Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1891-11-09
STEALING CROPS OF RARLEY.
An Exciting Duel With Thieves.
FROM the Denver Republican.


A daring attempt to steal a whole field
of barley that had just been thrashed has
been made at the farm of ]. NJ Mumford,
on the line of the Burlington ditch, nine
niles northeast of Denver. The barley
had been bagged, and the bags stood piled
up in field some distance from Mum
ford's house. Just at dusk a young fell
low 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 aud throw-
ing them over and the other two We're
loading the wagons. He soon saw that
they were not Mumfords 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 Mum
ford's house and told him of what was GO
ing on. J. S. Fost~, neighboring far
mer, was called in, and soon six men We're
got together, all armed, and they started
ont 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 at
work. 1t was impossible to see anything
and a consultation was held to try to de-
eide the best way TO go abOut the capture.
While the six horsemen were gathered in
group, talking in low tones together, a
flash of lightning from tine cloudy sky lit
up the field. 1t disclosed a man with a
barley sack upon his shoulder not fifteen
feet away, and close at hand the two wag-
ons, with the other three men at work.
One of the hOrsemen, almost as Quick as
the flashing lightning, pulled his weapon
aud took aim, and before darkness once
more hid the scene shot from his pistol
rang out upon the sir. This was the sig
nal for general fusillade that filed the
dark night with flashing pistol shots.
The thieves returned the hOrsemen's 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
III II way 1t WAS evident IIilI Tie
two men outside the fence had fed and
left their companions to take the conss-
quences of their acts. When the firing
ceased the six horsemen made a search for
the remaining men, but they could not be
found. They had fled in the darkness.
An examination 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 a mile away they found the
wagons, but the horses and men were
gone. The wagons We're half filed with
sacks of barley, and a number of empty
bags were found with the marks of Den
yer firm upon them, so that it seems prob
able that the thieves came from this city.
The wagons are now at Mr.. Mumford's 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 leading
to the fence, but there it was lost. The
attempted robbery alarmed the neighbor-
ing farmers, and an examination was
made, which resulted in the discovery
that seventy-two sacks of wheat, which
one of the farmers had stored in distant
field, had disappeared. 1t is supposed
that the thieves were the same ones who
tried to steal Mumford's barley.