposure, and to use his
own words, las bout sorry looking
sight as man ever saw" He was taken
home 10 his half-fran,ic family. and Was 20
far recovered on Monday. a. to proceed in
the direction Of Boonville, to see If he
could hear anything Of the villains who
had lef, him to perish in the woods. But
his search in that direction was i'm vain.
Indeed, they made fast time and were
probably hundreds Of miles away before
he started in persuit. But Mr.. knight
saws that he will never die satis6ed until
he meets up with those men. The
"BIG VILLAIN"
Al he calls him, is the one he IL particularly
anxious to zee. The probability il that the
men were horse thieves and had stolen the
hores they were riding. Mr.. Knight,
however, thinks differently. He inclines to
the opinion that they were murderers or
criminals who had broken Jail and were
hnrrying out Of the country. Taken ALI