The Somerset reporter., 1891-02-26

with. We bad as arms doubls barrelled
shOigun.a revolver aud a rife. The turn
key had the revolver. or was supposed 10
have ii, but In looking around the CORR.
dor | found IL hanging on q nall behind
the door Leading Into the dwelling part.
I II wae loaded, and | myself loate1 the
/ other arms, taking them into the dwelling
/ part to do N. The keys to the front and
back doors were 10 the llcks. remove /
them without Andrews knowledge.
Now. TO understand what took place.
you must have the lay Of the jail II was
only oue story high. There wa door
At either end Of the corridor. Midway
there WAS door and a passageway to the
dwelling part, which was composed Of
three rooms. There were two windows
10 the corridor, both strongly Tended
and the doors were very mssslve The
door into the dwelling part was only an
ordinary light door. When O'Clock
came stood In this doorway. with moth
er looking over my shoulder and we had
all the weapons on the kitchen table
had the front door key in my hand, ready
10 let Thomas out In case nothing hap
peued. He and Jim came to .he iron
door and shook hands, and Jim SAT-: :
We'll ! shall depend on you to get
those witnesses
"Oh. Of course, of course was the re-
ply. Il may drop in some day next week
with some good uns.n
~ hope so"
We'll, keep up your courage Good
by
go od-by."
Andrews turned the key and let T1on-
as out. into the corridor. None of them
had seen us, tecause we were further
Town. Andrews had swung the door
about hslt shut when Thomas turned on
aim aud struck him with his fiat behiud
the ear. The turnkey fell in heap, and
then Thomas drew q revolver and struck
MIN twice with the butt of it By this
time Black Jim WAS out in the corridor,
and | saw revolver in his hand Mother
screamed out as Thomas struck the turn
key second time, and both Williams made
dash for us. shut the door in their
faces, however, and it was bolted as they
came against It, We ran through to the
kitchen, and In five minutes we had the
passage barricaded with the table, q cup
bosrd, aud several chairs. II they broke
down the door we were to make Sour
fight here.
After few kicks ON the door the fel-
found the key gone, however, aud like
wise discovered that getting out of the
corridor was not getting out of jail. 1t
seemed that Thomas had b; ought nothing
with him but clothing and firearms, bav-
ing planned to dispose of the turnkey
just as he did. They could fad nothing
out stick of wood to work at the doors
or windows with, aud they made nc pro-
gress toward liberty. They were work
ing for half an hour before they realized
that the way to liberty was through The
dwelling part. They no doubt supposed
mother and bad fed, for they began at
the door without calling to us. They kick
ed the panels out aud reached through and
unbolted It, | wanted to fire, but mother
restrained me, hoping it would be un-
necessary. AS the door swung open /
shouted to them, and they could not help
seeing the barricade' They drew back,
and Black Jim said
"See here, Mrs., we don't want to
hurt you or the cub, but we are determin-
ed to get out of this if we have to iill you
bothir
Throw us that front-door KEY or we'll
murder you!' added his companion.
Mother and | were both trembling but
still we were not cowards The brutal
attack on Andrews had given US courage
Instead OF taking 1t away. She would
not trust herself to answer, but | replied
81 will shoot If you attempt to enter the
passage"
Are you armed?" I heard Thomas ask
MAY have revolver"
We've got to go that way, and we've
no time to lose. It's only woman and
cub anyhow"
| WAS kneeling down behind the barri-
cade, with the shotgun poked through a
big crevice, and l cooked both barrels
Mother YVES behind me, having the revol-
yer in hand. Shielding their bodies be-
hind the jambs, the fellows fired two
shots apiece into the barricade. and then
made rush. | pulled both barrels as
soon as saw them, and for sixty seconds
there was smoke, shouts, curses, and
groans. ! knew that both of them were
down, but as they kept firing, could not
say whether they were hurt or not. After
the rumpus had died out, Black Jim call
ed
"For Gods sake give me some water
You've done for the both of u.s."
Peering above the barricade | could see
them on the floor, and after making sure
there was no trap, we tore away the de-
fence and went to their aid. The shot
gun was loaded with bird shot of good
size, and the range had been only ten
feet. Thomas had got his dose in the
right leg and hip, and Black Jim, who
was crouching down as fired, was
wounded in the face and shoulder. Both
thought they were done for, and made no
resistance as we dragged them into the
ward. When we had the door locked |
went for help and doctor, and after an
hour secured them both. Then we found
that Andrew was as good as dead, his
skull being fractured, and that the two
desperadoes were only severely wounded.
1t was only ten days before they were
me wing about the corridor. Father re-
turned home the next morning, and |
went with him to the old clsarings and
found two superb horses. The "lawyer"
was simply Black Jim's partner, and he
bad made bold stroke to get him out of
jail, and it was only two years ago that
saw Black Jim as l went through the
Minnesota state prison. Thomas, as he
was always called, died about ten years
aso-N. Y. Sun