The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-05-05
THEIR AWFUL MISTAKE.
WHEN THEY FOUND IT OUT, IT
WAS TOO LATE.

Harmless Citizen Mistaken for a MUIR
derer and Riddled With Bullets
Terrible Results Of Too
Great Haste.
An old farmer and his wife were re-
Gently murdered under very brutal
circumstances In Napa Valley, says
the Fortnightly Review. The man
who committed the murder was a
Swede named Olsen. and he at once
disappeared. Every effort was made
to lind him. and large rewards were
offered for him, either dead or alive.
he was heard OF. or supposed to be
heard OF, at all sorts of places, but
when hunted up he had either disap-
peared again, or it turned out to be
the wrong man. His escape was the
more remarkable, as be was marked
man, having a large scar on his face
Some weeks after the murder a man
was hunting for strayed cattle in the
mountains and he came upon a small
clearing. A cabin had been built and
some land cleared. and the owner was
splitting wood in front of his door,
The hunter accosted him, and was IN
vited to enter and have some break
fast, which he did. He then noticed
| that his host was man of a some
what peculiar appearance, and that
he had large scar'on his face; 50
after breakfast he abandoned his
hunting and his cattle and rode home
| with all possible speed.
There he gathered some of his
friends to aid him in the capture of
| this desperate criminal. and to share
with him the blood They
armed themselves. mounted their
| horses and started for the scene of
their enterprise. While they arrived
at some distance from the cabin they
| dismounted, tied their horses, and
then, forming a wide ring. they stalked
| their prey. lodging from tree to tree
till they held him in a small circle
guarded on every side. No escape
was possible this time the brutal muir
derer was trapped at last, and his gal
liant captors could almost count the
prico they were to receive.
There he was, still in front of his
cabin, sitting beside the pile of wood
he had chopped. resting from his
labors. his AK lying beside him. little
thinking what was awaiting him.
Yes. there was the very tell-tale scar
| on his face. There could be no mis-
take this time, and the reward was as
good as won.
All of sudden he hears that ter
| rible Western cry. Throw up your
hands!'' rang out from one of the trees
few yards from him. No, he is not
going 10 surrender-he makes a
bound for his ak to defend himself
from his unseen foe, and the next
instant falls pierced by volley from
the rifles of his captors. -
Well it is all over now. The mur-
der is avenged at last and the MUIR
derer lies weltering in his blood his
white upturned face still showing the
fatal scar IS ae,a sf~5s - -
And now they prepare to carry down
the body to the authorities and claim
the reward; but first they have good
look around the place to examine the
den of the wild beast they have just
| extermin ated. Well, there is the
clearing he has made, and the wood
he has cut. and there the cabin he
has built and there is something
| written over the cabin door. What
is it? ... 49,.
They examine it and a very strange
sign they find it for murderer to
| have written up above his abode:
Here the weary shall find rest.n
But probably even murderers need
rest after they have been hunted all
over the country and has he not got
the scar on his face? But still the
captors have an uneasy feeling. and
the blood money does not seem quite
so certain as it was They start for
home. and the body is brought down
to be identified. The sheriff of Napa,
or some who know the veritable o.
sen, is sent for, and then it turns out
that despite the scar on his cheek, he
is not the man they wanted.
And they had no difficulty in finding
out who it was they had murdered for
the price of his blood. He was a
poor, harmless fellow. who had start
ed fairly we'll off. but had been worst
ed all through in the battle of life and
at last beaten and weary of the fight,
forsaken by his friends and even by
his wife, he had retired into the re-
mote spot in the wilderness where,
alone and unfriended. he hoped that
the weary would find rest, and here
at last he found it, the rest that
knows no waking.
| r.. The HCa rtI,sx FOund n tion