The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-09-23
NOT A MINUTE TOO SOON.

pay.
NOT A MINUTE TOO SOON.
You see | was sheriff of--coun-
ty, Arkansas, for number of years,
md we had the hardest kind o
characters to deal with. Hors'
thieves, renagades, outlaws and
hiohwavmen roamed over the state,
and when they struck into my coun-
tv we tried to make it hot for them.
| had a number of deputies, who
were bound to enforce the law at
any cost, and when we wanted help
there were score of citizens who
could be had at a moments warn
ing.
| hadn't served out my first term
before our county had the name of
being the safest and most orderly
county in the State. Desperadoes
at length passed us by, and there
| were weeks ut time when not even
an arrest was made.
| was TAILOR, of course. The coun-
ty being poor, we had a wretched
apology for a Jail; in fact, any man
who didn't choose to remain could
easily work his way out of it. 1t
| was for this reason that very few OF
the known desperadoes found their
way into hejail. When run down
they would be taken into the woods
and left there, and no one ever
heard of them again.
One day, while / was serving on
my last six months, an outlaw call
ed Bloody Tom murdered farm
er within mile of town, robbed the
body, and then took to a swamp
and sent me word by negro that |
couldn't raise men enough in
county to take him. | summoned a
posse, surrounded the swamps
and within four hours after the
murder the outlaw was hanged to a
limb. He made hard fight, killing
two men and wounding third, and
the affair stirred upa good deal Of
excitement. Bloody Tom had a
brother, who went by the name of
| Red Jack. He was wicked, cruel
rascal, on whose head there was a
dozen county rewards, and he lived
mostly in the swamps and forest.
People said that he would be reveng-
ed on me for the death of Tom, and
| was advised to look out for him.
When they said look out in those
days, it meant business, and for a
whole month l kept both eyes
watching for Jack. One day when
| was out of town he rode into the
village, shot two men, tried to set
fire to the Jail and rode out again.
no one daring to follow him. He
even hitched lis horse to the tavern
and took drink of whisky, while
the excitement was greatest, and he
left word with the landlord that he
might be expected back within the
next mon tn.
Upon returning home / secured
the country for miles around with a
force of men, but Jack had made
good his escape, / think the re-
| wards for his capture, dead or alive,
footed up five hundredNdollars. He
was outlawed, and his death would
be a public blessing. We therefore
tried to effect it. There were four
roads leading into town, and for the
next three weeks two men were sta
toned in the bushes along each
road, prepared to shoot Jack on
sight.
The fellow did not appear. He
might have received warning, or he
might not have been ready; at any
rate, the watching all went for
nothing, and after the fourth week
it was the general idea that he had
fled from that part of the State, and
| began to relax my vigilence and
grow careless.
About this time white boy, some
twelve years old, wandered into the
village. His name was Daniel
Smith. but every body called him
Dan. I then employed him to as
sist in keeping the Jail in order,
take care of horses, and render 9th
er useful aid. He was very Sc
date lad, having very little to say
to anv one, and the most | ever got
out of him in relation to his family
history, was that he was an orphan
and had lived in Vicksburg all his
life. He was prompt and obedient,
and VIII N not engaged at his work
was sure to shoulder my shotgun
and take turn in the woods. He
never came back without some sort
of game, and finally he became a
fixture in the family.
| think it was three months after
Red Jacks raid on the village that
| one morning received a letter ask
inc my presence at Thornbush, a
village six miles away. But when L
told Dan to saddle my horse it was
discovered that the horse had
jumped the fence and taken to the
woods. Dan shouldered the gun
and went out to search for him while
| got ready for the journey.
The morning passed and he did
not return, and at noon | went
across a vacant field to the edge of
the woods. August, very warm
weather, and had no coat on. |
did not intend to go far, but getting
down to the edge of the woods, |
found that the horse had passed
that way, discovered Dams tracks
in the mud, and I kept on. There
was an old road through the woods,
running to what was "F7ench clear
ing" two miles from town, and as
grass was abundant there, 1t was
pretty plain that the horse had TAX
en- that direction.
| grew indignant as walked
along. believing that Dan had wan
dered from his errand in search of
game. and / had neither eyes nor
ears for anything about me until l
suddenly heard voice cry, 'Halt"
| Jumped to one side and looked up,
and there stood Red Jack. had
never seen him before, but had Oft
en- heard him described, and | rec
ognized him almost instantly. He
stood beside a tree, a cooked revol-
yer in either hand, and as l halted
he called out:
"Come here! It you try to run
away I'll shoot your
| had no weapons, and it did not
take me long to understand that !
was in the power of the man who
oda cuch tarrihla threats