Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1886-08-28
HE FIRED PILLS.
How an Omaha Physician Sho
10 ShNS.

to safe.
Talking about the Hoffman libc
suit said a well-known Omaha ply
siCian the other day, Il have always
had a certain sympathy FOR horse
thieves since little occurrence which
happened twenty years ago"
Tell us about it," chorused his
auditors.
Il was living then in little Mis-
souri, town" said the man Of medicine.
struggling along as best | could
against adverse fate and the disgusting
healthiness of the community in which
my lot was cast. Horse thieving was
a very common thing in that part of
the country, and some of the residents
of the county in which | lived had
formed an anti-horse-thief association.
When a horse was stolen it became the
duty of every member of the
association 10 thoroughly arm
himself, mount his steed. and start
in pursuit of the thief. One day one
OF the members of the association lost
a string of three valuable horses. The
identity of the thief was unknown, but
fortunately clew to the direction he
had taken was given by a boy, who had
seen a stranger with number of horses
going west from town. Within less
than half an hour after the loss had
been discovered band of thirty men,
berS of the association were in hot pur-
suit of the thief over hill, down dale,
and through forests. We managed to
strike the fellows trail about o'clock
in the afternoon and followed it closely.
At half-past o'clock in the evening
we ran across him in Il thick clump of
bushes, the horses staked about him.
We closed in about him, and in less
time than it takes to tell it the horse
thief was under arrest. A court
was organized without moments de-
lay, and trial lasting not longer than
ten minutes followed. The fellow was
found guilty and sentenced to die. l
felt sorry for the scamp-tried to in
tercede in his behalf; he was a young
fellow with whom | had been acauaint-
ed for some time, and whom I knew
to come from highly-respecte parents
in Illinois. 1t was of no use. The
captors insisted that he must die, and
only laughed at my entreaties. To
add to my disgust l was selected as the
one to shoot him.
Say your prayers, boy" said one of
the men to the young fellow, who had
been tied to tree.
THE poor cuss didn't know how to
pray, and asked me to help him. /
didn't know anything but the Lords
prayer. and tried that 1t went so well
aud seemed to relieve the poor fellow
so much that l repeated it several
times.
just as rose from my knees the
details of plan whereby l might save
the man s life flashed into my mind. l
whispered them into his ear, and his
grateful look, as hope was revived in
his heart, shall never forget. 1t was
growing dark, and the men were be-
coming impatient, so that l determined
to hurry matters to a crisis. | had a
double barreled. muzzle-loading shot
gun. and under pretense that the loads
were not fresh fired them of. l re-
loaded them, not with shot, but with
some very small pills which l hap
pened to have with me. was pretty
well watched, and trembled inwarllv
lest | might be detected. But l wasn't.
measured off goodly distance on the
ground and fired, taking low aim.
The horse-thief fell over, apparently
dead. The vigilants mounted their
horses and rode away. leaving me to
bury the victim. In less than ten min
utes the corpse was free and making a
Decline for Kansas. The dose of pills
had not injured him in the least.'-
Omaha Bee.