The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-04-28
A WESTERN ADVENTURE
The Clever Ruse Of a Mine Mesi
sengeE.

The Clever Ruse Of a Mine Mesi
senger.
An Omaha Man Tells How Mongrei Helped
Him Save Small Fortune-Border Bandits
outwitted-A Handy Dog Collar.
when was in Dakota few years
ago." said citizen of Omaha some
days ago TO a World man. Il was con-
nected with large mining company.
The eamp was miles away from ahy
railroad: At one time it became heS-
essaty for some, one TO proceed to the
nearest railroad station to receive 4
large amount Of money. Owing to the
fact that the camp was, like all Western
mining camps infested with cutthroa;s
and blacklegs of every description. and
that robberies and even murders were
frequently committed on the trail, the
| job was considered t:ckIish one. I
was selected as the man to perform
it. A mule was & ven me and set out,
well armed. and followed by moi.
grel dog; tile most cowardlt and WORTH
less cur imaginable. / never knew
Where he came from. He somehow
singled me out as his friend and fol-
lowed me wherever l went. In due
time and without incident worthy of
note arrived at my destination. re-
ceiving the money. s25 COO in bills of
high denomination and negotiable pa
per. mounted my mule and turned nv
face homeward. All went we'll until
night came on. but there was no help
for it, had 10 push forward. But
you can imagine that 1 wished myself
safe at home.
"Along toward midnight I noticed
the outl mes against the horizon of two
horsemen on tho crest of q hill in front
of me. Pulling up my mule l waited.
When they drew near / leveled my
Winchester and ordered them to halt.
which they promptly did. They turned
out TO be two travellers, one mere boy.
They related how they had been robbed
of oil their valuables in lonely place a
few hours earlier. Satisfied that they
were telling mo the truth and that l had
nothing 10 fear from them. apologiaed
for stopping them. babe them good
night, and we proceeded on our respec.
tive Journeys. but the information they
had impaired made me more uneasy than
ever. did not know what TO do. There
was no hiding The valuable package on
my person or about my saddle where
the robbers would not quickly find it.
Finally new idea struck me. Why not
tie the package to the dogs collarP i'll
was stopped the cowartlly dog would be
sure to desert me and return after the
danger was over. crawled from the
mule; called up the dog and securely
tied the prec Gus package to his collar
with some stout Irvine happened to
have about me. You may be sure that
l took few extra turns with the Irvine
around the dogs neck to guard against
the collar coming off. Somewhat re-
lieved proceeded on my way. In one
of the most dreary spots of the whole
route. not far from where the other two
travellers before mentioned where held
up was suddenly surrounded by three
men with drawn revolverS There was
no use TO show fight--the odds were
against me and / desired to live little
while longer. They made mo dismount
and hold up my hands. knew every
one of them and they knew me. call
ing me by name and demanding
where the money was that had been
sent after. assured them that did
not have it; that another messenger
had it and hal taken another trail;
thst was simply blind to fool road
agents. That was too thin, they sad.
and they proceeded to search me.
They then ripped up my saddle. and
even closely examined the g;rth. but
found nothing. After good deal OF
swearing. they badc mo get no my
mule and make myself scarce, an in
junction which was not slow in obey.
ing. AS had ant cipated. the dog
skulked away when was so abruptly
brought to halt. but he soon caught
up with me when was once moro on
the move. I Immediately secured the
package. oil danger now being over.
placed it in my inside pocket, and in an
other hour reached the camp. You
may think it strange that ! did not in.
form on the would-be robbers. but we
never minded little incident Ike that
IN that country-!t wasn't healthy TO.
A few nights afterward met all three
of the road agents in saloon and
quietly told them how had outwitted
them. A moro surprised and chagrin.
ed trio I have never seen. The leader
requested me to go outside with them
and lick him to death for being such
a chump. but 1 declined for prudential
reasons. 1t seems that they got wind
of the object of my trip and decided
to profit by it. Not finding the treasure
on me. they concluded that anothe +
messenger was following with it. and
SO waited until daylight. and then re.
turned to town disappointed aud dis
gusted. Omaha World
The Moon Did It Sure.