The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-10-23

blacks had been killed, and we pushed
on TO the larger hut to find Thomas with
in half an hour of breathing his last. He
could speak in whispers, and he told us
that seven bushrangers had appeared the
evening before and committed the afro
cities visible on every hand. Although
he had made them welcome and prepared
supper, they had come for different pur-
! pose. The blacks, one by one, had been
| tortured in the most horrible manner, and
when the last one was dead they had
turned on Thomas. They had sliced off
his ears, broken his fingers, cut off the
end of his nose, hacked off his toes, and
tortured him in other ways and had not
left the place until about an hour before
our arrival. Everything of value which
could be carried off was gone, and a
bloody knife was left sticking in the door
Il sill as a sort of def to Shaw and the Of
ficers of the law.
4 There was no Government patrol in
{ hat district at that time, and the only
move we could make was to alarm the
! two nearest ranchmen and organize a
pursuit on our own account. BY noon
next day we had ten white men and
about twenty faithful blacks in hand for
start, and the trail was taken up at
'the cabin. No one had any great hopes
Il that we should overtake the rangers,
but it was argued that pursuit must be
made or they would soon terrorize the
whole district. If we did happen to un-
cover them there would be hot fight.
Every ranger had price set on his head,
and would fight to the death, and the
ranchmen were men who had faced
death almost daily for years. The white
men were mounted, while the blacks
were on foot, but they had no trouble in
keeping mp with us. After running
across the grazing lands for about a mile
the trail entered the broken ground
covered with thickets, and at the end OF
another mile we had to leave our horses
and follow the trail on foot. 1t was
quite evident that the fellows did not
fear pursuit, for they had gone at L
leisurely pace, and the men best ac-
quainted with the country predicted that
the gang had headed for a rocky ravint
in the midst of heavy growth, about
six miles from the cabin. The predic
ton was soon verified, and we wen
forward with greater caution, hoping thu
fellows would be sound asleep aftel
their nights carnival. They had takeI
two gallons of whisky from the cabin
and the chances were that they would b.
stupidity drunk.
When within about two miles of tn
ravine we suddenly ran into an ambusl
and received a volley. One white mai
: was killed and another wounded, ant
: one black man was stretched dead
a Shaw was acting as Captain of our troops
" and he ordered us to deploy and advanc
S in open order. The rangers were in
o thicket, and we soon drove them out ant
IS killed one. In pressing on after tn
n others we became more and more sepa
e rated, and after bit l found mysel
= alone to the right of the others. | KEEP
It advancing toward the ravine, supposin
If the others to be doing the same, and
is had advanced a mile or more beyond tn
d point where we had been ambushed whe
st it suddenly occurred to me that | wa
acting very rashly in separating myse
s by such distance. / at once bore I
d the left to join forces, but, unknown
re me, all the others had halted half mi
v in the rear, held brief council, and the
ye decided to retreat. l was still beann
ye to the left, and wondering why did nj
le discover any of the troop, when II
to whole gang of rangers suddenly rose u
j. from the earth around me, and was
20 prisoner. There were six of the wicked
I'd est-looking villains an honest man ev
st clapped eyes on. They were rough
" dressed, their hair and whiskers lon
ee and unkempt, and their clothing W
he mostly of sheep skins. / have seen son
ry hard looking mon in my time, but new
ce ANYTHING to compare with this half doz,
lr who were under the leadership of Il
a notorious Joe Trimble. This man h;
k been transported for murder, and duril
n. the two years he was in the colony
SIS killed two guards and led n revolt.
le escaped from Tasmania by floating out
TX the harbor on n plank, being loaded doy
with forty pounds of chain at the tim
to but whether he was picked up at sea
h. driven to Australian coast was not know
or to the authorities. He got there SON
o. how, and for two years previous to L
&C. story had been "A veritable terror in a d
en- trict 100 miles square.
en- For minute after the rangers rose
ed about me not a word was said. Ea
&C. man was heavily armed, and, though
IRE had a rifle in my hands, it would ha
le- been folly to move.
cir "Well, who are you?" asked the leadr
after we had all taken good look
a each other.
es- gave him all the information ask
le- for, and was honest in stating the nu
no Der of the party in pursuit. They
he not know that the ranger whom
he had seen lying dead had fallen by c
Ia bullets, but supposed he had becol
,er separated from them as they retreatC
nd When l admitted his death their IA
nd knew no bounds. Had l been an I
est armed traveller they would dOubtl
rst have taken my life Just the same, for Il
ny gang had never been known TO spare a
w one. But when they knew that was G
rs of the party, and was more or less respC
nd sible for the death of their comrade, I'll
ed would have cut me to pieces then a