The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1894-01-12

~ pfnit illb u JUhlUt 80 nHlufHl Seems 10
him an mtolcrabe imposition, against
which il is not only lawful lat mctitorous
to rebel Hence violent hatred against
the custom house officers, and the firm in
tention 10 shoot them in cold blood il nee
essary.
The officers know this and often when
they meet a smugglerin rough and desert
ps' :, o"ij ~ 1 ~ is nu.ov .t ono"sn "
Tho merchanaise bas snecial yaine thay
pretend not 70 see him and pass on looking
the other way.
II isuasy 10 shoot, and at those heightsa
body may easily be carried long distance
wlthont detection Inc olheer does not re-
'uIll' suspicious lail on ohe 1r',e murderer,
ma' ] n ,on.n S ~ w" aae1' ns ~ ~ wy asau
hnt % M ona ,,a;ns nj, sue snro nroofs S,tS
Nv cuide had once found himself nm.
armed within range of two officers, and he
had escaped by miracle At another
time, unseen, he had rolled down from the
Gun quantity OF stones on the heads OF
Vwo o''lcers VINO were ciimplhg up the
i's, ',,. ""' ,n, @ VI, " V".", ',, m''''
oTha az ,,a, ~ ,ansLat 7 shou,oa ro,, !,
added Jacon,s with a triumnbant mir
But what a horrible lifel and the profit is
little, yau know"
He related TO me his nocturnal trips in
winter alone over The deadly glaciers,
loaded ike n mule fogs beset MN ano
family, a circumstance, in view of the
character the place already bore, not at
oil difficult, | hitched ND another horse.
and in company with nv father and
Younger brother, returned to the scene
of nv late horrible experiences. and the
Investigations we there made in refer.
ence to the noises and other phenomena
will am afraid, only disgust those i'm
aginatiye minds which are always on
the alert for startling denouements.
The gnawing sounds we found had
been produced by the chafng of the
wagon hub against a loose board in the
haymow, and every time the animals
reached forward after their fodder the
movement carried rusty. cultural.
scrauing of the turntable. which simu-
lated the sound. Joe, joe" with suffi-
cient nearness to mislead cooler head
than mine was lust at that time.
The demoniac laughter which had SO
horrifed me was of equally absurd orr
gin, being simply the rafting and clat-
tering of a thin, loose clapboard high
up in the gable whenever gust stronger
than usual struck it, For the light |
could find no explanation other than the
only possible fact that il was simply a
phosphorescent exhalation from a little
swamp near by, one of those luminous
methylic vapors, variously known as
will-o' -the-wisp, Jack-o',lantern, ignis
fatuus, etc.
The place was infested with rats and
it was doubtless their scurrying back
and forth over the floor which sounded
go nuch like stealtby fojtsteps--either
that or the falling of the large rain
drops which found their way through
the leaky roof.
There too lay the reptile which had SO
nearly strangled me-a long, soft strip
of the inner bark of one of the cedar
rafters, which, saturated by the rain,
had fallen across the back of nv neck
as stopped forward, and you can readi-
ly appreciate the sensation such thing,
unexpected and in total darkness, would
be apt to produce.
While we we're making these discover
les and remarking how a little daylight
and good common sense will knock the
props from under the best ghost story
ever gotten up, we were all startled by
a sudden rat-tat-tat on the barn door,
Nv father hastily unfastened it, ex-
pecting of course, to meet one of the
neighbors, or possibly strolhng tramp.
and | noticed a queer expression come