Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1894-01-12

CHARLEY WAS VERY MUCH INTERESTED.
mare that he had bought with part of his
cotton picking proceeds and started to Hen
rietta to see the sights. OF course he took
his winchester and his six shooter along.
The first sight that attracted him was a
very agreeable gentleman named Tom
Boyd, who was exhibiting three pieces Of
pasteboard to an admiring crowd and
showing them what an easy thing it would
be TO guess which one would come upper
most in case he were to throw them down
ON the table. Charley was very much in
terested in the matter and felt confident
of his ability to tell exactly which card it
would be. So confident was he that before
he knew it he had lost every cent of his
money on the cards that perversely insisted
on doing just what he expected them not
to. Like all men, however, who succeed in
their special line of business, he had the
courage of his convictions, and hence of
fered to bet his mare against $50 that he
could guess the right card this last time
anyway Mr.. Boyd was kind enough to
accept his proposition, but the cards We're
not so kind and again refused to do what
it was obviously right that they should do.
That night charley Hughes was in a bad
condition. He was stranger in strange
! land, without money, without supper and
without even a horse to go home on: What
should he do? He pondered the subject
awhile and then made up his mind. Late
that night he went to Boyd's stable and
stole out the fleet mare that only few
hours before had been his own property.
By hard riding he reached Red River sta
tion before daylight and spent the rest of
| the night there. --~.
Meantime Boyd had discovered his loss
and had interviewed the sheriff of Clay
county in regard to it. That official seems
| to have been busy about something else at
the time. SO he Ippronlised matters by
4 deputiZing BOYD and telling hlm to attend
TO his own case Boyd was professional
gambler, it is true, but this fact did not
interfere with his being made a special
! deputy. He got on Hughes track by some
means and reached the station some hours
before noon. Hughes heard of his arrival
! and concluded to travel farther east
| Boyd found Jack Pollard, a Montague
county deputy, and four other men, and to-
| gether the posse started out in pursuit
| After they had travelled some nine miles,
| Just as they were crossing q particularly
level reach of prairie, the figure of q horse
| man suddenly appeared over the rise of a
! hill half a mile to the east. It was Charley
Hughes, and he had his winchester at his
shoulder. Pingl ping! went two leaden
balls, and two horses and their riders were
down in struggling, confused heap.
To say that these shots demoralized the
posse would be to put it lightly. However,
when the dust cleared away, it was found
that two ponies were writhing in their
death agonies, while their riders were un-
hurt The distance was too great for any
effective shooting in return, and, moreover,
Hughes disappeared as suddenly as he had
appeared. The posse, two less in number,
followed more cautiously than before.
When they next caught sight of their game,
he fired at them, and then, waving quart
bottle of whisky at them, shouted in stem
torian tones:
Awful good old stuff, fellows! Come on
and take a drink, won't you?"
The pursuers remembered Charley's long
range shooting and decided that they would
not. r.. >
All day long running battle was kept
up. Nobody was hurt on either side, prin-
cipally because the pursuers kept at "a re-
speetful distance. Back and forth they raced
over the prairie, covering near so miles in
all Hughes was not making any special
effort to get away, but was trying to reach
the fringe of timber on Belknap creek, from