The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-10-10
A Confession.

1t was one o'clock on cold night in De-
cember, 1868, that l was riding home in ait
old fashioned sullly after hard days drive
/ was coming in from the north on what is
known as the meridian" road, and the mud
was frozen just enough to let my horse and
sulky through and make slow travelling.
Within three miles of home l had to encoun
ter pole road, then but slightly covered
with earth, and i'm the middle of the swamp
is pontOon bridge, which floats on mass
of soft Ooze and mire having no known
bottom. Hundreds of loads of logs, stumps.
stones and earth have been dumped into that
sink hole, only to disappear.
l was nearing this portion of road, my
horse on dog trot and myself half asleep,
when just as / came down the hill at the
edge of the swamp, my horse suddenly
stopped, and OH peering through the dark
ness could just make out the shape of Il
man, but whether he had the horse by the
bit or not could not tell.
My hair stood on end in second for it
was known that there was gang of rascals
vibrating between Ovid and Laingsburg, and
| though had provided myself with revolv
| er for use on such occasions, | forgot all
about it. Quicker than thought lashed my
horse, and as he bounded forward the rOb
| Der, for such he evidently was, leaped
| squarely on his back with his face toward
me and began shooting at me, but as TIE
| horse was OH dead run and | was being
| tossed from side to side by the sulky, he
missed me every time. We were nearing
! the pontOon bridge and going at a terrific
rate of speed, when l chanced to think OF
my own weapon, and drawing il hastily
. leaned forward and putting the muzzle Of
the pistol within two feet of the williams
! face, fired. There was a binding flash, q.
| groan, and l found myself laying in the
marsh grass near the further end of the
bridge. i had been pitched out when the
| sulky wheel passed over the body of the
robber, and the horse. an exceedingly intel
| ligent animal, had stopped after running o
| few rods. With my smoking revolver still in
my hand walked cautiously back and soon
found the robber, lying prone on his back,
and by the light of a match l saw small hole
in his forehead, from which few drops of
blood slowly oozed. My bullet had evidently
pierced his brain and he was dead but what
was j to do with the body? / felt like n
criminal, and still was l not justified? l
could not satisfy myself, however.
In any way, only that i must dispose
of the body i'm some way and keep my own
secret. With this idea uppermost in my
mind thought of the mire hole, and as the
body lay near the centre of the pontoon,
cautiously rolled it off and saw 1t sink i'm the
resembles slough. Then everything grew
| blank around me and fell on the bridge.
How long lay insensible never knew, but
when / woke my horse was licking my
face. / arose. 1t all seemed like dream.
and still there was my revolver with one
empty chamber. l struck match and
| looked for blood ON the planks. There was
none to be seen. With frantic hasteI Sc
cured pole and sounded for the BODY, but
with no satisfactory results. 1t had sunk
forever and left no trace.
| What should / do? The nearest house
was mile away. Should j rouse the
neighbors and tell them? They would
laugh at me, and so locked the secret in
my own heart until the present, and still [
often ask myself and wonder, ''did kill q
man that night?" had upwards of S11 ,0C0
i'm government bonds and greenbacks OH my
person at the time. q.