The record-union., 1892-10-29
WITH EVANS AND SONHAG.
Squink Makes a Sneak on the Out
laws Stronghold,
But Is Compelled to Remain and Par
take of Their Peculiar Hospital
ity, Such as 1t Is.
In THE GOOSE CREEK MOUNTAINS,
r i


II miles from elsewhere.
1 EDS. RECORD UNION: With my usual
enterprise and remorse, L have finally
succeeded in being defeated in my plans.
have again met with charge of BIB
shot and complication of disasters.
If you have any more correspondents
who aspire to distinction and a small
salary, and whom you wish to dispose of,
send them after the cholera or "our lost
explorers" at the North Pole, for l shall
explode the Evans-Sontag attraction.
Hunting interviews with train-robbers
may be fascinating for amateurs to think
of, but the pleasant features of the busi-
ness are only in supposition and in the
contemplation. The real thing is one OF
the most troublesome occupations I have
ever INDUCED in since the war.
When man of emotional tempera-
ment, like myself. hunts for weeks for
train-robbers, inspired with great expec-
tations and filled with hope of success,
and then finds them, he usually loses all
faith in everything and becomes blase
and sour while he picks shot out Of him
self.
After tramp of indescribable difficulty
in this remote region, during which l en-
countered everything except something
to eat, | finally met with a double hand
full of goose shot, and an otherwise warm
reception, by the bow-legged bandits
whom | am now compelled to speak of
conservatively, as they edit my CORE
spondence.
L was directed hither by fate, after I
had found every place else, which is the
same old way in which fate has handled
me heretofore. If 1 could get out Of here
L would be elsewhere Immediately; but,
Tor reasons for which am not response
bic, these midnight marauders and assas-
sins, whom l dare refer to only in
mild terms, want to keep me on hand.
They have use for me. am quite
handy they say.
About week after | found this camp,
and got what there was in a dOuble-bar
relied shotgun, l revived sufficiently to
hand in my credentials as a reWspaper
correspondent and ask them to sort me
over and see if | was still alive and able
to be around. They extracted most of the
shot that l could spare, and they want to
use them again in future. They did all
they could to keep me from dying with
their usual cold-blooded audacity.
tried several times to get gun and try a
shot or two myself, but Evans and Son
tag had strings on them. Whenever [ get
sight of gun or knife now it always
has one of the robbers on it, and l have
to walk off to one side and pray.
They use me chiefly for decoy now
Whenever they think anyone is coming
who may be dangerous they stand me up
in conspicuous place to attract the fire
of the intruder, while they make a flank
movement. So far none of the active
officers in pursuit of my distinguished
companions have come within range, and
l feel the monotony of my position more
than the danger.
However, ii this meets the eye of any
OF the parties in pursuit Of my compan-
ions, they may as well know that Evans
and Sontag will escape if they fool away
their ammunition on the first man they
see, which will be me.
Since l have been comforting with
Messrs. Evans and Sontag / have had
considerable time for observation and in
which to make a study OF their character
istics. If l thought l was likely to get
away, and again return to the bosom of
society, where | could get something to
eat. would be keeping diary, but the
prospect Of ever being able to get away is
so dim, and so mixed up with other
probabilities that 1t makes me tired.
Situated as l am, | am prone to say that
both these assassins are good enough in
their way, and that they are doing the
| best they can under the circumstances,
but their ideas of hospitality are crude;
ANU Mudb ulOI6, OuIlS SAWS ne uOn L
care - - whether | like his style or
not.
Yesterday, when I told him I would
like to have something to eat beside
acorns and Oak-baTk, he wanted to know
if | was raised in the Palace Hotel, and
when l try to steal blanket at night
from his outfit he ties me up to a tree.
merely, as he says, to save ammunition.
Both of these outlaws go to sleep at
night-contrary to the general belief, per-
haps-and | hoped to profit by this TACT.
but it doesn't do me any good. OF late
they always swing me up like bottle on
a string, and II l howl they put gunny-
sack in my mouth. These things are un-
comfortable, and to a man who has been
nurtured in luxury they are tiresome.
Both Evans and Sontag are well, and
still hopeful. When | asked Chris yester-
day where he would spend the winter, he
answered pleasantly that it was none of
my blanked business, but that he thought
he would go to fashionable resort if the
officers got a chance to shoot or hang
him. lie lntimated further that he ex-
pected to take some of them along with
him, and told me he expected me to meet
him at the front gate, as he wanted an adj
vance agent.
When Chris is talkative he has chilly
kind of sarcasm in his voice, and a nery-
Gus way of reaching for his revolver that
is not fascinating to me.
He says he doesn't like people. and if
they keep out of his reach they will feel
better next morning. l told him [ would
retire if l was intruding, and that would
gladly apologize for any indiscretion:
but he said | was all right, so far as he
was concerned-"don't mention it." said
he.
Sontag is not particularly sociable. and
as he tells Evans every morning to shoot
me and settle the matter, l treat him with
distant and frigid politeness.
l feel rather respondent as the nights
grow colder, and l would like to come
down off the perch, but l have SO little
influence with my companions that [
may stay awhile longer, just on their ac-
count.
L would like to intimate in casual
way that | will appreciate any effort on
your part to segregate me from my pres
ent surroundings, but this is a topic |
can't dwell upon with comfort or safety.
l will close here, as Mr.. Evans thinks |
am through writing.
Yours (if you can get me-, SUoTNK.
2. Swans says he will send this
along with his next mail, and that he'll
be ding DANCED if he cares a cuss where
it goes to. ).
\. B.-As have reason to believe this
may be tampered with. you cannot rely
implicitly on the contents hereof.
Neither Evans nor Sontag are as honest
as they might be. S.