St. Landry democrat., 1888-01-14
AN OVERLAND SKETCH.
Country Where Vigilance Committees
are Preferred to Courts of Law,


are Preferred to Courts of Law.
One day while we were in Northern
| Nebraska. near the Ponca Indian Res
| ervation, we were constantly meeting
members of farmers vigilance com
| mittee looking for man who had the
night before stolen '.leetle sor'l mare
with bob-tail an white for ard foot. -
The members of the committee went on
horseback in twos. and about every
half hour we would meet a couple.
One pair stopped us, and the older OF
the men borrowed 4 dozen 44-caliber
cartridges of us.
Don't the courts give you enough
protection?' asked Brier.
mo, sir, )" promptly replied the man.
'All law, no justice. Lots o protec-
ton for hoss-thievcs. but none for
hosses.n
well, suppose they want to be
very careful that no innocent man is
punished"
"There pears to he some such no.
ton a-stickin' into EN-. A year ago a
man stole boss an we chased him up
into Dakota, caught him an brought
him back. an give him up to the thor
tiles. Trial come on an we swore to
ev'ry thing we lowed was nee sary.
We reckoned we had him when the
ledge, a big, fat old cuss, woke up,
snorted round in his chair few min
utes, wiped his specs, an said we
hadn't proved that the pris'ncr ever
saw boss an that mebbe he was can
vassin' the country for Sunday-school
books, an the jury of con stalk dry
goods clerks brought in a verdick OF
not guilty."
''Ihat was certainly discouraging."
Eyes, some. They turned the Teller
loose, an month after he got another
boss an lit out for Iowa. We followed
an caught him an brought him back
an s'rendered him. Trial come right
on an we prepared to sw'ar worse m
before, when what ID he do but claim
we didn't have no requisition, OF some
thing, an want no officers no how,
an got writ of herbs corpuss or some
such bus ness. an scooted away agin:
only first he talked loud bout bayin'
us all rested for kidnapin' him, m
scarf us so we used to go out an sleep
in the c'rntields nights so if the sheriff
come he couldn't find us.
''Well, the same Teller six weeks af-
ter rode away one boss an led two
others. We caught him fore he got
out O. the county an turned him over
to the sheriff: The day of the trial we
all went an swore to all we knowed
an heap more. The ledge woke up
agifi, rubbed his bald head awhile, an
said mebby the Teller was guilty, but
the witnesses was the biggest pack o
liars he ever saw, an advised the jury,
made up O. bout the same crowd O
yeller dry-goods clerks, to take into
what a gang o perj'ers
we was. Well. that night in they come
with a verdick Of not guilty an the
same evenin' bout half of us was
rested for perj'ry an the other half
was shot all to pieces by the sheriff
while tryin' to git at the thief in the
Jail. That's the way it went lettin' the
aw take its cou'se! That's justice!
There's your cou'ts! Well, in Il little
while the same cuss got another boss.
We run him clear 'crost the
State to Kansas fore we caught him.
When we got him we put rope round
his neck, stood him on bari. an
led the rope to the cross-piece of a
pole. Then we held good,
Iquare trial an give him more show
han he was really entitled to, an
tarted back home, of course moyin'
he bari away mighty keerful fore we
vent. That's the way it goes when we
tend to things ourselves! That's
JUS ness! There's your anti-hoss-thief |
ISOLATION! We've fixed sev'ral the
anne way since. That old snoozer of
jedge is snortin' round on the bench
ct. but he's bout out o bushes an I
ct fore next spring he'll lose his job
ntirely. Jes' finger round these parts
hours. stranger, an you'll
&c this sneak that stole the sor'l mare
- l., |