The Opelousas courier., 1889-11-30

left the place until about an hour before
our arrival. Everything Of value which
'ouid be carried off was gone, and q
bloody knife was left stickingi in the door.
Sill as q sort of def to Shaw and the of.
Gcers of the law.
There was no Government patrol in
that district at thet time. and the only
move we could make was to alarm the
Two nearest ranchmen and organize a
pursuit on our Uwn account. By noon
next Gay we had ten white men and
about twenty faithful blacks in hand for
= start, and the trai.. was taken I'm at
he cabin. No one had any great hopes
hat we should overtake the rangers
but 10. was argued that pursuit must b.
made or theyxwould soon terrorize thu
whole district. five did happen to I'm,
cover them there would be a hot fight.
Every ranger had a price set on his head,
and would fight to the death, and tho
Tanchmen wEe 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 mild
the trail entered the broken ground
covered with thickets, and at the end of
another mite we had to leave u horses
and follow the trail on foot. 1t was
quite evident that the fellows did not
fear pursuit, for they had gone at q
leisurely pace, and the men best &C.
quainted with the country predicted that
the gang had headed for o rocky ravine
in the midst of q heavy growth, about
six miles from the cabin. The predic-
ton was soon verified, and we went
forward with greater caution, hoping the
fellows would be sound asleep after
their nights carnival. They had taken
two gallons of whisky from the cabin,
and the chances were that they would be
stupidity drunk.
When within about two miles of the
ravine we suddenly ran into an ambush
and received a volley. One white man
was killed and another wounded. and
one black man was stretched dead.
Shaw was acting as Captain of our troops,
and he ordered US to deploy and advance
in open order. The rangers were in a
thicket, and we o drove them out and
killed one. In pressing on after the
Others we became more and more sepa-
rated, and after a Bit I found myself
alone to the right Of the others. I kept
advancing toward the ravine, supposing
the others to be doing the same, and I
had advanced a mile or more beyond the
point where we had been ambushed when
it suddenly occurred to me that I was
acting very rashly in separating myself
by such a distance. I at once bore to
che left to join forces, but, unknown to
me, all the others had halted half q mile
in the rear, held q brief council and then
decided to retreat. I was still bearing
to the left, and wondering why I did not
discover any of the troop, when the
whole gang Of rangers suddenly rose up
from the earth around me. and ! was q
prisoner. There were six of the wicked.
est-lookfng villains an honest man ever
clapped eyes on. They were roughly
dressed, their hair and whiskers long
and unkempt, and their clothing was
mostly of sheep skins. I have seen some
hard looking men in my time, but never
anything to compare with this half dozen
who were under the leadership of the
notorious Joe Trimble. This man had
been transported for murder, and during
the two years he was in the colony he
killed two guards and led a revolt. He
escaped from Tasmania by floating out Of
the harbor or a plank, being loaded down
with forty pounds of chain at the time,
but whether he was picked up at sea or
driven to Australian coast was not known
to the authorities. He got there some
how, and for two years previous to my
story had been a veritable terror in a dis
trict 100 miles square.
For a minute after the rangers rose up
about mo not a word was said. Each
man was heavily armed, and, though I
had q rife In my hands, it would have
been folly to move.
"WelI, who are your asked the leader,
after we had all taken q good look at
each other.
Igaye him all the information asked
for, and was honest in stating the num-
Der Of the party In pursuit. They did
not know that the ranger whom I
had seen lying dead had fallen by our
but supposed he had become
separated from. them as they retreated.
When I admitted his death their rage
knew no bounds. Had I been an un-
armed traveller they would doubtless
have taken my life just the same, for this
gang had never been known to spare any
one. But when they knew that I was
the party, and was mo OF less respon.
for the death Of their eomrade, they
would have cut ma to pieces then and
there had it not occurred 20 them that
such q death was too merciful for me.
And, too, they were not wars Of the
iact that Shaw's party had retreated.
After an outburst, lasting three or four
minutes, I was disarmsd, my pockets
emptied, my hat appropriated by one,
and my jacket by another, and we set off
for the ravine at q dog trot, two Of the
men going before and the others follow
after me and striking me at every
opportunity.
The ravine was a dark and dismal
lpot, reached by Q well worn path. wind
ng about and making q gradual descent.
We went down In single file, and when
we finally got TO the bottom I found q
lut made Of brush and limbs and rock,
Nth the numerous evidences that the
,lace had long been occupied as head
It had now come to be SUM-