The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-07-19

and the summer was pretty well gone,
when one day the elder Hardin took
letter to the office to mail. 1t was q
crumpled. yellow envelope, and directed
in scrawling hand. The detective
walked to the store with Hardin, who
carried the letter in his pocket, and he
made up his mind it was intended for
his son, John Wesley. This was the
very clue for which the officer had been
wasting all these months, and this was
the first time he had seen the reverend
gentleman take letter to the office. 1t
was necessary to see the directions upon
the missive, and not only that, but he
must be sure that the discovery was
made without attracting the slightest
suspicion to himself. He saw no chance
to do either while on the road.
Within the office, Mr.. Hardin bought
q three.cent stamp, solemnly licked it
and then pounded it upside down on
one corner of the soiled envelope with
his horny fist, and finally passed it over
to the village postmaster. While he
was engaged in this deliberate proceed
ing the detective approached the counter
and asked the postmaster for news
paper. The official turned to look for it.
The instant his face was turned the
officer glanced over the shoulder of Har-
din and read the superscription on the
envelope. He saw it was directed to a
Mr.. Samuel Jones, of whom he had
never heard and whose post office ad-
dress was a remote town in Florida. 1t
made no difference. The detective was
convinced he had discovered the where
abouts of John Wesley Hardin, for
whose capture such large reward was
waiting.
The conversation went ON as usual
through the evening. The same parties
congregated night after night and the
detective and the Rev. Mr.. Hardin met
and smoked their pipes as before, while
the weeks and months passed by. Final
ly Mr.. Hardin's neghbor said he guess
ed he would take a run up to Austin to
see about selling some of his cattle.
Accordingly he bade his friend good
bSe for several days, mounted his mus
tang and galloped off. He never stop
ped dispensing with his
horse as soon as possible lntil he reach
ed a certain remote town in Florida,
where, gotten up as an ordinary every
day laborer, he took a little tramp
through the surrounding country. He
was fortunate enough that day to catch
sight of the mythical parsonage at work
in the field of O farmer. One searching
glance was enough. The high, broad
cheelS-bones, the small piggy eyes, the
beardless face and slight muscular figure
belonged to John Wesley Hardin, and
no one else. That young man walking
about was moving treasure box of
$4,000, waiting for some one to come
and turn the key and walk off with the
contents. Did the officer do it? Not
by any means. He simply took the one
allsufficient glance and passed by and
out of sight. He would no more have
ventured over the fence into the field to
arrest the desperate than he would
have attempted to put bit in the mouth
of a raging Bengal tiger.
In desultory talk with the station
agent, who was also the telegraphist
near by, the officer learned that Sam
Jones was accustomed once or twice a
week to take the cars and ride to a
station about twelve miles above, where
he was paying his addresses to some
lady. The officer made an arrangement
by which the agent agreed to telegraph
him at the upper station whenever the
mythical Sam Jones should board the
train. OF course the agent could be
trusted to keep the secret, as that was a
part of his business, though he was far
from suspecting the Importance of the
case. Having done all he could the
detective took the cars to the station
above, where he spent several days in
lounging about and smoking bad cigars
while waiting for the dispatch. At the
end of three days it came.
: Jones has Just boarded the
train; sits in last car man with him;
nobody else in car. -, Agent.
The officer had just enough time in
which to complete his arrangements.
1t was warm, sultry day, even for
that season, and as the little locomotive
came wheeling into the depot, with two
rickety cars behind it, there were five
passengers waiting at the depot appar-