Bent County register., 1888-11-10

"''S'y Sohetudeu W ldsoT tne young
man. and he WIS soon in the saddle.
He bade farewell to his wife and ba-
bies one bright spring morning, and
two days later was among Middeton's
friends, who We're numerous IN the
small villages of the Niobara coun-
try.
"Llsw" wandered in and out, apar.
emily having no other aim in life
than to klll time and ''be one of the
boys" He was soon on good terms
with several tough men and was n
frequeper of their gatherings. He
finally located the terror of the plains
and at once set out to capture him.
Negotiations were finally entered in
to between the detective and the des-
perado, whereby the latter was to
surrender himself and receive as
hight a sentence as the law allowed
The authorities concluding that the
killing of the soldiers was an act of
self defence, and holding Middleton
amenable to the charge of horse and
cattle stealing only.
IN a TIcKLIsu POSITION.
A meeting place hundred miles
from any habitation was eventually
agreed upon between Llewelien apd
Middleton, who, by the way, had
never before met, and the day OF ap-
pointmeni the detective rode to a
lone spot where a dozen horsemen
were IN waiting. Llewellen was APP
parently unarmed, but beneath big
flannel shirt he carried beautiful
gold-mounted 4s calibre revolver
which he could use with deadly ef-
feet when he felt SO disposed. He
met the notorious doc" and his
men, who forced him to keep in
front of them constantly, and as they
proceeded along the banks of creek
the stalk was made"
Middleton agreed to surrender and
take his chances of receiving the
mercy Of the courts. Llewellen drew
a document from his pocket and OF
fercd it to the robber to sign. 1t
proved satisfactory and the confer.
enee was about to end amicably,
when one of the gang, at the com
maud of the thief, jerked huge re-
volYer from his belt and tried to
shoot the officer. This act of treach-
cry was never carried out, as the
''gun" refused to do its bidding. the
spring being too weak to explode
the cartridge, aud the trigge. only
snapped six times without harming
anyone.
Llewellen cast quick glance at
Middleton, whom he detected in the
act of drawing one of his revolvers
"You treacherous dog exclaimed
the detective, and out came the gold
handled revolver ''I'll fix you Take
that, and you take that" as two shots
were fred In as many seconds. Mid
dleton rolled off his horse with bull
let wound in his stomach. The 9TH
er scounrel never knew what hurt
nm. Then, seeing that the entire
gang was ready to attack him, Lew
ellen put spurs to his horse and sped
across the DIVIDE like the wind, catch.
ing a number of bullets in his hat
and coat as his blooded horse carried
HIM along.
ASSISTANCE FROM THE SOLDIERS.
He rode for two days and a night
until he arrived at the Sidney mill
tary post, where he related encounter
and narrow escape to Captain Mona.
han, commander, who at once placed
fifty soldiers in charge of Llewelen,
with Instructions to return and bag
the game The vicinity of the
treacherous act was reached, and
without much trouble the bandit was
captured.
He recovered from the wound and
got ten years in the Nebraska peni-
tentiary, good behavior and time re-
leasing him about two years ago.
He is now running a saloon in south
ern Dakota.
GETTING HIS REWARD.
Llewellen was paid $4,000 by the
railroad company for this service, be-
sides receiving many valuable gifts
from the stock growers of the Nio-