Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-03-13

would prove fatal TO MIN, the mlne1
took his revolver, crept up stealthilJ
30 near that he could hold the weapon
within two inches Of the centipede,
and fred. The bullet scraped down
along the sleeping mans arm. and
swept the venomous intruder away
like chsf before the wind :. But the
bullet wasn't sudden enough aH Al.
though the centipede was torn into {
hundred pieces, it had time to sink
its claws into its victims arm before
the bullet swept it of, and the we'll
meaning miner had only precipitated
his partners fate. The centipede is as
much like lightning as that.
| "Well, there I stood, doubly held
| up as it were. If moved hand the
Watching desperate would fill me with
lead. If moved leg the centipede
would fill me with poison. Slowly the
terrible creature crept up my leg,
stopping now and then as if pondering
over his next movement, and then
climbing on again. all the time leaving
his itching, burning track along my
leg-something in itself almost intoi.
ersble. did not know how soon the
irascible, creeping terror would take
umbrage at something in his course
and vent his spite at it by socking his
long rows Of stingers into my flesh;
and then the thought that the robbers
would soon be through with their work
at the stage and begin their search for
our personal belongings came with
added terrors. In going through my
clothes they would of course disturb
the centipede. and that meant only ons
thing. All could see in the outlook
for me was certain death, whichevex
way I turned it over. Yet kept or
hoping that the living internal ma
chine in my trousers leg might take il
into his head to retrace his steps and
come down to the ground again before
anything happened to disturb it. The
centipede showed no disposition Of
that kind, but suddenly changed his
base by moving from my leg to my
trousers below the hip. One whack
from my fist would have smashed the
centipede, with his back against my
hip bone, and that would have ended
him. And it would have ended me at
the same time, for there isn't any
doubt but that the man with the gun
would have obeyed orders. So I was
just about to tell him, quietly and
without waste of words, the unpleas-
ant situation I was in, and beg him to
let me give the centipede its quietus
while I had the chance, when the
venomous thing moved back to my leg
again and resumed its march.
"It crept along, turning when il
reached my waist, and moving across
my back toward the other side. The
nervous tension was terrible-a deadly
creature liable at any moment to bury
its venomous claws in my flesh, the
muzzle of pistol warning me that in
slant death awaited my slightest move.
The centipede, although most delib-
crate in its movements, reached my
other hip by and by, and, to my JOY,
started down that leg. Slowly he let
himself down, and SO intense was my
suspense, in the hope that he was on
his way out by the route, that 1 did
not feel the burning track that he had
now put pretty much all around me.
He took his time, and at last got down
to my knee. There he stopped.
'My heart seemed throbbing in my
very throat and almost suffocated me-
A moment later it seemed to quit beat
ing altogether, and it was only by the
most strenuous assertion of my will
that I saved myself from falling limp
to the ground The centipede had
turned and was going up my leg again !
I was almost on the point of dropping
my hands that bullet might relieve
me from the misery of that frightful
situation, when the capricious cent?
pede turned and started down again.
moving with more celebrity than he had
used since he began that appalling
trip. 1 don't know what started him,
but he kept up his run all the rest of
the way down my leg, and presently
dropped to the ground and scurried
away. I just shut my eyes, gave one
long breath, and was on the point of
relieving my pent-up feelings with a
resounding yell, regardless of conse-
Cuences, when the tough and watchful
customer with the derringers ex.
claimed:
I'll be blamed, pardner, if you
hain't got more nerve than that stage
could holdl But say said he, con-
solingly, If the p'ison cuss had a
dipped var, wouIdn't let var suffer-
I'd run ball into var and let var out
of it from the go in
"That bloodthirsty wretch had seel
the centipede go up into my trousers
le@. had known all the time what I was
suffering, and had been coolIy warch-
ing to see what the outcome would be !!
For a year afteS that I lived in the
hope that might run across that vii
lain, and did. It was under different
circumstances than I had longed for,
though, and besides didn't know it
until it was too late to use the bullet
on him that had made vow to use
if ever had the chance. It was only
the next spring after that little affair
of the Pueblo stage that I, together
with six others, wrs taken out of q
stage five miles from Nevada City by
three masked robbers. The stage car
ried Wells, Fargo & Co. g strong box
between North San Juan and Nevada,
and on this trip there was $4,000 in the
box. Two of the robbers blew the box
open with powder, while the third held
the seven of us up. They got the
money, took ours, and started us on to
Nevada. r. The stage got there as soon
as it could be driven-fiye miles-and
in less than an hour the Sheriff had a
posse and was out on the track Of the
robbers. I only remember the name
Of. one of that posse, and that was
Steve Venard. He struck the trail OF
the men along the South Yuba River,
and followed it to deep ravine that
came into the river there. This was a
wild, rough place, but Steve plunged
into it. He was armed with Henry
! rifle. In q narrow alley between high
! rocks in the middle of the rayine
Steve came suddenly almost face to
4 faa L.