Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-04-26
A SOUTH RN SALE.

bnlueu states MARSHAL In the southern
| district of Virginia. The State was
al that time fairly overrun with out
! laws of all classes. Bushwhackers,
hlghwaymen, counterfeiters and
mOOnshiners nestled in all the country
side among the mountains and upon
| the lonely roads;while gamblers and
desperadOes swarmed in and about
! the settlements. Crime was frequent.
and the life of United States officer
WAS series of stirring adventures in
yolying great danger, and demanding
as great tact and personal bravery.
Bat Nutting proved himself worthy
ana lit for the Office. A young man
OF temperate habits, quick wit,
splendid physique and dashing cour-
age, he was never at 4 loss how to
, act, and the vermin that infested
that region soon learned to hate and
fear him intensely.
Many were the expeditions which
the officer had led. many his escapes,
and many the prisoners safely cap
tured and walled by his efforts; but
one man evaded him. The shrewd-
est and worst moonshiner of all was
still at large; despite ali his efforts,
Nutting had not yet secured RuloB
Allen.
This man was known throughout
the State. His career had been that
OF criminal from his birth. In the
faStueSs of Southwestern Virginia he
manufactured whisky on a grand
scale, and was the owner Of a dozen
q CT nd ;,
fingers at the law.
Several times had Nutting sought
this quarry; twice he had actually
caught him, yet twice he had escaped,
and at the time of which we speak he
was still free.
Nutting sat at his Office window
one evening musing, half dreaming.
when there fell light touch on his
shoulder. He started up quickly 4
stranger stood before him.
"The United States MARSHALL" said
he, intOrogatively.
"Yes, SIR" said Lawrence, rising.
you?"
Il would speak with you alone
he said, as he glanced around. II
have matters of importance to com
Dunicate."
This Office is out of hearing of the
street" said NuttIng, land we are
~ ourselves. You can speak freely"
The other drew couple of cigars
from his pocket, offered one to the
Marshal and lit the other one him
self. Nutting followed his exam
rNla hn
nearer, SO that he sat between the
officer and the desk whereon lay his
belt and pistols, threw open his coat
so that the butts of two heavy revol-
verS might be seen, and blowing the
smoke from his cigar said in a quiet
tone to his companion:
"TOu are DESTROYS OF arreSting a
noted moOnshiner, one Rulof: Allen.
IRE you not?"
There is no doubt about that
7aid the Marshal, smiling.
81 am the man."
Nutting's cigar never stirred in his
lips; his hand did not quiver nor his
breath come any the quicker. A
single sign showed how deeply he was
moved; his eyelds dilated, then he
aughed soft and low.
"You-you Ruloff Allen. My
friend, know Allen. His hair is
red; yours is black. His face bears a
scar across the chin; yours a beard.
His teeth are broken, yours are per-
feet. The joke is good, but you are
lot Allen"
The other hesitatcd a moment,
then striking wig from his head, p
beard from his chin, and removing =
single false tooth, he turned again to
Nutting, red-haired and smiling.
"And now?"
"You are Allen"
For a full moment neither man
moved. 1t was as though two large
tigers gazcd at each other. Then the
outlaw said:
Listen! am armed; you are not.
/ am fully as desperate a man as the
report makes me. am as strong as
you are. Do not try to arrest me, for
shall then be obliged to kill you. l
am here for private talk, but it was
necessary you should know who / am.
l will not molest you if you will do
the same by me, and give ME fifteen
minutes to escIpc when we have
finished"
Nntting measured his chances. Uu-
armed, in the presence of man to
whom murder was not hew, he deemcl
prudence the better part, and replied:
~ agree"
"GOod," said Allen, removing his
own pistol belt; ''your word is equal
to mine. We shall be both unarmed.
And now l would tell YOU q story"
Then he drew his chair still nearer
the marshal, aud as the twilight fell
aud night descended he told of his
life-a wierd, strange history. every
line intense with the throbbing
passion of 4 lawlessness which mads
the man what he was.
The other listened breathlessly; the
darkness shrouded both, and the
cigars were finished long before the
story was ended.
At length, however. the visitor
paused. and then concluded as fol-
lows:
$50 have i lived. As wild man
almost; and that life has for the past
five years been more a mania than !
ever before, but with method. ,
an and have been seeking money and !
money only. Not so widely different, :
you may say, from all tn. world, ex-
cept that my search was without the !
pale of the law. And now the end |
has come. am rich. Ihave enough,
and now desire to return to civilizs-