Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-07-28
HELD FOR RANSOM.

HELD FOR RANSOM.
Ihad been left at Campeche, YucaSan,
by order of the physician, while the
brig went up.the Mexican coast, to re-
turn in about three weeks. The &C.
commodations were miser able for q
man with his health knocked to pieces,
but, through the courtesy of an Ameri-
can named Barlow. who was in bust
ness In Tie God-forsaken place, /
finally secured pretty fair quarters
with a native widow. | had a good
room, q good bed, and the dusky
woman put herself ou> to tempt my
poor appetite with he cookery. L
had $500 in gold with me, and OF this
sum placed $3.50 in Barlow's hands
for safe keeping. I had been told that
the natives had no scruples against
thieving and robbery, and soon had
proofs of the fact. I had not been in
the place four days when my room
was raided and lot of clothing car
ried off. had trunk with a patent
lock, and as the thief could not get
into it he would have carried it off on
his back had he not been interrupted.
After about a. week my health began
to mend, and Barlow recommended to
me q native. whom [ could trust. [
wanted to ramble around, and felt
that would not be safe without some
one with me, not only on account OF
being seized at intervals with paipita-
ton and fainting spells, but it was
stated that the neighborhood was in
tested by a very rough class. | had
N a 101sIo Oh
with me, and, after getting little
strength in my legs, began rambling
around. The name of my man was
Yu, and he could speak only a few
words of English. We went up and
down the shore at first, and 1 had
pretty good luck shooting small birds.
On the fourth or fifth day we went to-
ward the hills, Yu carrying my gun and
a basket containing g. luncheon. Bar
low had told me that there were some
old ruins worth seeing about four miles
from the suburbs, and I meant to take
things easy, and be gone all day. We
pursued a rough highway toward the
hills, and stopped about every half
mile to rest. 1t must have been fully
noon when we arrived at q place In the
hills where a temple had once stood.
A good deal of the material had been
carried of, but there were many brok-
en- columns aud blocks of stone lying
around, and q considerable amount OF
masonry was yet standing.
L was seated on q great block of
stone eating luncheon, while Yu was a
hundred feet away trying to uncover
q small animal which had lodged into
a. pile of rubbish, when [ was suddenly
confronted by five as hard-looking
cutthroats as any traveller ever saw.
They were armed with muskets, single
barreled pistols, and murderous-look-
ing knives. Owing to my position
they had to approach me in front,
and [ had no sooner caught sight OF
them than [ sprang up, revolver in
hand, and IN one breath called to Yu
and in the next demanded their bust
ness. The leader, as | was soon made
aware, could speak English. At sign
from him five muskets covered me at
short range, and he called upon me to
surrender. Yu was standing on a
block with gun IN his hands. They
had given him no attention, and if he
had had the nerve to open fire at their
backs | believe | could have driven
them off. However, when he saw nv
fix he laid down the gun and took q
run for it, and was out of sight in a.
moment. When [ saw this I laid down
my revolver and the men approached
and took possession of it. I knew
them to be robbers or worse, but
was not bit ratified. Indeed, every
thing had happened so swiftly that
had not had time to get off my nerve.
The leader spoke In q m ongrel dialect,
half Spanish and half English, which
will render all English for the benefit
of the reader.
"Does the gentleman surrender" he
asked as they came forward.
Eyes. You intend to rob me, | pre-
sume?"
"The gentleman will not be treated
harshly unless he resist us. You are
an Americana"
eyes"
"You were put ashore week ago?
yes"
'Mr. Barlow is your friend?"
eyes"
'That is all. You will come with
u.s."
81 refused to GO. You have my
weapons, ana nave a watch and q
small sum OF money which you may
take, if robbery is your object"
"Unless the gentleman goes with us
we shall leave him dead behind u.s.
Three of the men presented their
cooked muskets at my breast, with the
muzzles only two feet away, and
waited for the signal to- shoot. |
stepped down beside the leader, and
he took my arm, and we started off
into the hills without word. When
| turned around, after going about
half mile, saw that two of the five
were missing. We had gone another
half-mile, when they Joined US, and
they had Yu with them. 1t seemed he
had hidden himself to see how affairs
would turn, and they had discovered
him. The man was dreadfully fright
ened, crying and ringing his hands,
but instead of Offering him any vio-
lence they rather sought to cheer him
up. At the end of two miles. which