The herald., 1893-06-15
fire and kept pumping at them for a

proposed that he should detour around
by their right. He started, and going
through the wheat field got behind
pile OF rocks by the road, aud he also
opened fire. A lively exchange was
kept up for while, but at length
Rapelie left his position on the ridge,
came down, passed around boulders by
the wheat field, past the cabin and past
Burns position in the rocks. until be
was about even with the hay stack and
then he and Burns opened fire again
upon the bandits. The rife balls all
along had been sent into all parts of the
stack during the fight and had kept
them jumping about rather lively, but
when those two opened fire on them
from the right flank it was too much for
them, and l heard one of them say:
Jesus Christ They are getting around
behind u.s.
"Burns advanced slightly from his po.
sition to one nearer the hay pile but
their fire was too hot and he went back.
EVANS RETREATS.
"Rapelje finally saw man, who aft.
erwards proved to be Evans, crawling
away from the straw stack through the
fox grass. When he was about 80 yards
from the stack. Rapelje shot at
him hitting him in the arm, causing
him to drop his rife. Instantly Evans
jumped up and ran towards the hill like
jack rabbit.
Burns, who was chatting over the
way they had previously yelled at him
when he was with Black at Camp Bad
ger and ran, so they claimed. Accord
ingly he set up derisive yell, calling to
Rapelje not to let the rascal escape.
Make him fight
"Finally | told him to stop and we
three then went over to attend to poor
jackson.
II want to say right here, that God
never made pluckier man than Jack
SOD. He was as cool during the whole
affair as any one have ever seen. When
be was shot he crawled over behind the
cabin by me. l frequently would turn
and ask him If | could do any
thing to help him, il only to give him
some water. He would invariably re.
ply: Never mind me; keep at them;
don't let them escapep He was all the
time in most intense azony but never
once heard him murmur. In fact, he
did not kick up anything like the noise
that Sontag did. who was only groaning
when we found him.
lit was quite dark, go we set about
getting team to take Jackson to town.
During the fight four or five wagons had
passed, but the drivers heard the shoot
ing, and, lashing up their horses, ran
past the cabin. and we could not get
them to stop. Finally we took jackson
down into the wheat field and attended
him as best we could. We brought him
back to the road, however, and Rapelje
went down the road about three miles
to ranch house to get team. He re-
turned at length. and we put the wound
ed man aboard. Rapelje Also got in, and
the wagon wac started for town.
soNTAa CAPTURED.
"Sontag, the man behind the hay
pile, took shot at us, whereupon l
went back through the wheat field to
get our rifles. As l was going through
the grain he saw my reflection and shot
twice more at me, as heard one of the
balls strike the ground a few feet from
my side.
''It was about 9 80 O'Clock when the
wagon left as and Burns and | were left
in the road.
''In some manner he wandered off
through the wheat field little towards
| bOWus WnIl6 HbHyeQ near tle cabin.
wau s.fraia pue my nvau auUve Juc
grain for fear he would take me for one
| of the bandits, as it was quite dark snd
the mistake would have been quite
probable, SO l laid in the wheat and
crawled around, finally taking up my
position among some rocks where /
could keep watch on the straw pile. I
stayed out all night. The weather got
frightfully cold and my hands became
benumbed. | kept one hand between
my crossed legs 80 as to keep the fingers
plisble, in order to pull the twigger OF
the gun If necessary. However, / had
NO cause, and just about sunrise looked
down towards Visalia and there l saw
the posse coming and then was glad.
The crowd finally arrived, and after
stretching myself we proceeded to the
hay stack. There, covered up with hay,
with only his nose. mouth and eyes un-
covered, was man.
"'Well, we've got you at last, Chris
said come one.
"'It amt Chris, it's John,' replied
the man, and sure enough 1t proved to
be Sontag when he was taken from the
hay. He WAS q poor spectacle. His
face and beard were covered with dirt
and clotted blood, and these, with his
SouoIdiiy Wliu ioOk, Wero 0cZlu6Oly not
prepossessing.
HE was assisted out, and some of us
washed his face and gave him some
water and whisky to drink. He was
placed up against the improvised pillows
as you see in this photograph, and the
posse was grouped and the crowd were
photographed.
PRAISE FOR HoNTAG.
"There is one thing to be said OF Son.
tag-he is worth two of Evans. The
papers have been talking as though
Evans was the better man of the two.
but he is not. It was only because there
was more of the dash and bluff to him.
and he had family. Sontag was much
the gamier man.
'The reason we did not 90 up to the
straw pile was because we thought thstit
WAS Sontag who had run away. We
knew that he would never desert Evans.
and thought he would shortly return
with some means to carry his partner
away, and 1t was for this reason that I
watched during the night for his return.
If 1t had been Evans who had
been shot and not him do you think he
would ever have left Evans? Well:
never. He would have stayed there and
died before he would have deserted him.
And because we knew the man az we
did was why we waited. If he had had
the strength when behind the straw pile.
he would have been fighting until now.
When we found him, clasped in his