Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-07-08
Thought it was tho buffalo and tried

thought III was the DunaIo, and tried
to kick it clear but the more
kicked the more closely it held |
reached down my hand, and after
feeling about q few moments,
found that my foot was in the mail
bag. felt again, and found my
hand among the packages of letters
and papers. ran my fingers over
the edge of the opening, and be-
came assured that the stout leather
had been cut with q knife.
Here was a discovery. l began
to wish l had taken little more
forethough. before leaving Dam
bury but as l knew making such
wishes was only q waste of time,
quickly gave it up, and began to
consider what / had better do under
existing circumstances. | sasn't
long in making up my mind upon a
few essential points. First, the man
behind me was villain; second, he
had cut open the mail bag and rob.
bed it Of some valuable matter-he
must have known the money letters
by their size and shape; third, he
meant to leave the stage on the first
opportunity; and fourthly, he was
prepared to shoot me If | attempted
to arrest or detain him.
revolved these things in my
mind. and pretty soon thought of
course to pursue. l knew that to
get my hands safely upon the rascal
must take him wholly unawares,
and this l could not do while he
was behind me, for his eyes were
upon me all the time-so l must re-
sort to stratsgem. Only a little
distance ahead was u house, and an
old farmer named Longee lived
there; and directly before it huge
snow bank stretched across tho road,
through which track had been
cleared with shovels.
AS we approached the cot, | saw
a light in q front room, as l felt
confident l should, for the old man
generally sat up until the stage
went by. l drove Or, and when
nearly opposite the dwelling, stood
up, as | had frequently done when
approaching diffieuls places. | saw
the snow bank ahead, aud could
distinguish the deep cut which had
been shoSeled through it. One OF
the runners mounted the edge OF
the bank, after which the other ran
into the cut, thus throwing the
sleigh over about as quick as though
lightning had struck it. My pas
senger had not calculated on any
such movement, and wasn't pre-,
pared for il; but | had calculated
and was prepared. He rolled out
into the deep snow with a heavy
buffalo robe about him, while L
alighted directly on the top of him.
| punched his head in the snow and
sung out for old Lopgee | did not
have to call a second time, for the
farmer had come to the window to
see me pass, and as soon as he saw
my sleigh overturned he had lighted
his lantern AMI hurried out.
Whats to psy?' asked the old
mar, as he came up.
Lead the horses into the track,
and then come here said.
As spoke | partially loosened
my hold upon the williams throat,
and he drew q pistol from his bos
ON; but saw it in good season and
damned his head into the snow
again, and | got it away from him.
BY this time Longse had led the
horses out and came back, and ex.
planned the matter to him in as few
words as possible.
We hauled the rascal out into the
road, and. upon examination we
found about twenty packages of
letters which he had stolen from
the mail bag and slowed away in
his pockets.
lie swore, threatened and prayed,
but we paid no attention to his
barney!
Longee got some stout cord, and
then when we had securely bound
the villain, we tumbled him into the
pung. | then asked the old man if
he would accompany me to Little
ton, and he said 'Of course | will
So he got his overcoat and muf-
fer and ere long we started on.
reached the end of my route
with my mail all safe, though not
as snug as it might have been, and
my mail bags little the worse for
the trick that had been played upon
them. However, the mail robbsr
was secure, and within a week he
was identified by some officers from
Concord as an old offender, and l
am rather inclined to the opinion
that he is in the State Prison at the
present time. At any rate he was
there the last time l heard of him.
That is the only time | ever had
any mail trouble, and l think that
under all the circumstances l came
out of 1T pretty well.