Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-05-08

In two minutes l was outside the house In
the hands of my captors. They took me to
a deeply shaded hollow in the hills about
half a mile distant going east from Scrub
mountain. Had the country been longer
settled it would have been christened by
some allowably profane appellation, with
just enough dash Of Internal flavor to give it
a spice. But there had been no time at Bull
Bar for such delicate standings in expression.
They went directly to the point and called it
"Hells Hollow" Roughly described it was
a hole, perhaps half an acre in area, the wall
on three of its irregular sides being Of over
hanging rock. Their submits, thirty or
forty feet in height, were thickly screened
by bushes. Save in the direction by which
it was entered, there was no sign Of the sud-
den depression until one came to the verge
of the cliffs overlooking it.
I said nothing while on the way thither.
Any appeal for justice or humanity, thought
then, would he wasted OF men who were thus
taking the law in their own hands, more to
crafty their own brutality than aught else.
Call a dog mad, raise q hue and cry after
him, and you furnish rare sport for q class
glad of any excuse for stoning to death any
dog, mad or not mad.
That portion of Bull Bar represented by
my six midnight Judges and jurors We're
hungry for a "iittle fun" A man had been
about the good work of relieving their COM
recreation beside.
How? By an outrage and disgrace, they
proposed putting on me, worse than death
itself.
Their first act on arriving at the Hollow
/ V,oc <o 1;,11o n Aro Tho ofpoot pf tIo rr1o M
on rock, brush and masked men was decidedly
dramatic. Think the COMMITTEE" were alive
to such impressions also, in their own crude
way, as gathered from gore-bespattered
novels or blood-stained plays, for their pro-
ceedings were marked by a certain delibera-
ton and grotesque formality. They intended
making a night of it also. OF this the surest
evidence was the gallon demijohn carried by
one of the COMMITTEE"
A kettle was placed over the fire. Shortly
a resinous odor pervaded the air. Their in.
tent then flashed on me.
Tar and feathers!
1t seems as if the spirit of an event and its
results for a year in advance can be felt by
one in a single moment. So, as if by a flash
of lightning, did I see myself thus disgraced,
set adrift, wandering in that wretched, hui
initiating plight over the land, not daring to
enter village or town out of pure shame, pos
sibly compelled at last from physical ex-
haustion to throw myself on the mercy Of
some one and in the end to be pointed at
ever afterward as one SO disgraced, and
liable, go where I might, to be revealed by
some meddlesome tattler. As I saw this, one
instinct and emotion pervaded me-revenge
on these villains.
1said: "Now, men, if you do to me what
I see you mean to do you'd better kill me
first, for as sure as you disgrace me in that
way, and leave me alive, just so sure will ]
spend the rest of my life in getting even with
you. Maybe I don't know you; but I'll try
and find out, and If l do I'll have your
hearts blood, every one Of you. Now be
careful, for it's not such a light matter tt
start q man out for life with blood on hi
brain, as you'll start me if you do this thing
to mel"
There wa but one reply from the evident
master of ceremonies. That was, Gag" A
wad of cloth was thrust in my mouth.
guessed at the leader, from his height, DESPITE
an assumed bend of the shoulders. l tool
him for "Long Mac"
The party then ranged themselves in line
fronting me, and one, in a thick, munblini
voice, proceeded to inform me that 9TH
Committee of Mighty High Binders ha'
, thought it best for the good of Bull Bar t.
start John Holder out of it, and also tina
for the young mans good, and as a token o
remembrance, the committee, in behalf o
the Bar, would present the aforesaid job
, Holder with an entire new suit, which the
trusted he would long wear"
, $50 mote it bel' cried all, simultaneously
The next order was:
Refreshments" And the dsmijohn agai
Travelled along the line.