The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-11-27
srEAuNe a cRop OF BAILEY.
An Exciting Battle in the Dark with
Dangerously Armed Thieves.

An Exciting Battle in the Dark with
Dangerously Armed Thieves.
A daring attempt to steal a whole field
of barley that had been thrashed has
been made at the farm Of J. NJ. Mum
ford, on the line of the Burlington ditch,
nine miles northeast of Denver. The
barley had been bagged, and the bags
stood piled Up in a field some distance
from Mumford's house. Just at dusk
young fellow who was taking short
cut across the fields saw four men at
work loading the sacks Of barley into
two wagons that stood outside the field.
Two Of the men were carrying the sacks
to the fence and throwing them over
and the other two were loading the wag
ons. He soon saw that they were not
Mumford's farm hands. Mumford's
men would have driven the wagons into
the fields, and besides, they would be
very strange farm hands indeed that
would work with the desperate haste
with which these men were working.
The young fellow went at first to
Mumford's house and told him of what
was going on. J. S. Foster, neighbor-
ing farmer, was called in, and soon six
men were got together, all armed, and
they started out on horseback to catch
the barley thieves.
The night was dark and cloudy, and
it was impossible TO see any distance, but
they rode in the direction of the place
where the barley was stacked, and soon
they could hear the voices Of the men al
work. 1t was impossible to see any
thing, and a consultation was held to try
to decide the best way TO 90 about the
capture While the six hOrsemen were
gathered in a group, talking in low
tones together, a fash Of lightning from
the cloudy sky lit up the field 1t dis
closed man with a barley sack upon
his shoulder not fifteen feet away, and
close at .hand the two wagons, with the
other three men at work One of the
horsemen. almost as quick as the fash
ing lightning, pulled his weapon and
took aim, and before darkness once more
hid the scene a shot from his pistol rang
out upon the air. This was the signal
for a general fusillade that filed the
dark night with flashing pistol shots.
The thieves returned the horsemen's
fire, and the horsemen kept it up until
their ammunition was exhausted The
only aim for either side was the flashing
pistol shots Of the others, so that not
much damage was done. None Of the
hOrsemen were hurt While the firing
was going on the wagons were heard
driving off, the drivers whipping up
their horses in a furious way. 1t was
evident that the two men outside the
fence had fed and left their companions
to take the consequences Of their acts.
When the firing ceased, the six horse
men made a search for the remaining
men, but they could not be found. They
had fed in the darkness. An examina-
ton of the barley bags showed that a
great many of them had been taken, and
the horsemen at once went in pursuit OF
the wagons.
About half mile away they found
the wagons, but the horses and men were
gone. The wagons were half filed with
sacks of barley, and a number of empty
bags were found with the marks OF
Denver firm upon them, so that it seems
probable that the thieves came from this
city. The wagons are now at Mr.. Mum
ford's place waiting for an owner.
In the morning an examination was
made Of the field where the shooting took
place. A trail of blood was found lead
ing to the fence, but there it was lost.
The attempted robbery alarmed the
neighboring farmers, and an examination
was made, which resulted in the discov-
cry that seventy-two sacks of wheat
which one OF the farmers had stored in a
distant field had disappeared. 1t is sup
posed that the thieves were the same
ones who tried to steal Mumford's bar
ley Denver Republican.