Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-02-14
SHARING HORSE THIEVES.


SNARING HORSE THIEVES.
An Ak on Hinge Was Deadly and Beal
Trap Worked to Charm.
Nowadays when you com pare man tC
horse thief, you wish to degrade aim
Thirty years ago first class horse thief
excited a certain amount of admiration
and respect. In these days of rapid
transit, telegraph, telephone and police
one can scarcely realize the success which
horse thieves won before the war. They
were the dread and scourge of the far
mer and gillager. They were better Or
ganized than any other class of criminals
and not only stole with nerve, but with
system. In 1856 there was gang with
headquarters in Ohio, which numbered
at. least fifty members, and which had
agents in almost every state in the union
l have seen legal documents to prove that
horses stolen in New Ham psbire found
their way to Georgia, and that horses
stolen in Kentucky were traced to points
in Maine. 1t was no haphazard business
Spies were sent out to locate horses and
then men followed to steal them. When
horse was taken he was sent to q GER
tain agent-a farmer or livery man
kept certain length of time, disguised
if snecessary, and then forwarded to q
second agent still further away. In this
manner, says a New York Sun writer, he
was passed out of the state and hundreds
of miles beyond, and not one was re
covered where five were successfully
carried off. While the crime was made q
very serious one under the law of almost
every state, it was never looked upon by
partioi pants as being anything compared
to burglary, highway robbery or arson
This accounts for the fact that m en- who
were honest III all else were caught pass
ing along stolen horses.
The years 1873 were the palmy days
of the horse thief. In 1858 a genera
movement was made against the fraterpi
ty all over the country, breaking up anC
scattering organizations, and the begin
ming of the war finished the business
Except in the far West the horse thiet
now acts Independently and alone, and i
is rare that one gets safely off with hi'
prize. During the two years I have
named, my father had a farm In Contra
Indiana. | was Is years OLD, and M
health was SO poor that 1 could do NJ
work. Between 1853 and 1857 We lost si1
horses by thieves, not one of which wa
reco sered. One day Sheriff who was OF
the trail of thief visited our place anG
gave me some pointers, and he was NJ
sooner gone than we began to
PLAN AND SCHEME.
We had at tkat time seven good horses
and among them was a span of grays
Uhjah bo al ta State fair
The Sheriff said we would have to stable
them in a bedroom in the house TO keep
them, and the impending peril set my
brains TO work. Father had large mer
camille business in the village three miles
away and the farm was in my charge al
day. We had good barns and the best OF
looks and we also had couple of watch
dogs, but our horses had been stolen Just
the same. Indeed, when the last horse
went, the thief cOaxed away the best dog
The stable door was double lock ed, but he
had used skeleton keys.
On the third day after the sheriff's visi;
couple of strangers drove up in a bug
gy. One of them came in and introduced
himself as the agent of a Cincinnati
lightning rod company, and asked the
privilege of inspecting the rods which
had been put on the horse barn the year
before. He said they were his com papy's
rods, but did not seem to be properly af-
fixed. This was one day in May, and the
span of grays were in the stable. The
rangers seemed honest aud straight, but
the sheriff had warned me to look out for
all corners, and I therefore had my eyes
open. He not OILY looked at the rods,
but ms pected the stables and examined
the doors and locks. Several thugs oc-
cured to satisfy me that he had come to
spy out the Situation, and after the pair
had driven away began preparations for
a visitor. There was what might be called
a vestibule to the stables. As you opened
the door there was a space of about 9x12
feet before you reached the first stall. i
got piece of green hickory six feet long
and shaved it down to the size of an axe
haRdle. One end was pushed into a hole
bored in grit of the stable, and by
means of a piece of clothesline | drew
the other end back until the wood would
stand no more. In front of this bow
or sweep | rugged a cord running
across the vestibule. 1t ran up 6
partition and then down to the end OF
the sweep, where 1 rugged catch. When
TRB TRAP WAS SET
the cord was about four feet inside the
door and across the way TO the stalls
The cord ran across knee high, and E
moderate pressure against it pulled down
catch and let the bow spring back. This
bow was arranged at height of five feet
from the floor, and after few expert
ments [ was satisfied that it would work
all right. From the erd of the bow, as i
was bent back, ran string over the her
house and pig pen to my chamber win
dow, 200 feet away. ] there fastened i
10 bell, and a ring of the bell woulc
mean that the bow had been sprung. The
hired man slept near by, and both of ps
had firearms My father, who drove
| home each night, was quite taken witt
the invention, ard was to turn ont with u.
at the alarm.
Four nights passed without an alarm
| On the fifth night it was dark and rainy
and felt so sure that somebody would
come that did not uDdress. Neither die
the hired man. We sat reading, when, a
a quarter to II, the bell suddenly rang
and lifted Us off our chairs. We seized
our guns, ran down and awoke father
and Lighted the lantern, and in four o.
| five minutes the three of US we're ii the
barn. The stable door was wide open
and Oh the ground outside lay the body
of man. He had picked the locks anG
entered, and he had struck the cord anG
! sprung the sweep. 1t had caught hi
| throat and ne was dead as herring. H
was a man of about 80, well dressed, and
bod in lot iatta NJ