Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-12-21

iD 1uns were coming dawn "a, i scaln in,, trai,
Upon the digglngs Next, lie hurrisd DIV q stIYa$
street. beating heavily with his fiss q every
Iraine door, aud kicking hard az the log walls
~ ne s snecesslye shantes. In q few ,ltss
e elS Who1e pike was ont and alive. @UnWhola-
some go Choking men, in unwashed flannel shirts
ana loose trouses, mostly bare footed IN Their
haste, came forth to inquire, with an unneoes-
eafy wealth OF explosives, what the something
s Vas SURFING Pete. breathless and wrathful il
the midst iiYid with rage and disappointment
could only Shrek aloud: 'sCap'n Plsrpoint has
cleared out Of camp and taken all the plate
Win MIN e There was at first an incredulous
shouting and crying; then q general stampede
tsS.a me bank shanty; and, finally, as the
and angry howl for vengeance on the traitor.
IN 10 one moment Capt. Pierpoints smooth
raced yiilalny daWned as clear as dav to all
Ayimer's Pihe; and the whole chorus Of gam
pliers, rascals and blacklegs stood awe-struck
Wtth horror and indignation at the moro plausi-
pie rogue who had succeedea ia swindling even
them Inc clean-Washed, White-snirsed, fair
spoken Villain! they would have his blood for
THIS, it the United States marshal had every
mothers son OF them strung UP in a row for 1t
aiIer tue peskY business was oncs fairly over
When the boys really understood that they
nad neen completely duped, they swore ven-
geance in solemn fashion, and they picked out
TWO OF themselves to carry out the oath in
regular assembly, EACH contributed of his
substance what ne was able; and Pete and
H'ram, being more stirred with righteous
wrath than all the rest put together, wore
unanimously deputed to follow the captains
tracks to Ban francisco, and to have his life
whatever and whenever they might chance to
ind him, Pete and Hiram accepted the task
thrust upou them, con amore, and went forth
Zeaiously TO hunt up the doomed life of Capt
Montague Beresford Pierpoint.
IL
Society in sarnia admitted that Capt Pier
point was really quite an acquisition As a
matter of fact, indeed, the captain was decent
iy well-borp, the son Of an English country
Clergyman, educabed at a respectable grammar
school, and capable Of being all things to all
men III whatever station Of life it might please
Providence to place him.
Somehow or other, everything seemed to go
wrong with Capt. Pierpoint's cargoes. He was
always losing Il scow laden with the best fall
wheat from Chicago for Buffalo, or running a
lumber vessel ashore on the shoals of Lake
Erie, or getting a four master jammed in til Q
ice-pachs on the st Clair river; and though
the Insurance companies continually declared
that Capt pterpoint had got thu better of
them, the captain himself was won't to COM
PLAIN that no insurance could ever possibly
cover the losses he susaipa ID by thu careless
ness OF his subordinates or the constant per-
versity Of wind and waters.
However this mi GIT be, it happened curious
ly enough that. III spite of all his losses, Capt.
Pierpoint seemed to grow richer AMI richer
visibly TO the naked eye with each reverse of
his trading efforts. He took q handsome house,
set up a carriage and p !ir, and made love to
the pretnest and sweetest girl Ia all Sarnia.
The prettest and sweetest girl was not proof
against Capt. Pierpoints suave tongue aud
handsome house; and she married him in very
good faith, honestly believing IL him, as good
woman will il scoundre', and cinsinS to
him feryently with all her heart aud soul. No
happier and more loving pair in ali Sarnia than
Capt and Mrs. Plerpoint
Some months after the marriage Capt Pier
point arranged to take down scow or fat
bottomed boat, laden with grain, from Milwau-
kee for the Erie canal He took up the scow
himself, and before he started for the voyage,
it was a curious fact that he went in person
down into the hold, bored eight large holes
right through the bottom and filled each mp, as
he drew out the anger, with caulked plug
made exactly to tit it, and hammered firmly
into place with a wooden mallet There was
ring in each plug, by which IL could be pulled
out again without much difficulty; and the
whole eight we're all placed along the eangway
OF the hold where no cargo would lie on top
OF them. The scow's name was the Fortune.
It took only two mon and the skipper TO nay
igate the scow for lake craft lowed by steam
propellers are always very lightly manned, and
when Capt. Pierpoint reached milwaukee,,
whore he was to take in cargo, he dismissed the
Sarnia and engaged two fresh hands at the
harbor. Rough, miner-looking men they were,
with very little Of the sailor about them, but
Capt Pierpont's sharp eyes soon told him they
were tho right sort Of men for his purpose,
and he engaged them on the spot Wthou1 mo-
n,ent's hesitation.
They had disguised themselves as well as
they were able, and in their clumsey knavery
they thought they had completely deceived the
captain But almost from tue moment the
I'M ff,n1r
he took his measures accordingly "stupid
louis! !" he said to himself, with the fine con-
tempt Of an educated scoundrel for the ia
sophisticated natural rutfian; "here's hne
chance of killing two birds with one stone!"
and when the captain said the word KILLING"
he said it in his own mind, with delicate,
sinister emphasis. which meant business.
As soon as she was once clear of the wharf,
aud while the busy shipping OF the great port
| still surrounded them on every side, Capt.
Pierpoint calmly drew his revolver and took
his stand beside the matches. "Pese and
Hiram" he said Quietly to his two assistants.
| Il want to have a iitse serious talk With you
! two before we go any further
| If he had fred upon them outright instead
| Of merely calling them by their own names,
the two common conspirators could not have
! startsd.more unfeignedly, or looked more I'M
speakably cowed, than they did at that mo-
| ment Their first impulse was to draw their
| own reviewers in return; but they saw IN a
second that the captain was batorehand WIN
them, and that they had better not try TO shoot
him before the very eyes of all Milwaukee.
CHOW, bows" the captain went on steadily,
with his finger on the trigger and his eye hxed
straight on tho mems faces. we three quite
! understand one another l took your savings
for reasons of my own; aud You have shippe
here to day to murder me on the voyage But l
recognized you before engaged you, and have
! left word at Mil waukee thatf anything happens
to me on this journey, you two have q grudge
| against me, and must be hanged for It, I've
| taken care that if this scow comes into any
! port along the lakes without me aboard, you
Two are to be promptly arrested" rhis was
| false of course, but to Capt Pierpoint small
matter like that was mere tri1e.) And I've
| shipped myself along with you just to show
you rm not afraid of you, But II either OF
YOU disobeys my orders in ANYTHING for one
minute, shoot at once, and no jury IN Canada
or the States will touch hair OF my head for
doing it. am respectable shipowner aud
grain merchant; you're pair OF d1sreputable.
! skulking miners, pretending TO be sailors, ano
| der and rob me. If you shoot me, it's murder;
if 1 shoot you, It's justiiable homicide New,
boys, do you understand that?'
| Pete looked at Hiram and was beginning to
speak, when the captain interrupted him in the
calm tone of one having authority. "Look
here, Pete" ne said, drawing chalk line amid
ships across the deck, 'you stand this side of
| that line and you sand thefe, hiram. NOW,
mind. if either Of you chooses. to step across
! that line, or to confer with the other. l shoot
| Won, whether it's here before all the eyes of
Milwaukee, or alone in the middle of Huron.
You must each take your own counsel and do as
you like for yourselves. But I've got little plan
of nv own on, and if you choose willingly to
help me in it your fortunes made Look at the
thing squarely. boys; what's the use Of your
| killing me? Sooner or later you'll get hung for
! it, and it's very unpleasant thing, can assure
t you, hanging" As the captain spoke he placed
his unoceupled hand loosely On his throat and
pressed it gently backward; Pete and Hiram
| shuddered a, little as he did So well. what's