St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-03-20
SMUGGLER JOCK.

1Hc UOflIIlO uUiIIl COuDlIlC. IL
makes my old blood circulate more free
ly merely to write these words. As old
soldiers love to fight their battles DER
again, so we of the hills and dales live.
merhinks, more in the past than we do
in the workaday present of this swirl
Ing world. The very thought OF the
wild northern glenS aWakenS pleasant
memories. To see them but once woald
be to love them for lite. To have been
born amid their beautieS-what more
could man desire than this? Every
acre of their picturesque desolation is
rich in stories of the past; and every
ruinous peelhouse recalls the border
foray and the fierce mosstrOoper Of
other days. Through the ravines cattle
lifterS have jOurneyed far and wide in
pursuit of their nefariOus trade; while,
high up the rocky hillsides. silkies. COB
Inns, broken men, outlaws and Smug-
glers have disputed. for supremacy.
The glenS which stretch between the
North and the South Tyne, lying. as
they did, outside the direct track of
civilization, were, fifty years ago and
upward. much affected by defrauders of
the revenue and others who had but
scant respect for national laws and Gus
toms. In one of the most secluded of
these stood small house which bore
somewhat dubious reputation. Few
even of the hardy residents in the dis
trict cared to approach it after nghtfall.
The characters of its inmates were too
well known. The very appearance of
the house was against it. 1t was ap-
parently entirely cut off from the out
side world. No amount of search availed
to discover any direct entrance to its in
terror.
The massive. dingy walls were wholly
innocent of dOOrways, but abutting
upon one corner of the building there
stood a dilapidated cowhOuse. 1t was
through this forbidding entrance that
the house must be reached. if it were
reached at all. Here. after probably
falling over spitefully disposed long
horned COW, the explorer would be
broken crockery, bottles and sharp
fragments of tin and iron, the accumu,
lation of many years. Only after a
safe and fortunate steerage between
this Scvlla and Charybdis of bovine
malice and cottar rubbish could the
den Of the occupant of the house be
reached.
This was single large room.in which
all the Lares and PenateS were exposed
to view at glance. The floor was com
posed of clay, the tenacious clay of the
fenS: not smooth and attractive, if
honely, but rough cast and angular as
a newly macademiZed road. The apart
ment boosted of only single wIgdOw.
set high in the wall. This was often
stopped with tailless coat, a Whisp of
hay and sacks half filled with rubbish.
Above stretched number of roughly
hewn beams, or rafters. bristling with
sticks. faggots and brushwood, upon
which were stored the winters supply
of peats and turfs. with. perhaps, some
thing more. The only means OF access
to this apartment. if such it might be
called. was by a ladder, or stee.
In the bustling times of the Napoleon
ic wars this greWSOme castle of desola-
ton was the home Of noted Smuggler
named Jock St0ckoe, wto was wei
coined, or feared and hated, according
who happened to have dealings with
him. Jock was we'll fitted For his risky
life, for he was man of berculean pro-
portions and was possessed of immense
strength and resolution of iron. He
conducted large and widely extended
trade in brandy, hollands, laces, teas
and thousand and one eXcisable COM
moditieS upon which he should have
paid duty, but did not do SO.
AS imitation is the sincereSt form of
fiattery, Jock had many fiatterers, but
he had no real rivals. His emisSaries,
with their hardy, heavily-laden shell
ties, penetrated to the remotest bounda-
ries of Northumbria and even to Dur
ham, Cumberland, Westmoreland and
even Scotland itself There was not
laird's dwelling or even lonely cOun-
try farm house where Jock was not
known and into which his run goods"
were not freely admitted. The morality
of the time ana country was such that
the smuggler was rather regarded as
benefactor than a criminal. AT the
same time, his reputation for daring
hardihood was so great that the most
resolu.e gauger, thirsting for promo
ton. feared to explore the recesses of
Jocks humble home.
1t so happened that the principal eX-
ciseman for the district died. and shortly
afterWard stranger was appointed to
the post. This caused some diSappoint-
ment among the members of the.staff,
who had looked for promotion all round;
able. The newcomer was not there long
before he heard of Jack StOckoe, and he
resolved to bring that worthy to book.
Like wise man, he awaited his oppor-
tunity, we'll knowing that many bird
has been lost by premature sprlnging
of the trap. He had not long to wait.
TidingS reached him in some mex
plicable manner that valuable cargo
of spirits had been run and was hidden
away upon Stockoe'S premises. With
out moments unnecessary delay the
supervisor applied to the nearest resi-.
dent magistrate for search warrant.
Let sleeping dogs lie mon." said
that worthy, when he was fully ap-
praised of his visitors errand. what
has the honest fellow done to you that
you should want to harry him thus?"
duty demands it," replied the
gauger, pompously. "His most gracious
majesty has been robbed too long, and
too baretacedly, under the very noses Of
his faithful subjects. 1t is time that
these faithless looms learned that the
law is stronger than they"
"But who do you think. mon, will
have the impudence to serve this?'
Queried the worthy official, who even
then had some of Jocks brandy in his
Ccildlo, HIlC LILO iouy oPOhlS Pai tOoh VI
the smuggler's tea.
"That will /, your worship" answered
the exciseman.
''Be it so. l suppose you know that
Jock has sworn to brain the first reve-
nue. officers who dares to set foot within
his doors ?"
"I'll even take my chance of it.
Search his house this very day will"
"Well, my good friend" sighed the
magistrate, ''if you will not be advised,
you must even gan your own gate. A
willtul mon will haze his way; but for
your own sake wish you would think
better of it."
The officer, however, was not to be
moved by either fears or favorS; SO the
necessary search warrant was duly