Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-12

. stand back and let me try. He is the
hardest man to xiii I ever saw.
Thornton. becoming very weak from loss
of blood and sick and faint, let go his
hold of the raider and was then con-
fronted by his companion. This one fired away
in rapid succession without doing much dam
age. One ball from his revolver. however,
took effect in Thornton left thigh. To prevent
falling from faintness Thornton sat down upon
the embarkment of his burning house. As he
did so the man whom he had held by the knee
urged the horse forward and. as he came up to
the PROSTATE man. suddenly pulled his horse
back upon his launches and then threw him
forward to trample the life out of the wounded
bleeding man. As luck would have it the fore
feet of the animal came down each side Of
Thornton's left leg. The raider then quickly
leveled his revolver to shoot him again, when
Thornton's wife darted forward. grasped the
bride OF the horse and backed the beast away,
eXClaming as she did 50:
For Gods sake men, let him alone; he's
killed now
The raiders, abashed at their cowardly con-
duct or awed by the presence of the pleading
wife, skunk away to the middle of the street
to reload their empty revolvers. Then they
rode of and were seen no more. Mrs Thorn
ton. with the assistance of Miss Eliza j. Tur-
ner and Miss Pierce, now exerted herself to re-
move Thornton from so close "a proximity to
the burning building. They rolled him upon
a lounge tick and dragged him across the
watched the operations of the raiders in that
part of the city. His position was close to the
CITY hotel. where Quantrell had established his
headquarters. He witnessed the shooting of
MIR. Stone, the proprietor, Mr.. j. H. Brown
also one-armed pedder and a stranger from
Ohio. He saw the raiders fire the hotel and
then depart. The next alarm was from the
appearance of
BAND OF DELAWARE INDIANS.
MIS-. thornton became greatly alarmed, declar-
ing that men and women would now be MUIR
dered in cold blood. But the Indians were
friendly and passed on in pursuit of the raid
ers Mr. Thornton. as he lay there, bled pro-
fusely, but his wife, at his request, kept him
drenched III cold water. He received in his
person seven bullets out of twelve shots fired
at HIM. All the bullets W. mt through but two.
One OF these was extracted. the other he still
carries. The cuts on the head from the down
ward strokes OF the revolver while grasping
the raider were all severe, and had to be scwed
up. He WAS confined to his room for eight
months. and he has since been cripple and an
Invalid. Thornton recognized one of his assas-
one he Grapped with-as one Jones,
who formerly lived III Allen county. Kansas
lie ran of some horses and strayed over to
Missouri. He was II small. lIght-cOmplcx iOned
man. His companion was a tall, dark haired
man. He was very dirty and wore a black silk
shirt"
Thornton was truly "a hard man to KILL" for
he lived until two years ago. and during all the
period which interviewed between August, 1860,
and the day of his death. his devoted wife
worked for him and cared for him. She is now
an invalid and helpless. and the Senate COM
mlttee proposes to help her i'll her struggle
which at best must be brief