Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-12-25
WILD HARRY'O LOVE.

tie, if any genuine romance connected with the notorious and vulgar band O rustic thieves known as the "Welsl mountain gang" that was finally ana thoroughly broken mp some years az, by the arrest and sentence to long term of imprisonment of its controlling spir its-Mart, Abe. Joe, Ike and Jake Bug gard. But ;iat this impression is incor rect, I think the following narrative true as strange, will effectuany prove.
 And here let me preface my story bN saying that it does not seek to excuse criminal adventure, but merely show how the most reckless nature may con tain the lingering spark of virtue, whicl under the divine fostering Of a woman love, may ultimately kindle and bright en into a permanent and redeeming flame.
 The haunt of the Buzzard brothers and their companions was a strip of wild and barren baekwoods country and forest lying along the borders of Berks, Ches- ter ana Lancaster counties in Pennsyl' vania, while rising out of a rocky and scrub-oak stretch of barrens was Welsh mountain, which afforded dreary, yet safe and secure hiding places, where the officers of the law seldom visited.
 When the five Buzzards had been run down and caged, the band, living for the most part in miserable and isolated huts along the mountain side, became scat tered and disheartened fora few months, At the end of this time they were reOr- ganized and successfully managed by a young, handsome and intelligent outlaw who had been heretofore comparatively unknown in the vicinity.
 His true name was Henry Birt, though he passed under numerous aliases. h. terpid and daring, he made 1t his spe- cialty to discover the most likely places for robbery, and then to the running of the plunder into the market, after the gang. under his directions, had captured and delivered 1t m some adJomng county.
 The band under the new guidance soon became more dangerous and for midable than it had ever been with the Buzzard brothers themselves as its head; and Birt, as " Wild Harry of Welsh mountain was not long in acquiring a notOriety such as would have enhanced the hichwayman biographers and yellow covered novelists Of the past.
 He was tolerably well educated and his conversation was gentle and enter taining. He was comely and robust of person. He had long, black, wavy hair, a black mustache, olive complexion, and melting dark eyes, with a cast of fea- lures that gave him something of a gyp- sy or Spanish appearance.
 He was, moreover, generally well dressed, with velvet overcOai, cOrduroys, top-boots, sloucLed hat and red neck tie which gave picturesque dash to his fine movements, although he readily adopted all manner of disguises.
 As Q gawky country lad in search of farm work, or as an innocent looking peddler, he would roam the country by day, looking out for fresh fields of plum der and rascality, CT for opportunities to dls7ose of such stolen goods as chanced To be ridden away in this or that cavern storehouse of the band
 In the evenings, when not otherwise and more actively employed he devoted himself 70 the congenial pastine of courting the farmers pretty daughters.
 Nearly all the simple beauties permit ted themselves to be more or less fasci- hated, and after he had won his way into their confidence he took good care to master sufficient points to enable him to work his way into the house a few even ings after on a mission of plunder ln- stead of love.
 To hls credit t must be added, how ever, that his conduct to the young women was invariably, so far as Is known, perfectly honorable.
 It was iu this way that, towards the close of his career in the capacity of rob ber-captain, he became acquainted with Ada RheinbOld, the only daughter of one of tle wealthiest farmers in the vicinity of Reading.
 For the first time in his life Wild Harry loved, and 1t caused him both de light and apprehension to discover that he was loved in return.
 Blended with the new, sweet feeling that straightway begun to soften his en- tire nature, there grew the haunting fear lest his true character and his real mode of life should become known to Ada and her parents, by the latter of whom he had been welcomed to the house from the outset.
 They were simple, credulous folks whose sole aim ID life was tO render their daughter happy. The had readily accented Birt's plausible but fictitious as to the cause of his visit ing the neighborhood-had imbib ed with equal gullibility his story of his business prospects, lu the capacity of chief commercial traveller for a heavy Philadelphia importing house. and finally, when 1t became evident tO them that their pretty fair-haired Ada (who was only nineteen, and as good as she beautifuD and the dark, handsome young stranger were thoroughly and hopelessly in love, they had, with eXcep- tional generosity, at once received him with open arms, and bidden him to put them in communication with his rela- tives and friends at the earliest moment, in order that the marriage engagement should be regularly made known m the most agreeable and harmonious man ner.
 Birt was unmarried and an orphan. In the declaration of this fact alone he had practiced no e,eit; and he had fab ricated the story of his extraction and antecedents SO intelligently that he had no doubt of being ultimately enabled to marry the girl. simply upon his own showing.
 But so genuine was his love and re- spect for her that he was unwilling to do so, while connected with the band. He knew he could not at the same time sever his connection with 1t and remain in that section of the country without endangering either his life or his hb- erty: and this constituted his dilemma, which gradually became source Of se- cret anguish.
 Matters soon developed into just the crisis, he had dreaded The band had for some time been in hard luck, its opera tions having resulted disastrously, or in e trifiing success.
 ne night, in a general council Of lt- members ir a lone hut on the mountain several of them demanded that an at tempt should at once be made on the premises of the Rheinbolds.
 The old farmer was known to keep . large sum in his house; its furniture Tn. cluded silverware and valuable orna. menfs; the daughter was accustomed t. exhibit in her dress articles of finery and jewelry of far m ore value than were often noted in those rural parts; and the leader, Wild Harry, was thought tC have, by this time, so thoroughly mas tered the ins and outs of the premises as to be able to lead a predatory party tC its prey with comparative ease.
 "Why not rob old Rheinbold, and al oncegr was the question
 The entire gang, with the exception oI the leader, favored the proposition witl exclamation. Vainly did he seek to op pose the general wish by various objec tions. He shrank from exposing hi. real objection-his love for Ada-to hi brutal and vulgar companions and tn, others that he offered were weak and Il