New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-10-20
sides the Jerk & the hole. I,heardl

OH0 SlQ6 TO inc OLneN OF my
wagon, and I could also feel the
jar occasioned by the movement It:
was simply a man in my cart. Iknew
this on the instant. You may have
noticed my cart as I came up
this evening. The. main part Of it
opens behind, and there is room
enough wiTnin for quite party, pro-
viding they d stow themselves close
enough. OF course felt puzzled. At
last wondered if some poor fellow
had not taken this method to obtain
a ride. But soon gave this up for l
knew that any decent manwould have
| asked me for ride and taken it COM
fortably. My next idea, was that
somebody had got in there to sleep.
But this passed away as quickly as
it came, for no man would have Drok-
en- into my cart for that purpose.
And that thought, gentlemen, opened
my eyes. Whoever was.in there. had
broken 1t.
NV next thought was OF Mr.. Dick
Hardhead. He had heard me. saw
that my load was all sold out, and of
course he supposed that 1 had some
money with me. And in this he was
right-for l had oyer two thousand
dollars. also thought that he meant
to leave the cart when he supposed /
| had reached a safe place, and then
either creep over and shoot me, or
knock me down-or perhaps slip out
and ask for ride, or something of
that sort. All this passed through
my mind by the time had got a. rod
from the hole.
"Now, never make it point to
| brag of myself, but yet have seen a
great deal of the world, and L am
pretty cool and clear headed under
difficulty. In very few moments
my resolution was formed. NV horse
was now knee-deep in the mud, and
knew could slip off without noise.
So | drew my revolver never travel
in that country without tit is ask
barrelled one and sure fire; I drew this,
and, having twined the reins around
the whipstock, l carefully slid down
into the mud, and as the cart went on
| went behind it and examined the
hasp. The door of the cart let's down,
and is fastened by a hasp which slips
over a staple, and is then secured by
a paddock. The paddock was gone
and the hasp was secured in it's place
by a bit of pine stick-so that q Slight
push from within could break 1T. MY
wheel wrench hung in g. leather bucket
on the side of the cart, and quickly
took it out and slipped it into the
staple, the iron handle just sliding
down.
"Now had him. My cart was al
most new, with a. stout frame of white
oak, and made on purpose for hard
usage, heavy loads, and service.
did not believe that any ordinary
man could break out. Igot on to my
cart as noiseless as got off, and then
urged my horse on; still keeping my
pistol handy knew that at the
distance OF hall mile further l
should come to a hard, good road,
and allowed my horse to pick his
own way through this mud. 1t was
about ten minutes after this that
heard a motion in the cart, followed
by grinding noise as though some
heavy force were being applied to the
door. This continued some moments,
and then a heavy thump, as though
the sole OF boot were applied to the
door. said nothing, but the idea
struck me that the villain might try
to Judge about where sat and shoot
up through the top of the cart at me,
SO | sat down on The footboard.
cot course knew now that my I'M
expected passenger was villain, for
he must have been awake ever since !
started, and nothing else in the world
but absolute ,villainy would have
caused him to remain quiet so long,
and then start up in this particular
place. The humping and pushing
grew louder and louder, and pretty
soon heard a human voice.
"'Let me out of this' he cried, and
he yelled pretty loud.
II lifted my head up so as to make
him think that l was sitting in my
usual place, and then asked him what
he was doing in there.
Let me out and I'll tell We, he re-
piled.
"'Tell me what you're in there for,
Isaid.
81 got in here to sleep on your
rags, he answered.
How'd We get imp I asked.
"Let me get out, or I'll shoot we
through the head, he yelled.
). "Just at that moment my horses
feet. struck the hard road and knew
that the rest of the road to jackson
would be good going, The distance
was twelve miles. Islipped back up
on the footboad and took the whip.
had the same horse then I've got
nova tall, stout, powerful bay mare
and you may believe there's some
go in her. At any rate, she struck a
gait then that even astonished me.
She had had good mess Of oats, the
night air was cool, and she felt like
going. In fifteen minutes we cleared
the wood and away we went
at great pace. The chap inside
kept yelling to. be let out. and
threatening to shoot if I didn't let
him out. Finally he stopped, and in
a few moments came the reports of a
pistol ne-two-three- four--one az
ter the other, and hoard the balls
whiz over my head. If I had been on