The herald., 1894-11-03
SAVED BY A BELT OF GOLD. -,
Tho Luck of an Englislman When At
tackled by Robbers In Tchuantepcc.

Tho Luck of an Englislman When At
tackled by Robbers In Tchuantepcc.
"Gold has variety of uses, "said Mr
Thornton Decker, an English engineer,
to an American who met him in Tlaealula
but fancy my experience when first
went over this route between Oaxaca and
Tehuantepeo was rather novel A lot of
$50 pieces served very well as coat of
mail-so well that they saved my life.
LAS / said, was bound down TO Te-
huantopeo for look at tho railroad across
the isthmus. / had heard that tho women
there use your American double eagles for
jewelry and paid a very high premium for
them, so cot 40 or so and sewed them
into the form Of what you might call
porous plaster. When l had them stitched
into place ON q bit of cotton, there wore
two rows across my back and third row
overlapping the other two. b. putting
straps over my shoulders they carried very
comfortably.
''I got the gold up ct El Paso, Tex, but
in some way ono Of the hcggarly crew at
the hotel in Oaxaca saw that was carry
ing something in the small of my back,
and tho result of that was l was followed
when 1 set out for Tchuantepcc. They al
lowed me to go on unmolested until was
within day of San Carlos and then one
of them seems to have taken O short cut
through the mountains and concealed him
self in the brush until passed. Then he
gave it to mo with shotgun, loaded with
slugs Of lead, and caught it in tho small
of the back.
'The force of the blow knocked me
down over the pommcl. of tho saddle.
When there had presence Of mind enough
to keep on falling slowly, as if entirely
done for Meantime I got ono Of your
American navy revolvers in my hand and
cooked it.
Tho beggar that had shot nc, seeing
mo fall, caIno running from tho brush,
machctc in enc hand and gun IN tho other,
while his partner appeared Ground the
mountain, with his horse on the gallop.
They yelled at my horse to stop and my
guido to go on and both obcycd promptly.
was still olinging to my horsc's neck and
could SEQ them through its nlanc very
well. let them get within 10 feet OF mo
and then dropped to my feet on the ground
and took my turn at shooting. They were
so close l couldn't MISS but luckily, as |
think, one cnught his bullet in tho knee
and tho other in the fieshy part of the Grn,
while their horse was killed outright By 4
bullet in the head.
''Sccing them both down and begging
for their lives had mind TO kill them
for tEoir cowardicc, but l lot them off
with good kicking apiece and then
called back the guide and had him carry
water and wash and dress the wounds as
well as possible. Then 1 gavo the man
with tho hurt arm stiff horn of brandy
and sent him back for help, while l con-
tinued my journey. Tho slugs had hit the
gold pieces-three of them. 1 had lame
back for week or SO, but 1 was other
wise unhurt. What became of them? !
afterward met tho one that caught it in
tho knee. Ho was going about the market
in Oaxaca on peg leg, peddling rebosos
ard telling people he had lost his leg in q
fierco encounter with highwaymen. He
said his partner was on journey, but
fancy that meant he had been detected in
some rascality and sent to prison. New
York Sun.