The Opelousas courier., 1885-09-26

WA 40 you Wdut VI HIc, SeItIo'
men," he asked in tones utterly free
from the slightest suspicion of border
slang.
eye know what we want" said
Shorty. we've got to go where thar
amt no new trials, no Supreme Court,
an where writs Of have-you-his-corpus
amt no account. Hurry up. We
can't stay here all night"
"Well, gentlemen, I supposed it
would come to this sooner or later.
If | had not been drunk | would have
taken a fair warning and stayed away.
l can't go fast with those shackles on,
but I'll go as fast as I can"
Surrounding their prisoner they led
him to the hosting works of the MAN.
moth mine. A rope was quickly
thrown over a beam and the prisoner
was asked if he had anything to say
or any confession to make. He had
neither; he only wanted the small IA
vor of being allowed to die with his
boots off. 1t was a small favor to a
dying man and at once granted. A
blacksmith belonging to the vigilance
committee procured a hammer, and
telling Jake to put his left and then
his right foot on a small anvil, used to
sharpen miners tools, knocked his
shackles off in a few minutes.
"Now," said Jake, seating himself
on the anvil, "draw off my boots and |
am ready"
The man bent to do as requested,
when quick as a flash down came the
ring of the heavy iron shackle on his
unprotected head. He fell like an ox.
Almost at the same instant Jake drew
the unfortunate mans pistol from his
belt, and before any one had time to
realize what had happened, he disap-
PSdICu "1tn d SlOuo ALI lilo uolNACSS.
With an equally wild shout his cap
tors followed, spread out as skirmish-
ers, so as not to miss the trail. A
few of the older men went back to get
horses, while the younger ones contin-
ued the chase. With the gray dawn
Jake's trail was discovered. 1t led
toward Lordsburg, about four miles
distant. to which point the construc-
ton train of the Northern Pacific had
reached. shorty thought that if
Jake could get a horse at Lordsburg
and get in there ahead, he might es-
cape. The mob pressed on all the har-
der. Soon Jake could be seen down
on the mesa, running along with the
peculiar dog trot of the Apacha Indi-
an. He was well out of range. Soon
he was seen to enter the town neal the
Ralston House and run across toward
the railroad track. The crowd in
creased it's speed, and rifles in hand
rushed into the plaza in front Of the
hotel. An engine attached to two fiat
cars stood putting on the the track.
In the cab stood Wild Jake, while the
engineer lay at his feet, ,Jake's right
foot resting firm upon his heart. Jake
was covered by a dozen rifles, while
several voices called upon him to sur
render.
Gentlemen" he cried, 'beforc you
FIRE just look in the direction my pis-
tol is pointed"
The company had been digging for
water. Near the excavation were sew
eral long wooden boxes of the kind IN
which they pack dynamite.
Lower your rifles" he continued,
.'or I'll fire into the giant powder, and
wen all go together"
Every man in the crowd felt that
Wild Jake would be as good as his
word, and every gun was instantly
lowered.
Without giving the mob time to
think, the train with Wild Jake in
charge pulled out from the station at
speed and disappeared round the
curve going southwark. While the
train was in sight not a word was
heard nor a movement made by the
men from whose clutches the desper-
ado had escaped.
Dust my skinr' at length exclaim-
ed Poker Joe, "if he hasn't seen our
pile and called us"
sWell, he had the dead drop on us
sure" said Shorty. There was nuth-
in for it but to own up
Meanwhile some of the party APP
preached the well to look at the boxes.
They were all empty. Wild Jake re-
stored his machine to the engineer
near Fort Bowie, A. T., started off Oh
foot, add has never since been heard
of. although rumors as to his where
abouts have been INDUCED in by tho
local parer.-Detroit Free Press.
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