Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-01-22
A STARTLING TALE.
A Girl Who Killed Guilty Pair BY Acct
dent

A Girl Who Killed a Guilty Pair BY Acct
dent.
Journeying westward on the Atchi-
son, Topeka and Santa Fe road, the
other day, two old westerners sat to-
gether 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,
and remarked SLOWLY: s.Seven years
ago this winter was mighty dull sea-
son in our camp. The weather was
colder than usual, there wasn't any wa
ter. we were short Of grub, and the In
dams were very troublesome. We had
about fifteen or sixteen in the camp, I
believe, and we had to go pretty easy
with the eatables, so as to make them
last. had been keeping several men
there, thinking every day that we'd
strike something rich, and when they
got more and more dissatisfied prom
ised them bigger and bigger shares.
suppose promised MORN hundred
fortunes that winter, but something
told me that if | hung on Iwould make
1t. could see thatthe men were get
ting about ready to Jump me, and that
they had begun to look upon me as
something of lunatic. They would
hold long conferences together, speak
ing IN low tones, and when 1 came
around they would pretend to be talk
ing about the weather, or something of
that kind. | had used them all pretty
well, and they hated to leave me, but
they were getting uneasy.
One day toward shutdown, when | was
about ready to give mp myself, young
Mexican couple, who was bound for
Sonora, struggled into our diggings a
good deal the worse for wear. They
had been up in Colorado, and had
started for home with team and driv-
er, but the Indians had got on their
trail. killed the driver. and stolen the
horses and wagon. The travellers man.
aged to get away while the driver was
holding the savages at bay, and lying
in hiding until nightfall. they had
worked their way on foot into our
camp. The young woman was one of
the prettiest girls | 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 all max
ing themselves very agreeable. Says l
to myself: This is a special dispensa-
ton of Providence; if can keep the
girl here for while, there will be no
trouble about the boys; they'll stay
too. ! never heard word of grum-
bling from them that day or the next.
They just walked around ON eggs all
the time, and butter wouldn't melt in
their mouths.
Il was little afraid the greaser
would get jealous and knife somebody,
but then thought if he does the rest of
the boys will finish him, and then we
will have the girl anyway. The Mexi-
can seemed anxious to get away, but
made one excuse and another for not
helping him right away. and one morn
ing he was missing He had sloped
during the night, leaving the girl to us.
Well, she was pretty well cast down
for while, but 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 have objected to his going
alone. This faint hope seemed to give
her some comfort, and the rest of the
boys fell in with me, and it became the
settled conviction about the camp that
he would be back presently. Sheliven-
ed up some, and the boys made them
selves very agreeable. When two weeks
had gone by and nothing had 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 astill
stronger suspicion OF something else;
SO agreed to start with her the next
morning at sunrise, and told the bows
to be in readiness. That afternoon we
heard unearthly screams up one of the
gulches ways, and several of the boys
running up with blanched faces to see
what the matter was, found the little
woman beside new-made and very
shallow grave, into which she had dug
far enough to discover the body of her
husband. As the boys stood there
aghast she sprang to her feet quickly,
and, drawing revolver, shot two of
them dead before any of us could find
voice. i threw up my hands and beg
ged of her to desist, and when some of
the boys grabbed their guns Ipulled
mine and made them put them up.
Then | got her back to the cabin, dis
armed her, set one trusty fellow to
watch her, and called the others up in
to the gulch. We uncovered the dead
man and found two bullet holes in his
back.
I" Who put them theree' said l stern
ly to the men.
I" The two men whom she shot, they
answered.
(" Impossible says l. How could
she know?'
:. She didn't know. She just hit
them right by chance, said one OF the
party. We knew when they did il.
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 9TH
ers?'
''Well, 1 got kind of tired of that
place after 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, just as you
please. 1t amt likely that I'll ever be
back here again. And | never did go
back. They skunk away after a while.
too, and I've heard that nobody has
ever worked there since. | took the
girl home to her father and left her
there. She's there now. Yes, see
her occasionally. In fact, don'tmind
telling you she's my wife and has been
for three years.