The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-11-11
Pulling Hemp.

sYou may talk about mad elephants
let loose, or circus tigers on the ram
page, said n man from Western Mich
gan, "but they are no comparison to
crowd of angry and excited men
hungering for your death. -Four years
ago 4 came into possession OF three or
four o, es of roperty In Southern
Indiana, and / went down to look them
over. At Jasper concluded TO get
saddle horse. One morning, almost
before anybody in the town was astir,
and while L was taking hefore-break-
fast walk, q stranger came along
astride of fine animal, and to my
query as to whether he wanted to sell
he returned ready affirmative. 1t
was sorrel horse, spotted with white,
and one to be recognized and ident-
fed on sight by any one who had ever
seen him before. The pri asked was
SIPS, and though beat the man down
to 500 he told such straight story
that / could have no suspicious OF him.
He claimed to be resident of In
cennes, and to have purchased the
horse in New Albany.
Il was congratulated by the villagers
on my purchase, and soon after break
fast set off for the south. After pro-
ceeding about ten miles turned to the
left, and had gone about three miles
when band OF horsemen, about
dozen strong, came riding from the
oppo site direction at gallop. The
instant we met they surrounded me.
Some had revolvers and some guns,
and was menaced on all sid s. 1 was
astonished, of course, half believing /
had fallen in with band of robbers.
but they quickly gave me to under
stand to the contrary. The horse -nder
me had been stolen the previous night,
o. at an early hour in the morning,
and the owner was among those who
surrounded me. 1t didn't strike me
that L looked like horse thief, but
those men were mad and excited, and
they had me out of the saddle in q
minute. OF course | protested, telling
them who l was and where L could be
identified, but as they hustled me
under q tree and began TO moose rope
the owner of the nag slapped me across
the face and replied
Sc shut up! You are the scoundrel.
and denials will be of no avail " ell
choke the breath out of you in about
half a minutep
They were going to hang an limo
cent man, and you can wager that L did
some of the most gorous kicking OF
my life. While they were messing me
and running the free end over limb, L
kept up my chin music, and one of the
crowd became half convinced that was
telling the truth. Ee began to argue
that it wouldn't take long TO prove or
disprove my story, but he was too late.
Five or six men walked of with the
rope, and up L went. They let me
hang for few seconds and then low
cred me. but only to repeat the dose
twice more. By that time they had
cooled off q bit, and my friend per-
suaded them that they could just as
well finish the hanging at jasper. L
had tainted dead away, and when they
poured whisky down my throat and re-
vived me t seemed as if my neck was
two feet long. There was deal of
growing over the job not being finished
then and there, but they finally put me
on a horse and started for asper.
"The chap of whom had purchased
the animal, and who VS., of course, the
real thief, was so elated over the sale
that he forgot himself and remained in
Jasper to get drunk. He was speedily
found in saloon, and he made no pre-
tense of innocence. thought they
would tear him to pieces hen and there,
but after beating him to a state of in
sensibilty he was carried Off into the
country q couple OF miles and left hang
ing beside the highway. l got back $50
of my money, and as it was handed to.
me by the leader he said
Stranger, We beg pardon for
stretching your neck, but next time
you buy boss in this Sta be a leetle
careful to buy of the real owner. ~
Detroit Free Press.