The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1890-12-10

the government, indeed an unpardon.
able offense. Suppose we retire to some
secluded woodland dell, and there study
the situation. Young man." he added,
addressing me, ''you are cordially in
vited to accompany us"
'I-rd rather not go,' I replied, be-
ginning for the first time TO fully realize
my position. s'If it's all tho same to
you" added, "rll go on home"
"Well, my dear young friend and fell
low worker" began the man, but his
gruff voiced companion interrupted him:
"Oh, let up on that, Andyl We amt
got any time to lose. Come along,
young fellow!''
And before l had time to protest I
was seized by one arm, hurried to the
roadside, across the ditch and in among
the trees. 1 believe began to cry and
beg; it would have been strange if 1 had
not done so; but, in language more force
full than elegant, was ordered to hold
my peace. In the mean time the first
robber was threading his way carefully
through the thin underbrush among the
hemlocks in thick darkness, and we
were following him. 1t seemed to me a
very long time that we journeyed thus.
In reality it must have been only few
minutes. When we stopped the leader
said
Here's kind of an open place; let's
hold up here. Bill, where's that cam
dleP'
Presently 1 heard the swapping of a
match, and saw Bill lighting piece of
candle which he had unrolled from bit
of newspaper. Looking around me, by
the light of this candle was not slow
to recognize the place. We were in tn.
path of which have spoken, on little
plateau just above the brook. Indeed
the soft ripple of waters could be heard
at no great distance from us.
now for the first time recognized the
two men as those whom 1 had seen step
from the stage coach at the crossing, and
Iknew instinctively that they had follow
ed me for the very purpose of robbing
the mail. The one addressed as Andy
had already laid tho mail pouch flat ON
the ground, and with an open jacklznife
poised in one hand was passing the
thumb and forefnger of the other hand
carefully along the leather surface, as if
considering the proper point for the
blade to penetrate. had seen butchers
do the same thing before cutting up a
side Of beef, and the similarity of move
ment now was very suggestive.
"Here goesp he said finally, pushing
the knife point firmly into the leather;
then, with a strong, dexterous sweep, he
drew tho blade down lengthwise of the
bag, and laid it open nearly from top to
bottom.
"Give the candle to the boy, Bill, )" he
said, land you help mo sort this stuff
over. Here, YOU he added, addressing
me, "hold it here, here where / can see.
If you move it an inch rll-Tll excom-
municate you'll"
With trembling hand, teeth chatter
ing in my head and too greatly overcome
with establishment and fear to speak,
sat and held the flaring candle while he
spread wide the gap in tho ruined mail
bag and poured the contents Of it to the
ground. The packages of papers were
quickly cast aside and the bundle of let
ters taken up.
In those days each separate bunch Of
letters was carefully folded in brown
paper, and the postoffice address placed
on the outside before intrusting it to tho
mail bag. These wrappers were pulled
hastily off by the robbers, and the letters
inclosed in them were looked over rapid
ly, many of them being torn open before
they were thrown down. Nearly the en-
tire contents of the mail bag were gone
over in this way before any money was
found, and both men began to look dis
appointed and angry. At last Andy
came upon a thick envelope of brown
manila paper, with seal in red wax on
the back.
"Here it isf' he said, holding it up
triumphantly for Bill to see. 81 knew l
couldn't be mistaken about its being
here. Bob told me, you know, and Bob
always tells the truth"
He had risen to his feet in the mean
time, scattering the remainder of the
letters from him disdainfully, had
opened his coat, and was about to put
the package into an inner breast pocket.
"Hold onl" exclaimed his companion,
rising also. "Open it up, Andy; let's
see how much they is in it, anyway"
''Oh, that's all right" was the reply.
81 know how much there is in it. Well
open it when we get to q safer place.
Come, let's fix tho boy and get out O.
this
1 trembled till the candle nearly
dropped from my hand. What did he
mean by fixing the boy2 presume |
should have begun to cry and beg again
had not Bill spoken up somewhat threat
eningly:
"Look here, Andyl That's the trick
you played tho last time. You pocketed
the swag an held off an spent it, till it
turned out didn't get more'n half my
fair share. That's played out. l want
divvy on this, and want it now"
Andy looked at him coolly u minute
before replying.
"You had your fair share Of every
thing that wasn't spent in common" he
replied at last. "Now, don't be fool,
Bill. I'll keep the money, an when we
get to safe place you'll get what be-
longs to YOU" He made again as If to
put the package in his pocket, but be-
fore he could do so Bill had seized his
arm. 'Divider he exclaimed gruffly.
II say divide, an do it now"
Even by the dim light of the faring
candle I could see the red and white
passion glowing in Andy's face.
Glands of, you dogr" he cried, Glands
of, or I'll hurt your
But the other only frightened his grip
and muttered the one word:
"Divide!p
For moment there was silence. The
two men stood there glazing into each
others eyes, and I, with the candle tip
ping in my hand and the melted tallow
burning my fingers, stared at them in
stupid fright. Suddenly there was a
whirling fist, the sound of sharp blow,
and the next instant tho two men were
writhing in each others arms.
The package over which they fought
was hurled from Andy's grasp, struck