The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-09-11

afternoon in stage when there was a
jam stage coming down locked
Wneels with us, horse was thrown
oown, and amid the excitement heard
a thin, piping voice crying out:
Why don't you do something? We
shall all be killed before we get out of
this tangled"
The voice belonged to a good-sized
man on the outside of the other stage.
ana spotted him in an instant for
*hllllps. followed him to his hotel,
and from thence to the office of the
French line of steamers, and after he
had purchased ticket / stated the case
to the superintendent of police, and had
him arrested and held until the neees-
sary papers could be had. 1t was
Phillips, sure enough, but how changedl
de had sacrificed Nhiskers and
mustache. He had dyed his eyebrows
and has his hair shipped short. He had
changed his fine clothes for an ordinary
suit, and his beaver for soft felt /
might have sat aud looked at him for
two hours and failed to recognize him,
but his voice had given him away.
In the fall of 1868 paymaster belong.
ing to the Western army suddenly
stepped out of sight with S175, 900 in
new, crisp greenbacks. He was at
Cairo when he received the money from
the Government, and he put it into a
satchel and lost himself between six
O'Clock in the evening and sunrise
next morning. He had been gone three
days when l reached Cairo. He was de-
scribed to me as tall, slim, 1ight-com-
plexioned man, with light side whiskers
blue eyes, and auburn hair There was
nothing peculiar about him except a
habit he had of rubbing the back of the
left hand with the palm of the right
when speaking. This was very slight
clue to work on, but it was all had.
searched for four days between Cairo
and Chicago, but could'n Mt strike his
trail. My idea was that he would head
for the East and seek to get out of the
country, but he had other plans Pretty
we'll satisfied that he didn't leave Cairo
by rail, l began hunting among the
steamboats,. l found, after a long
search, that man, who might possibly
have been the paymaster, took boat
that night up the river, but how far no
one could say. The information was SO
vague that it was like hunting for a
needle in haystack, but went up to
Quincy before making a stop. If he
showed up at st. Louis ne was sure to
be nabbed, as the officers in all the
larger cities had been notified and were
now on the watch. I could hear moth
ing of my man at Quincy, and after
day or two I went on to
Keokuk. 1t was busy times on the
river then, and every body was on
the jump. l could hear nothing of
the paymaster, and was about to
return to Cairo tc take up new line of
pursuit, when stranger approached me
with proposition. He was a farmer,
and perhaps some one had pointed me
out as capitalist or speculator. He
had lot of black walnut timber which
he wanted to get to market, but needed
money as starter. He offered, in case
/ would advance $500, TO give me GER
tain share in the venture, and, as I
thought we'll of it, I drove out to his
place, distance of about twelve miles.
We reached there at night, and next
morning walked through the timber. At
about ten o'clock we came upon the
farm which backed against his, and as
we were both thirsty we went to the
well for a drink. While there the
woman, with whom my friend was we'll
acquainted, came out, and we all sat
down on side porch for chat. After
two or three minutes a man came out,
and she introduced him as her nephew
from Ohio. He was roughly dressed,
but any one with half an eye could see
that he was in disguise. He had shaved
clean, the sun had burned his face
and neck, and his hands were not over
clean, and he explained that he had
served a year in the army, been dis
charged for disability, and had come
out West to rough it for a few weeks. 1
jumped to the conclusion that he was
deserter, but had no idea of troubling
him. 1t was the business of the pro-
vost marshal to pick up such fellows.
We somehow got to talking about some
of the battles on the lower Mississippi,
and as my farmer friend and the
stranger did not exactly agree the dis
cussion waxed hot. Then, to my great
the stranger began to rub
the back of his left hand with his right.
l now compared him with the descrip-
tion, and allowing for the changes he
had made / saw that he must be my
man. Iquietly addressed him by name,
told him who l was and what had
come for, and what do you suppose he
did? He just fell right off his chair in
a regular faint and we worked over him
a quarter of an hour before he opened
his eyes. He had been planning his
for weeks. He was
really the woman's nephew, but she did
not know that he was paymaster. He
had the money in a satchel in his room
and had used only about $50 of it His
plan was to lie in hiding for several
months and then skip to Europe. Y.
Sun.
You seem to have quite sum OF
money in your bank, Bobby" remarked