Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-05-30
JIM FOSTER AND OLD BENNETT.
A DEMONSTRATING Tale of DeadwOod-FOs'
ter Didn't Stretch Hemp.


ter Didn't Stretch Hemp.
DEADwOOD, May 24-At the Drum last
night some of the pioneers of the Black
Hills were talking about the old timers,
when one of them said: But nobody ever
found out what became ofJim Foster.
No, nobody ever heard from him, said
half dozen st once, and then the crowd
became reflective, as if wondering what had
happened to Jim. After few minutes
silence, one man said that Jim Foster was
a good fellow, but that he ought to have
baen hanged all the same, aud others 90
served that he would have been hanged il
he had been caught at certain period IN
his career.
At this iuncture q stranger, who had
heard all that had been said, asked what
there was about Foster.
"Oh, nothing much, was thereby of the
first speaker. Jim was one OF the boys
that was first in here, that's all, aud he
went away rather sudden. He never was
cut out for q pioneer, no want. lie was
born for o tenderfoot He'd no NOR n get
into the huls before be cegsn to figure on
the best way of kilting out. A more home
sick chap you never saw. he dIdn
seem to get along very we'll, either.
He Was out Of money, though nobody
knew it at first, snd he found that he had
made a great mistake in coming here. One
fine morning Jim turned up missing and
with him went horse that belonged to a
man who believed il having somebody
hung for every horse that was stolen from
him. That was the worst break of Jim
life. liz had TO skip and he had to steal
a horse. but he dida't nave to steal one OF
old Benefits horses. Well, they went
after him hot, but he got away and WASH
heard from. We've often talked about
him, because there wasn't so many Of u:
then that we d be likely TO forget any body
and ne was a good chap take him all in
all" -.
The funniest thing about the whole bust
ness, though" said another, was the fac
that for two or three years everything ths
went wrong in the camp was charged up L
lin. If there vas stealing which nobody
could account for 1t vas laid to him, snc
| theTs was 8 time when it be had shown up
here he would have pulled hemp, sure. d.
ia tbs frat man who ever got away from
old Bennett, think | have known Ben
peut to follow fellows more than thou
sand miles, and it never made any differ
encs 10 him whether they were general!
sonare men or not. He'd let man starv
and then if he stole ration he'd hang him
His heart was harder than quartz.
"Well, now" said the stranger, Il hap
nen TO know something about this case
Foster stole that horse because he had t
| 0st out of the country or die. He Gu
across the country fos Pierre and rode da
and night until he got there-a tn p thu
was NOT psomensde in those days Whe
be cot there he sold the horse for . smaI
sum, aud BY beating aud working he msI
aged in about six weeks 10 get to his hom
in Michigan. His father was we'll of, an
he died soon after, he left Jim good bal
mess, which he tended tc right up to tn
handle. Nobody there kns~ snythln
about his horse stealing in the hills, and b
soon became q man OF considerable prou
iuepos. He married one of the pretne'
girls in the towp, built himself new houa
and was living in Gne style, when an q!
man Who sSid be was from Ii
, Black Hills arrived there Wit
An officer and notified Il
CITY Marshal that be wanted Jim for hor'
stesling. He had been on his trail to
more than two years, and had found him (
last, The Marshal Wa q friend Of Jim
and a level headed fellow, aud at his ear
eat suggestion Bennett agreed to keep Il
object of his visit quiet until he hsdseen Jil
, at his hons. Thst uightthe Marshal and Of
Renuett called on jim, and the whole thin
was talked over. The old man at first T
fused all offers OF q compromise, but aft
he mad seen Jim's wife be wilted, and So
{ he would call the thing sqssre and leave
!. where it was. Jim managed to get Au
dred-dollar bill into the old mans hsr
. inst 81 he vas leaving, but it was only
waiting until the train vas pulling out To-
= Ia did so. Now, that shows that he sto
the right horse, doesn't it,
= All shook their heads, and one after q
other said that that could not have be-
old Bennett 1t was some other BenneI
= "PerhapsPm some other jim FostE
then" observed the stranger, IS he remov'
o his hat, and looked the crowd steadily
: the eyes. I'm the man that stole 4
horse"
= The old timers we're speechlesS for
,. minute or two, and then they got aroul
Jim and told him how they had suspect
him all the time, though, to tell the trui
n there was no resemblance between Z
Z. welI-dressed Foster of to-day and the d
l perste Foster of ten years ago.
,e "Old Benefits been dead for more o
& year" some one said. He lost ever
T. thing that be had, and died without
% friend"
" Ale had one friend" said Jim Fost
"and be is here now to mark his grave.