The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-06-05
JIM FOSTER AND OLD BENNETT.
A DEMONSTRATING Tale Of Dead " oOsi
Foster lDilint stretch Iiemp,

A DEMONSTRATING Tale Of bead " oOtl
Foster Didnt stretch Hemp.
DEADwOOD, May l1.-At the Drum,
Black Hills were talking about
the old timers, when one OF them said
But nobody ever found out what be :
came Of Jim Foster"
No. nobody ever heard from him.
said half q dozen at once, and then the
crowd became reflective, ~ il wonder.
ing what hal haprened to him. After
few minutes silence, one man said
that Jim Foster was good fellow, but
that he ought to have been hanged
all the same, and il he had been caught
ut n certain period in his career.
At this juncture a stranger. who had
heard all that had been said, asked what
there v'as about Foster.
"Oh. nothing much" was tho reply of
the first speaker. Jim WAS one Of the
lOys who was first in here, that's all and
he went away rather sudden. He war
horn for a tenderfoot. He'd no more u
yet into the hills before he legan to fig-
ure on the best way Of getting out. A
more ho'nesick chap you never saw. lie
didn't seem to get along very well either.
lie WIS out Of money, though nOiNiy
knew il at first, and ho found that lie
had made great mistake in coming
here. One fine morning Jim turned up
missing, and with him went horse that
belonged to u man who believed in hav.
ing somebody hung for every horse that
was stolen from him. That was the
worst break of Jim's life. lie had to
skip and he had to steal horse, but he
didn't have to steal one Of old Bennetts
horses. Wen, they went after him hot,
hut he got away and wasn't heard from.
We've often talked about him. because
there wasn't 80 many Of us then that
we'd Ike likely to forget anybody, and he
WAS a good chap, take him all in ALL
"The funniest thing about the whole
business, though" said another, WAS
the fact that for two or three years
everything that went wrong in the camp
was charged up to Jim. IL there was
stealing which nobody could
account for it was laid to him. and
there was a time when if he
he had shown up here he would have
pulled hemp sure He's the first man
that ever got away from old Bennet, |
think. I've known Bennett to follow
fellows more than thousand miles, and
it never made any difference to him
whether they were generally square men
ar not. He'd let a man starve, and then
if he stole ration he'd hang him. His
heart was harder than quartz"
well now," said the stranger, 81 hap.
pen to know something about this case.
Foster stole that horse because he had to
get out Of the country or die. He cut
across the country for Pierre and rode
day and night until he got there--a trip
that was not a promenade In those days.
When he got there he sold the horse for
n small sum, and by beating and work
ing he managed in about six weeks to
get to his home in Michigan. His ia
ther was we'll of, and az he died soon Hf
ter, he left Jim good busint IS, which
he attended to right up to the handle.
Nobody there knew anything about his
horse stealing In the hills, and he soon
lecame a man of considerable prom
inence. lie married one OF the prettiest
girls in the town. bu It himself new
house, and was living in fine style. when
an old man who said lie was from the
kack Hills. arrived there with an Off
c-r and notified the city marshal that he
wanted Jim for horse stealing. He had
been on his trail for more than two
years, and had found him At last. The
marshal was a friend Of JIm's and
level.headed fellow, and at his earnest
suggestion Bennett agreed 10 keep the
- l. ,,.ast NJ until IN hod
seen Jim at his home. That night the
marshal and old Bennett called on jim,
and the whole thing was talked over.
The old man at first refused all offers Of
compromise, but after he had Seen
Jim's wifi. he wilted, and said he would
call the thing square and leave It where
it was. Jim managed to get hundred
dollar bin into the old mans hand just
as lie was leaving. but it was only by
waiting until the train was pulling ont
that he did 40. Now, that shows that
he stole the right horse, doesn't IL"
All shook their heads, and one after
another said that that could not have
been old Bennett. 1t was some other
Bennett.
"Perhaps I'm some other Jim Foster,
them" observed the stranger. As he re.
moved his hat. and looked the crowd
steadily in the eyes. "lm the man who
stole the horse"
The old timers were speechless for a
minute or two. and then they got around
Jim and told him how they had sus
rected him all the time, though. to tell
the truth, there was no resemblance be-
tween the welI.dressed Foster Of to-day
and the desperate Foster Of ten year'
ago"