The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-02-13
A STARTLING TALE.

JOurneying westward on the Atchisou
Topeka and Santa Fe road, the other day
two old westerners sat together smoking
and chatting writes a correspondent of the
New York Times. One of the men was !
miner and the other cattle raiser. The
miner first got his feet on the seat ahead of
him, ana remarked slowly: Seven wears
ago this winter was a mighty dull season In
our camp. The weather was colder than
usual there wasn't any water, we were
} short OF grub. and the Indians were very
/ troublesome. We had about ffteen or six
teen 10 the camp, believe, and we had 10
go pretty easy with the eatables, so as to
make them last. l bad bsen Keeping sever
al men there, thinking every day that we'd
( strike something rich, and when they got
more and more dissatisfied l promised them
bigger and bigger shares. / suppose PROM
ised morn hundred fortunes that winter,
but something told me that II 1 hung on 1
would make it, | could see that men were
getting about ready to Jump me, and that
they had begun to look upon me as some
thing OF luuatic. They would hold long
conferences together, speaking in low tones
and when | came around they would pre-
tend to be talking about the weather, or
something OF that kind. l had used them
all pretty WELL and they hated to leave me,
but they were getting uneasy.
One day toward sundown, when l was
abou. ready to give up myself, a young
Mexican couple, who was bound for Sonora,
struggled into our diggings good deal the
worse for wear. They had been up In Colo.
RADIO, and had started for home With a team
and driver, but the Indians had got on their
trail, killed the driver and stolen the horses
and wagon. The travellers managed to get
away while the driver was holding the sava.
ges at bay, and lying in hiding until night
fall, they had worked tbeIr way on foot into
camp. The young woman was one of the
prettiest girls l ever saw. She was about
sick abed when she arrived, but the next
day she was around as clipper as ANYBODY
and the boys were making themselves very
agreeable. Says l to myself This is
special dispensatiol of Providence II can
keep the girl here for awhile, there will be
no trouble about the boys tney will stay,
too I never heard a word of RIum0liug
from them that day or the next They Just
walked around on eggs all the time, and
butter wouldn't melt ia their mouths
81 was a little afraid the gresser would
get jealous and knife somebody, but then |
thought IL he does the rest of the boys will
finish him, and then we will have the girl
anyway. The Mexican seemed anxous TO
get away, but made one excuse and anoth-
er tor not helping him right away, and one
morning he was missing. He had sloped
during the night, leaving the girl to u.s.
Well, she was pretty well cast down for
awhile, but l explained to her that probably
her husband had gone on to get horses and
an escort, and that he had taken this course
because he knew she would object to his go
ing alone. This faint hope seemed to give
her some comfort, aud the rest of the boys
fell IN with me, and it became the settled
/ conviction about the camp that he would be
/ back presently. She livened up kome, and
! the boys made themselves very agreeable. -
When two weeks had gone by and nothing
| bad been heard of her husband, she insisted
/ on being taken home, and offered us any
/ amount of money, which she said her father
| would pay, If We would escort her over the
! border. / began to fear that her husband
was never coming back, and, to tell the
! truth, l had a still stronger suspicion of
| something else so i agreed TO start with
] her the next morning at sunrise, and told
| the boys to be in readiness. That afternoon
| we heard unearthly screams up one of
| the Rulches ways, and several OF the boys
| running up with blanched faces to see what
the matter was, found the little woman be-
side new-made and very shallow grave
/ into which she had dug far enough to dis
cover the body of her husband. As the boys
! stood there aghaSt she spTaDR 10 her feet
! quickly, and, drawing a revolver, shoS two
| of them dead herore any of us could find
| voice. / threw up my hands aud begged Of
her 20 desist ana when some of the bows
! grabbed their guns ! pulled mine and made
them put them up. Then / got her back to
! the cabin, disarmed heI, set one trusty fell
! low to watch her, and called the others up
| into the gulch. We uncovered the dead
man and found two bullet holes In his
| back.
"'Who put them there p said sternly to
the men,
1.-The two men whom she SHOT they an
| swered
"Impossible. says 1. How could she
| know
"'She didn't know. She Just hit them
| right by chance, said one OF the party
| We knew when they lid 1t, but we didn't
want to say anything about It. They
| thought to rob him and run off with her. but
she seemed to be afraid OF them more than
| of the others -
"Weil. sot kind of tired of that place af-
| ter that, and when got ready to take her
home, packed up my own things also, and
as we set out says to the boys Good by,
| old men. You can work the claim or not,
lust as you please. 1t amt likely that I'll
I ever be back here again. And never did
/ go back. They SUNK away after awhile,
| too, and I've heard that nobody has worked
| there since 1 took the girl home to her
| father and left Ler there. she's there now.
/ Yes, see her occasionally. In fact don't
mind telling you she's my wife. and has
been for three years.