The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1891-11-27
A WILD WEST EPISODE.
How "Our Carrie" Saved Her
Husbands Life.

There hal been n mum Der of robbie
ries committed in Dalton, 4 nal Mis-
souri town where / spent a few years
of my life, and my husband cautioned
me not t. leave the house alone or to
let any stranger in during my absence.
i in turn instructed the servant, capa-
Bile girl who had lived with me several
months. and we were both careful to
lock up at night in n secure manner.
Carrie, the girl, carried the key of
side door and let herself in and out
when she wished. did not even know
when she came or went, so thor
oughly did | trust her, and the back
part Of the house was entirely cut off
from the front She was always on
hand when needed. and she had entire
charge of the silver and free access to
all our valuables. But she never took
a pin from us or in any way betrayed
our trust in her.
Dalton was n wild west town made
up of all nationalities and at times
overrun with desperadoes, but there
had been n long interval of peace,
when one lovely Sabbath afternoon my
husband took me out for drive. We
were jogging along quietly on pleas
ant country road, skirted by a dense
through the woods the trampin. of
men and horses They made a great
tumult before we could see them, and
as they burst into sight we saw that
they had a prisoner, a young man,
whom they dragged between them.
'.Horse thiefI' said my husband; II
shouldn't wonder If they nang him."
.'Oh! hope not, he is SO young" l
exclaimed, and i thought the man
caught my words. for lie looked up sud
denly and flashed ON me a glance of
quick intelligence
why, who is he? Where have l
seen him before?' / asked My hus-
band inquired of a man in the party,
and he said the fellow was stranger.
but he is a slick one, and W.. c1.u -ght
him red handed He amt no common
rascal. and he has pals to help him If
they'll let law and justice take their
course we will get the whole gang"
''But they won't"
My husband shook his head ominous-
ly as he said this The men were
walking along with their prisoner in
that dead quiet of speech and manner
which is natural to the vigilantes on
their desperate errands-
IF it wasn't Sunday" he continued.
there might be a chance for the fell
low. but they are just ripe for such
work, and fear the poor wretch will
never zee daylight again"
Cannot you help him?- / asked,
eagerly. THAT mans face looked SO
familiar Could we have seen him or
known him somewhere in our liv3s?'
II never saw him till now, / am
sure" he answered; land yet he does
remind me of some one, but we may
have seen him on the streets He is
rather better looking than the average
man of his profession"
''Will you try to save him? You
know they will listen to you"
My husband held prominent position
in state politics and / knew he was
very popular. But he said the city Of
ficials would protect him, if any could,
and we rode home, talking over other
matters
At supper we referred to it again.
Carrie was coming in with a plate of
hot biscuits and she dropped them on
the floor. breaking the dish into
pieces She muttered an excuse. say
ing that she was frightened at hearing
of such things happening in Christian
community, and withdrew from the
room
Il hope she won't want to leave u.s."
/ remarked; ''she is such good girl, !
could never replace her. / always
thought she was well brought up, and
she has a good education"
Yes said George rather indiffer-
emily, ''she seems to have more refin-
ment than the native girls, but dare
say we could find SOMEONE to replace
her"
After supper, when the tea things
were washed, Carrie went out She
did not usually ask leave, and l never
cared how much she was away after
her duties were performed
watched her going out of the gate,
and wondered idly why tall, good
looking girl like her had no lovers or
followers. And then it occurred to me
that there was just a little mystery
about the girl. had taken her with
out any recommendation / built up
a little theory of my own, in which
made her a heroine in a love story,
and had her run away from home to
avoid an unhappy marriage.
George in the meantime had heard
in the value Nothing is more essen
tial than the accurate determination of
the weight of the sample and of the
metal obtained from it. 1t requires
keen sight and most delicate adjust
ment in the hand which manipulates
the lilliputian scales of an assayer's
table The smallest weight used in the
mint is found in the assay room; it is
the thirteen-hundredth part of grain.
and can scarcely be seen with the