The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-05-08
SURPRISED BY NIGHT.
HOW THE FAMOUS PONY CLUB WAS
CRUSHED BY THE "SLIcKS."

CRUSHED BY THE SLlCkS."
Secret Band of Horse. Thieves Which
Committed Widespread DepIedations
Throughout the South Was Finally
Wiped Out by Another Secret Band.
Back in the '3Os and '40s there roamed
over the states of North and South Caro-
lima, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisi-
ana, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee a
| devil-may-care band of men who styled
themselves the "Pony club" They were
regularly organized, had grips, signs and
passwords. and duly elected officers. The
initiatory oath was filed with blood curd-
ling blasphemies and iron bound benedic-
tions, the penalty being death to those who
were so foolhardy as to break it. The
story goes that many poor fellow has fed
! alligators in Florida boys and panthers
and wolves in Tennessee's wilds for the
least tendency toward being inharmonious.
Their plan of operation was to steal a
| Florida horse and meet on halfway ground
and exchange him for one fresh from
Tennessee or Ohio; vice versa, with one
| from South Carolina or one from Missis-
| sippi, and it was extremely difficult to
catch up with the right party. But these
| depredations became SO numerous and dar-
ing, and the consequent loss so great that
| the pioneers gathered together and deter
mined to stop their maraudings and bring
| the offenders to justice. So a secret con-
vention was called and band organized
| styling themselves "The Sticks"
When horse was stolen from COM
| munity runners were sent to every county,
and thus the news spread until from the
| Ohio to the Everglades and from the Pc
dee to the Mississippi the warning rolled
| along, and it seemed well nigh impossible
| for thief to escape with a horse. Not
| withstanding all these precautions and
watchfulness, the club existed and did
| some business
TIE CAMP.
During those days Heard, Carroll and
HARRISON were the dark corner Of Georgia,
and if club man could only get his booty
in their thick jungles and forests pursuit
was of little consequence. The truth is,
the majority of the settlers either belonged
to the organizations or were so coerced that
they dared not fight them. This is said
with all due respect to great many heroic
pioneers, whose honest souls yearned for a
better civilization, and, when forbearance
and joined the "Slicks"
About five miles north, above Buchanan,
on the banks of the Tallapoosa river, are
two old race paths now overgrown with
saplings and brush, some of the trees being
as large as a mans waist. The tracks run
parallel with the river, which at this point
is straight and wide. Parallel with and
overlooking these tracks is a steep bluff
about forty or fifty feet high. which com.
pletely shuts the track from view, and ex-
cepting small ravine there is no entrance
or exit. At this place the PONY club" had
its rendezvous. From all quarters they
came here and ran horse races, gambled
danced and caroused generally, and here it
was they exchanged their horses to be
showed in opposite directions. No one lived
near the place, and the gang only entered
it at night, and then only ON Saturday
night. Sunday night there would be
general carousal and leavetakings
1t was years before their retreat was dis
covered. The information fortunately fell
into good, honest hands, and on the Satur-
day following there was more than one
Slick" winding his way toward an ap-
pointed rendezvous, carefully and secretly.
The uninitiated thought every turkey and
deer in the country was going to be killed,
judging from the promiscuous rubbing up,
printing and loading Of the old flint and
steels" Twelve o'clock! The sentry at the
ravine's mouth put his hand to his mouth
and 'Whip-poor-wilI! Whip-poor-willlI
Whlp-poor-willP' plaintive and weird, |
trembled upon the midnight air and floated
OF toward the swamps below.
SURPRISED WHILE ASLEEP.
Far away up the hills came the answer
ing note, whip with will Whip with
will! Whip with will,'' AS the reply, |
waited down the ravine, fell upon the SEN
tlnel's ears, he paused and listened. All
was still; nothing was heard except the |
impatient stamping of the horses. He eau
tlously advanced to the entrance and gazed |
up and dow "a stretch of track. Lying
upon the gid, wrapped in blankets,
were the forms of about 100 men. |
They were sleeping soundly, most of them |
being fatigued by hard days ride. More
than hundred horses were tethered along |
the bank of the stream. Some were beau |
tiful Kentucky thoroughbreds; other. /
Florida mustangs. There were all sorts and |
sizes, but as the Pony boys" were in |
cllned TO be fastidious in their tastes and |
likes, most of the horses were beautiful |
and well kept
Stacked in piles were short carbines and |
rifles, such as could be hidden under coats, |
shawls or cloaks, and hanging all over the
Enclosure were huge horse pistols Sitting |
alongside the bluff in regular order were
jugs and bottles and cups in rich profusion
The tired forms of the men never stirred; |
they slept in peaceful security; their sentry
was at his post.
Presently dark form. slipping from tree
to tree, from bowider TO bowlder was seen
to pass around to the mouth of the ravine
another and yet another, until the whole
wood seemed to be alive with phantoms.
A wild shrek, a shot, splash into the
river, and then pandemonium for about
ten minutes. The Sticks had conquered
for once. 1t was a hand-to-hand fight.
The Pony boys" awoke amid the fame
anu smoke TO find that the enemy was upon
them. They rushed into the shallow river.
aud scattered as fast as they could They
nearly all escaped. Not one was killed
outright, though many were wounded.
Some of the fugitives had TO tramp the un-
broken wilds in attire like that of Father
Adam until they found succoring friends.
AL the horses and great deal Of money
were recovered
The Pony club" was finally crushed
Atlanta Journal.
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