The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-07-16
My Adventure in Arizona.
BY A FRUIT TREE AGENT,

man @hOSHSl young man, 1 COu-
cluded to take Horace Greeley's ad-
vice and ''go west" and as l was
not acquainted with any other kind
E of pioneer work, in particular, it.
self, but also others, by engaging
in my old business of selling fruit
trees. And it was while thus en-
gagged, in the central part of Arizo-
ma, that | met the adventure which
| am about to relate.
l was taking orders for the fall
delivery in section of the. coun-
which was but thinly settled at that
time, but which promised very fine
ly as a fruit growing country.
On the particular day to which L
am about to refer, l had been trav-
cling nearly all day with very poor
success, and toward night, footsore
and weary, | came in sight of fine
looking farm house; and as l had
been travelling all day without any
dinner at all, l stopped at this place
to try to get some supper and OBJ
tain lodging for the night
A pleasant looking woman came
to the door in answer to my knock,
and when | had made known my
wants, said that they had already
had supper, but that if l would
come in and wait few minutes she
would get me some supper;
to which l gladly complied. While
[ was eating supper, she said that
| her husband was at work at some
distance from the house and would
be back soon, but that as it was
several miles to the next house, she
would take the liberty to tell me
that 1 could stay over night.
After had been there some little
time the husband returned, but
from the time that he first
came to the house, 1 saw that
something had gone wrong with
him, he hardly spoke to me, and an
swered the questions of, his. wife as
briefly as possible, and that in
grabbed tone Of voice. AS the old
man seemed to be so cross, 1
thought it not wise to breach the
subject of fruit trees to him that
night, but wait until morning, see
if he would not be good-natured, and
l stand more chance of selling him
a good bill of trees. During the
evening, as it was bright and moon
light, l thought j would take a
walk and look around the premises,
to see whether he had any trees al |
ready set out, and what prospect
there was of my selling him bill |
of trees in the morning.
l found that he had already got |
few trees set out, and had left |
quite a space apparently for the
purpose of setting out more. was
well satisfied with the prospect, and |
thought l would be able to take a |
good order in the morning. But
what was my surprise when re-
turned to the house to find the door |
locked and my valise setting out on
the door step. also noticed that
the lights had ::been all put out
| tried the other doors, but they |
were all locked, and l could obtain
no answer to my call, and l was
practical outcome of the anger of |
the old man and that they had in
tended to freeze me out.
l hardly knew what to do for a |
few minutes, but noticing a barn
across the road, concluded that as
it was late in the evening, as well as
being several miles to the next
house, that would go to the barn
and sleep on the hay NOW.
found the barn was not locked,
and climbed up the stairs and laid
down on the hay in the loft and was
soon asleep. 1 do not know how
long had been sleeping when l
was awakened by the sound of
voices. l lay perfectly still and lis
tened and l soon found there two
men, apparently tramps, coming up
the stairs to the hay NOW. 1 no
ticed that they were coming up
they were quarreling and disputing
about something; and after they
had got up on the NOW they began
trying to settle their dispute by
other means than words, as l con
cluded by the soundS although it
was so dark that I'Could not see
them. l heard a sound of one of
them falling upon the NOW, and i'm
mediately l heard the ether one
climb down the stairs and run
down the road. He had not been
gone long when l felt something
roll down towards where | was ly-
ing; / put out my hands to see
what it was; and found that it was
the body of man apparently life
less. By the dim light of the moon
which came in through the cracks
in the side of the barn, could see
my hands were covered with blood
and that my clothes were spattered
with 1t. l began to be frightened;
here was / with a man who had
been murdered, and myself covered
with his blood. which would very
naturally throw suspicion on me as
the murderer. And at that time
people there did not wait to have q
man tried but lynched him On sus-
picion.
Under these circumstances, con-
cluded that the sooner l was out of
that section the better it would be
for me; so l took my valise and
started down the turnpike as fast
as / could walk. / had walked
perhaps three or four miles, when ]
heard the sound of horsemen COM
iLg down the road. l knew it was
a vigilance committee, who were af-
tel me; but thought that as there
was small chance of escape, it would
be best to put on a bold face and
appear as unconcerned as possible
AS they came nearer / heard one of
them say "there is our man." They
soon overlook me, and after a short
consultation together, after which
the leader told me that ] had but a
short time to live I had better
make my confession; but as l had
nothing to confess, related the
circumstances as l have related
them here. But the leader and
spokesman of the party said "that