Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1895-02-14

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employers in official station in Wash
ington reference was made to the malig-
nant hatred Of Col. Rand as the inspira-
tion OF all thair proofess and damna-
pie accusations. and these getting to
Ine war department and SO coming to
Mnd for remark, the placid colonel
finally waxed indignant. 1t was bad
enough, said he, that Lacy should be
an expert thief and blackleg, but that
to cover his own tracks and those OF
his pals he should seek the ruin of in
| nocent men was rather too much OF q
good thing. Then the general came
back from the field about this time;
Rand made his report, and on went a
four-page letter to Washington reciting
briefly the evidence now in their pos
session as affecting Lacy. This was
shown to the ex-clerk's friends at
court and two letters from the east,
after being opened and examined by
the sheriff, were handed in to Lacys
cell the day after Schramm's arrival.
That night the prisoner asked for more
paper and permission to write till late,
and when morning came the neatly
folded document proved to be the final
statements Of the clerk who had cashed
so many papers of that name within
the past year-but would cash no more.
What was left of Lacy lay stiffening
on the narrow cot. The night-watch
had not even heard him groan.
A fellow of much inventive genius
was Lacy, and Of uncommon useful
nets until luck turned. Cards, mining
stocks, wheat, wine and women all
combined against him. He had to COW
er the money distracted to pay his
losses and put up more margins He
owed still more, and his creditors, gam
blers like himself, said: PAY or we
peach" There was just one way to
raise the wind" without reaping the
whirlwind; the paymaster must be
robbed on the very next trip; and the
plan was to have the train held up"
until the sudden move of the cavalry
suggested an easier way. Out went
two OF his sportsmen friends with let
ters Of introduction to the hunter her.
init in the Tomahawk range. Down
they went with him as their guide and
companion and scout. Cavalry over
coats and SLOUGH hats and equipments,
such as were worn in the field In those
days, were to be had almost anywhere.
Armed with their bogus dispatch they
rode to Minden, lodging Sergt. Do
lan's escort from Bear fork to Alkali.
Leaving their horses with the boy at
the bridge, the three men received the
paymaster and Lacy at the station to
which he had been lured, and the rest
was easy until it came to get
ting away with the money. The
hermit forbade their returning by
way Of his hut, as they would be
trailed thither and he and his boy in
stantly suspected. They must go far
ther east, by way Of Wagon gap, and
back to the agency with their game,
as though from innocent and successful
hunt. But, in lodging the troops and
certain couriers they saw. time was
lost, in which they got to drinking and
quarreling. Lacy's friends were two
well-known contractors for Indian sup
plies, long accustomed to agency ways,
well-versed in Indian affairs and often
suspected of being knaves of deeper
dye than mere swindlers of the alb
origines, which species of crime was
not bereft of virtue in frontier eyes.
| They were known to the trade by the
names Of Stein and Writ, and their
intimacy with Lacy and certain EN-
ployes OF the quartermastcr depart
ment had attracted Rand's attention to
them months before the robbery.
Hearing of their absence from town,
he traced them to the agency, thence
to the range beyond, and found that
the date OF their return that way cor
responded exactly with that of Thorn
toms fight. Young Stearns had ut last
made coherent statement. Promising
to give his luckless father his Stare as
soon as they got back within sight of
that harbor OF refuge, but plying him
wiSh liquor all the time, these men
rode to Fossil creek in company, then
gave their DOING guide the slip and
dashed rapidly ahead Being aware of
the Indian outbreak, they probably
studied the country with their glasses
and saw the commotion among the dis
tant war parties and so lodged into
the range away from the road, and by
q wide detour got safely in, while their
hapless guide, following in drunken
pursuit, ran foul Of the Sioux, was
chased and killed. Wisely they hid such
Of the money as they did not need at
the moment, and kept away from head
quarters and Lacy awhile until the an
nouncement in the papers that the
crime had been definitely fixed on the
soldiers Schultz and Schramm gave
them courage to unearth their plumber
nnd fetch it nearer home. Not that
they intended to divide with Lacy by
any means-he was in their tolls now,
and could be further bled-but to hold
him with mingled threat and promise.
And all the time Rand was weaving his
web about them. The more coherent