The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-01

the devlish thing moved back to my leg
again
AND RESUMED ITS MARCH.
at crept along, turning when it reached
my waist, and moving across my back, to-
ward the other side. The nervous ten
sion was terrible-a deadly creature, Ii
able, at any moment, to bury its venom
Gus claws in my flesh, the muzzle of pis-
tol warning me that instant death await
ed my slightest move. The centipede,
although most deliberate in its move
ments, reached the other hip by and by,
and, to my Joy. started down that leg.
Slowly he let himself down, and, so in
tense was my suspense, in the hope that
he was on his way out by that route, that
did not feel the burning track that he
had now put pretty much all around me.
He took his time, and, at last, got down
TO my knee. There he stopped.
'N1y heart seemed throbbing in my very
throat and almost sofocated me- A mo-
ment laterit seemed to quit beating
altogether, and il was only by the most
strenuous assertion of mywill that l saved
myself from falling limp to the ground.
The centipede had turned and was going
up my leg again! l was almost on the
point of dropping my hands, that a bullet
might relieve me from the misery of that
frightful situation, when the capricious
centipede turned and started down again,
moving with more celebrity than he had
used since he began that appalling trip.
l don't know what started him, but he
kept up his run all the way down my leg,
and presently dropped to the ground and
scurried away just shut my eyes, gave
one long breath, and was on the point of
relieving my pent-up feelings with a re-
sounding yell, regardless of Consequences,
when the tough and watchful customer
with the derringerS exclaimed
" Pm be good and damned, pardner, if
you amt got more nerve than that stage
could hold But say, said he, consoling-
ly, if the p'ison cuss had a dipped var,
wouldn't let var suffer, I'd run a ball
into var and let var out of it from the go
in!'
THAT bloodthirsty wretch had seen the
centipede go up into my trousers leg, had
known all th9 time what was suffering,
and had been coolly watching to1see what
the outcome would be. For q year after
that l lived in hope that l might run
across that villain, and did, 1t was I'M
der different circumstances than had
longed for, though, and, besides, didn't
know it until it was too late to use the
bullet on him that l had made vow to
use if ever I had the chance. 1t was
only the next spring after that little af-
fair of the Pueblo stage that I, together
with six others, were taken out of a stage
five miles from Nevada City by three
masked robbers. The stage carried Wells,
Fargo & Co.'s strong box between North
San Juan and Nevada, and on this trip
there was $1,000 in the box. Two of the
robbers
BLEW OPEN THE BOX WITH POWDER,
the third held the seven of us up. They
got the money, took ours and started us
on to Nevada The stage got there as
sooR as it could be driven-fve miles-and
in less than an hour the sheriff had a
posse and was out on the track of the
robbers. l only remember the name of
one of that posse, and that was Steve
Venard. He struck the trail of the men
along the South Yuby river, and followed
it to deep ravine that came into the
river there. This was a wild, rough
place, but Steve plunged into it. He was
armed with a Henry rife. In a narrow
alley between high rocks in the middle of
the rayine Steve came suddenly almost
face to face with one of the men Steve
got the drop on the desperate, but as he
did so he saw another one rise to his
feet on the top of a rock and cover
him with his revolver. But Steve
never let go his advantage over the first
man, and sent rifle ball through his
heart At the same time pistol ball
whizzed from the rock, passing through
Stoves hat and cutting hair from the top
of his head. The man who fired that shot
dropped down instantly out of sight, but
left the muzzle of his revolver exposed to
Steve's view. This exposure was fatal to
the hiding robber for Steve instantly
covered the spot with his rife, and as the
robber cautiously raised his head, by and
by, to see how the land lay, a ball went
crashing through it. Steve had hardly
killed these two when he discovered the
third one of the party trying to escape
by sneaking up the ravine, but he was
brought down by Steve's unerring rifle,
The three men were killed inside of four
minutes.
Entering the rock alley Steve found all
the booty that had been stolen. The
robbers had evidently been counting The
money when they were surprised. Steve
went back and found the sheriff and his
party. They returned and secured the
recovered plumber, and brought the
bodies of the three dead desperadoes into
Nevada. The leader of the gang was
recognized by the sheriff as George
Shanks, who had been a terror in that To-
cality for year. And | reioiced when |
recognized him as the villain who had
stood guard over me and the centipede
near Pueblo year before. The express
company paid Steve Venard $4,000 for
that days work, and Gov. Low made him
a member of his staff, with the rank of
colonel. 1t may sound blOodthirsty, but
envied Steve Venard one thing. It was
the shot he fired that laid low that tiend
George ShankS."