The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1879-03-20

Z
I tary. John Gihon, which was intended
/ 10 assist his presidential aspirations. It
I is about half fiction, and all that part
relating to me in it is mere lying. Geary
! thought Kansas would make him presi
! dent. Gov. Denver has become a man
! of some rank, ana I think that if Tiiden
! had been elected president, Denver
would have been his Secretary OF the
/ Interior"
CAPTURE AND EsCAPE.
''You were captured one time by the
Free State men,"
Yes, | was in stage-coach, going
east, and it was supposed I had the
/ election returns on my person. The
stage Was surrounded by armed men,
4 and / was taken ont under the promise
/ that should be taken to Leavenworth.
/! They took me to Lawrence instead,
! where Jim Lane always had an evil in
/ fueDce. ] had challenged Lane some
/ time before, and he lad read my chal-
! lenge to public meeting, and with q
magnificent flourish, accepted it, and
| then avoided me. Lane set his men to
work at once to have me taken out and
! lynched. Gov. Denver made speeches
| to the people, and told them that they
! might succeed IN lynching NE, IS far as
/ weight OF numbers Is concerned but that
! every one of them would be marked by
! him, and held to account. Denver told
me to escape however, if I could. / was
| in charge of the sheriff, and kept at the
| tavern of Mrs. kehoe. There was a
bail there one night, and I knew that it
was my best chance to get off so | had
! them send word from Lawrence up to
| lecompton, about - miles, for my
| friends to send me down horse and put
! him in rayine behind the tavern. Be-
! fore the ball began, / asked Miss KehOe
| for her shoe, and with my knife | ripped
| the alternate stitches over the instep so
/ that she could burst it by an effort with
| her foot. We had several dances and
waited until the hiiarity was at its height
! when the young woman bent her foot
and the top part of her shoe split open.
/ She walked up to the sheriff with me,
and said, Sheriff see I have bur my
! shoe, [ want to step out n the hall and
/ let Jack Henderson tie it. 'All right |!
said the sheriff, I guess Jack won't run.
When we got outside the door she put
| her shoulder against the door, and |
/
| on but my ball room suit-a light body
coat of black. and it was freezing. The
! night was the eight of January, and the
ball celebrated Jacksons victory. |
nearly froze going that fifteen miles IN
such a light suit at the top OF my speed,
/ and It was SIRE thing that as soon as
they missed me they would follow. L got
to Lecompton in q little more than an
! hour, but that was still within the Free
| State lines. and | knew that L could not
stay there. though it was full OF Southern
| men, my friends. SO | started for Lea
yeLworth, which was 30 miles distant,
but now I had an overcoat. When |
came to the crossing of the kaw river i
| saw the Free State picket, and they fired
on NE. There was large bottom to go
over, and then I plunged into a heavy
timber, which I was afraid would knock
me off my horse. I bent as low on him
as / could, and whent into that timber at
a gailop. When l got to the river drew
bottle of champagne, opened and pour
| ed a part of il down my throat, twisted
my horses head around, and made him
swallow the rest and take to the ford. |
was now riding along the flank OF Law
renee, eastward, and they could cut me
off at several places, having the shorter
distance to go. When | got to a place
called Dead Mans Gulch the ground
was very muddy and the place black as
| pitch, and 1 could not make that horse
bulge Finally jumped off, drew the
bride over his head and pulled him
along. Suddenly, l stumbled on some
thing, and, putting my hand down there
/ in the track felt of dead man. [ never
! knew who he WAS, nor Low soon | might
/ be in the same fix. There WAS house
where | had hoped to stop, near Kelley S;
/ but from the lights and movements
around it | was afraid to ride up, and
kept right on until 1 bolted into Leaven-
worth. The first man [ saw was Tom
| Ewing. lie and all the rest of them e1-
pected I would be hanged sure. [ went
to Washington soon after that, and had
no more to do with Kansas affairs.
Did you ever make up with jim
Lane?"
81 did. We met in st. Louis when
was in the Federal army, and shook
| hands and took drink. Lane then af
fect+d to be religions, and spoke much
about the errors OF his life. He was a
great hypocrite and coward, and we had
no border ruffiin with worse nature.
After the war was over ! was nominated
TO the senate for Superintendent Of the
Puebla indians. That same day I met
| Lane on the avenue and we took drink
together and renewed expressions of
| kindness. Next day TO my astonishment,
Sen. Doolittle came TO me and said:
Jack, [ thought the war ana your
wounds had washed ont all your offanses,
but jim Lane made a speech against you
to -dav in executive session. calling you
an inceudiary and assassin and every ep-
tibet that could be applied to a man
said that suited NE. As soon as the
committee oould be got together again |
went before them and stated nly case.
had served through the entire war on the
/ Union side. ana raised my first two com
, panies in St. Joseph, Mo-, made up
wholly of Germans; for there were
! scarcely enough Union Americans in the
| town 10 count. | had been wounded
very badly, and no person now saw more
clearly the fooiishness Of my adventures
in Kansas than myself, though with the
/. political preiudices and small moral
light had at that time, l was Just as
honest as when in the Union army
Lane had particularly used against me-
/ ulN career tS 4 UutIASts / NpLG the CDIl-
mittee that il was unfortunately true.
but that Mr.. Lane was in the habit Of
accepting challenges and then running
away, and that would prove before his
own committee what manner OF man he
was before they reported on my nomlna-
ton"
How did you bring that aboutI'
Jim Lane mad engineered through
/ Congress d hill for the removal, &c, of
the refugee Indiaus-those wh0 came out
of the Indian Territory from among the
Ghoctaws. Cherokees, sc. He received
$50, GOO in notes and checks, and che of
! thes.. cha..ks WIS In .ha hnnas q Oh