Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-11-14
HUNTING HORSE THIEVES.
Exciting Race after HOrse-Thieyes in
the Kankakee Swamps.

Tom Rose was a character in his way
Bred to farmers life he had followed
it faithfully till fifty years of age, seldom
leaving home and knowing of the out
side world only through the books and
papers with which his home was sup
piled. But he was man of rare intel
ligence. born s leader of men, and was
recognized throughout wide neighbor-
hood in Northern Indiana as a man Of
note. Along with others he had suffered
the depredations farmers were subject
to and rallied not little at the ineffi-
cheney of a police which permitted
thieves to break in and steal his grain,
or that wilder band of rogues which
fourished just after the war-the horse
thieves-to carry off his finest stock.
He always thought if he were Sheriff he
could pursue and capture half the Grim
inals, course he knew would silence
the other half Yet. had any one sug-
gested to Tom Rose the wisdom of "run
ming" for office, he would have scoffed
the idea as one not BETTING good
farmer.
In those days the Kankakee swamps
so commonly haunted to-day by Chicago
sportsmen, furnished safe refuge for
the lawless men who preyed upon an
honester society and stretched like an
insoluble labyrinth before angry pur-
suers. To one who knew its tortuous
windings, its secret dry places, the
swamps provided an easy way to Mich
igan on the north, to Illinois on the
west, or down the river to a still wilder
or more unsettled south. One morning
Tom Rose got up to listen to the alarm
brought by neighbor that horse
thieves had ridden through the settle
ment in the night and carried off four
of the finest horses. Rose counted his
herd. 1t was intact, but who could tell
where the blow would fall next?
Lets ketch EN-" said Tom Rose.
aJim West has gone to tell the Sheriff, !"
replied the neighbor.
"Drat the Sheriff" was the leaders
reply. And in an hour he was mounted
and riding hard down the long road to
Twin Lake bridge. On the way he
passed old man fuckers farm and
halted Just long enough to fire the two
grown sons of the house with his mission
and spirit.
$50 around by the Burr Oak Flats
and meet me at the West school house,
in Marshall County, by shutdown to-
night" The command was issued as
the chief, self-commissioned but obeyed,
swung into his saddle. just as the
shadows crept out to the east Tom Rose
crossed Twin Lake bridge. Down a
sodded bank he found the footprints of
half dozen horses, where they had
stopped to drink.
I'm after EN-" was his only COM
ment, and the satisfaction at seeing a
shrewd guess verified was nectar and
honey to him. No man along the coun-
try road that night went to rest unin-
formed of the horse theft, or in doubt that
retribution was riding fast ON the heels
OF lawlesness. Something in the lead
er's manner had caught the breeze in
lazy banners to the south and west
Without question men saddled their
swiftest colts and left everything to fol-
low the first chase in years which really
looked hopeful, and as the evening came
a dozen men galloped along the banks
of Maxinkuckee Lake, to meet another
dozen at the railroad. A few of them
were armed, but the most of them car
ried only ropes. They had fought for
order, these men; they had achieved it,
and they knew how stronger was one
man armed with law than a score OF
Ishmaelites. Yet there was pitiless-
ness in the very clatter of hoofs that
alone announced the progress of the
army.
Seen anything?7 asked a farmer as
the two parties met.
Seen tracks, said one. Grammar
could be dispensed with. Facts are es-
sential
Seen a lame bay colt turned loose in
the road, said another.