The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-12-28
A RACE WITH IDAHO ROBBERS.
Joaquin Miller Relates an Experienc
of His Youth.
From the st. Nicholas.


From the St. Nicholas.
was lying ice-bouud at Lewiston, Idaho.
Men wanted to send money below to their
friends or families; merchants, anticipating
the tremendous rush, must get letters
| through the snow to Walla Walls. Woud
go2 Could go?
The snow was deep. The trails, over open
and monotonous mountains, were drifted
full. Could any living man face the drift
ing snow and find his way to Walla Walia3
At first the merchants had tried to hire In
dams to undertake the trip aud deliver their
letters. Not one could be found to 60.
When the storm abated little, the men
who kept the ferry across the Shoshonee
river scraped off the snow, and, cutting
| down the upheAved blocks Of ice, made IL
possible to cross with horse.
At first l meant to carry only letters But
having finally consented to take little gold
for one merchant soon found should lose
friends IL did not take gold for Others. The
result was that / had to take gold worth
nearly ten thousand dollars.
A few mutfied-up friends came down to
the river bank to see me of. 1t was great
| event. For two weeks we had not had q
line from the outer world And meantime
tae civil war was raging in all its terrible
fury. As / set out that bleak and ICY morn
ing, after had mounted my plunging pony,
l saw in the crowd several faces that I did
not Like. There was Dave English, who was
hung on that spot with several of his
followers, not forty days later; there was
Boone Helm, hung in Montana; Cherokee
Bob, killed in Millersburg; and also Canada
Joe. This last lived with some low Indians
a little way down the river. So when he
rode ahead of me / was rather glad than
| otherwise, for I felt that he would not 40
far. kept watch Of him, however. And
when l saw that he skulked around under
the hill, as if he were going home, and then
finally got back into the trail knsw there
was trouble ahead.
| But the "Rubicon" was now behind. My
| impetuous horse was plungiug in the snow
| and | was soon tearing through the storm
up the hill. Once fairly on my way |
looked back below. Dave English and
| Boon Helm were bidding good-by to two
mounted cowboys at the ferry house. Ten
minutes later, as looked Lack through the
binding snow, l saw that these two des-
perate fellows were following me.
True, there was nothing criminal in that.
| The two highway men had a right to ride
behind me If they wished. And Canada
Joe had just as good right to ride ahead
of me. But TO be on a horse deep in the
binding snow and loaded down with gold
was bad enough. To have a desperate
blocking the narrow trail before you with
his two friends behind you was fearful
| | bad two six-shooterS close at hand
under the bearskin flap of my saddle bag
where the gold was. kept my left hand
in my pocket where lay small six-shooter
warm and ready. Once, as the drifting and
| binding snow broke away up the noun
| tain, saw Canada Joe with his head bent
down in the storm still pushing on ahead
| of me at safe distance. A few moments
after, as l crossed and climbed the farther
bank of an ugly canyon, the two robbers
came close enough to hail me- One OF
them held up bottle. They evidently in
| tended to overtake me il they could, and
profess to be friendly. This must not al
low. urged my ambitious horse to his
best. But, to my dismay, as fastened up
a narrow pass / found that l was not far
behind Canada Joe. This low-browed,
black fellow was reported to be the worst
man in all that country. And that was
| saying he was bad indeed.
was now but few hundred yards be-
| hind Canada Joe. SO far as l could find
out, the robbers were closing in on me.
| But we had ridden over the toughest part
of the road and were within a few miles OF
the Ugh plateau 50 that the wind was tear
ing past in q gale, and the drifting snow
almost blinded me.
Suddenly, had a new thought. Why
not mako TO the left, gain the plateau by a
new route. and let these bloodthlrsty rob.
bers close their net without mo insidef 1
| rose in my saddle with excitement at the
idea. aud striking spurs TO my brave horse,
| was soon climbing up the gradual slope at
a Rallop Ali but ! was glad. Gallopi
gallop( gallopl seemed 70 hear many
horses. Turning my head suddenly over
my shoulder. / saw my two pursuers not a
! hundred yards behind me. They shontedI
was nov ON the high plateau and the
snow was not 80 deep. GallOpl gali0pi gal
| l0pl Canada JOe-thank HeayeB-was away
% the right, and fast falling behind. Gal
I lopi gallOpi ga.l0pl ! was gaining on The
robbers and they knew IL. Fainter ana
fainter came their cgrses and their shouts
And fheni WhEl Crack fbudi
looked back AID saw that they both hn9
thrown themselves from their saddles en9
I Befo taking aHlibefate aim.
kgt w. 80 puFplEe. M one shot touched
me ~ niy y ifsc. saG / rnaeilea chs flfsl sta
iiog an1, finally, rods into Halis AsiAa,