Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-07-27

4
ployer's property.
Breeding was at his post one night in
the fall of 1877. The hour was late
and he was asleep. A noise IN the
store room aroused HIM, and he jumped
out of bed to find the store in flames.
Through the curling smoke he saw two
men hastily leaving the building by the
front door and heard them close and
lock the door behind them. He
realized that escape in that direction
was cut of. Malone e. Co. had consid-
erable ready money on hand, and this
money was in large safe which stood
in the Office. Breeding had the key OF
the safe, ard opened it to save the
money. The safe was empty. lie
picked up package of bills on the
floor near the safe, which had been
dropped by the thieves in their flight.
There was rear door to the building,
which was secured from the inside by
means of box. The smoke was
sitting, and Breeding opened this door
to escape, only to find the doorway
blocked by bales of hay, which mad
been rolled up agaitst the end of the
building. He tried to force away
through the barricade, but failed. The
fife was now at his heels, and the
smoke so dense that he could hardly
breathe. Happily, he called to mind
at this critical moment a small window
on the side of the building. Cropping
his way to this last loophole Of escape,
he forced open the shutters, raised the
sash and leaped out-not moment too
soon. When he turned to survey the
burning building the long roof rrem-
bled and fell in with crash, and the
flames leaped high into the air.
Nothing was saved but the package OF
money.
The burning, which was evidently
done to hide robbery, and at tie same
time commit murder, created consider
able excitement among the better class
Of citizens in Elliott county, and the
next day meeting was called to take
measures to hunt down the criminals.
With 81 stern sense of retributiou this
meeting was held on the charred frag-
ments of Malone & Co.'S st re. Money
was raised on the spot, and detective
was sent for to "work up" the case. The
next night n meeting of citizens was
held at Martiusburg, the seat of Elliott
county. This meeting was secret, and
its deliberations were not made public.
The detective went to work on the case
and caused the arrest OF three men,
charging them with completely in the
burning. One of the parties arrested
by name John Kendall-was respect
able and comfortably well-tod do farmer,
who had heretofore borne good repu-
taton. lis companions, Henry Orms-
by and Bill Mcmillan, were both men
Of little character. Ormsby was a Ten
nessean, and had served one term in the
state penitentiary at Nashville. McMil-
Ian ne'er.do-well, who subsisted by
hunting, fishing and logging, with an
occasional job at wood-choppirg, or
farming. All three were placed in thc
jail at Martinsburg. All three were
friends and partisans of Colonel Living
stone, and the latter engaged lawyer
to defend them, and made arrange
ments to bail them out OF jail. He
boosted that money would do anything,
uuu WIN u uiil, tpo,' iDA liit
was corrupt, and the officers of the law
servile and easily inundated. An
other secret meeting of citizens was
held, and dark mutterings were heard
on every hand.
The detective--whose identity, by
the way, was never discovered, and is
unknown to this day, save by the few
who employed him-followed up the
clew which he had unearthed. He
knew that he had to deal with desperate
men, who would stoop to any crime
to shield themselves from punishment
and he went among the suspected
thoroughly disguised. Protesting to
be farmer pal of Orm5by's, anx-
ious to extricate his old partner from
present difficulty, he gradually worm
ed his way into the confidence of the
men whom he suspected OF being con-
cerned in the burning, and one night
was admitted into their counsels. What
was his surprise and amazement to
find that the men IN Jail were mem.
bers of the regularly organized thor
oughly disciplined gang Of counter
feiters, house-breakers and cattle and
horse thieves, whose chief and moving
spirit was. Col. Peter J. Livingstone.
This gang numbered about three hun.
bred members, and many of them
were men whose characters had never
been stained even by suspicion.
Jubilant over the success he had
achieved, and confident that he had
evidence enough to Cause the convic-
ton of the whole gang, the detective
FASTENED the next day to Mar'insburg
to secure warrants and a posse Of ar
rest. When he reached the town he
found that one of the men IN Jail
(Ormsby) had confessed to everything
which he (the detective had learned the
night before, and that the other two
prisoners Mcmillan and Kendall-nad
been taken from the jail and hanged
by mob of about five hundred mask
ed men, which had issued a proclama'
ton justifying the act, and made
known for the first time the existence
of the Regulators"
The story of this execution, "by COM
mand of Judge Lynch is brief one
The two secret meetings which had
been held by the citizens of Elliott
county, were for the purpose of orga.
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