Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-05-14

/
could get any hint Of what Long Hair
ed Brown was up to-for / knew h
wasn't riding out on the Lone Pine road
for pleasure ride. AS came near thu
roadside ! saw man riding down thu
trail from the direction Of Lone Pine
walking his horse slowly and peerini
through the trees about the spring. HI
stopped opposite the emlgrants' camp
where the fire was blazing brightly
and looked long and carefully at 1t.
was out of sight behind a tree, and my
own camp fire had gone down to ashes
SO that 1t could not be seen from the
trail. The horseman was too far away
from the emigrants' camp to distingu
ish people or voices there, but he moved
along two or three times to get better
view. Then he turned round and went
back up the trail toward Lone Pine.
strangely enough. my only thought
was that the stranger was sheriff OF
vigilante on the hunt for some man
that was wanted-looking for Sam
Brown perhaps. 1t did not strike me
then, as it would most likely have done
at another time, that he might be the
scout of a DEMONSTRATING gang getting
the lay of the camp so as to run eff the
emigrants' stock. 1 came back to my
wagon, thinking over in my mind
whether I'd best tell Sam what 1 had
seen. He was still at the emigrants'
camp, so I walked over and found him
sitting on keg listening to a girl of
fifteen or thereabouts, who was strum-
ming the banjo and singing, and she
did it very nicely mcst say. 1 was
made welcome by the emigrants, and
the gray haired father of the crowd
told me they had come all the way
from Iowa in their wagons and were
going to California. AS the hour was
getting late for campers to be awake,
l presently got up to go, but Sam kept
his seat on the keg.
"'Give us the plantation song once
more, little gall he said, and she will
ingly sang for him. 1t was only a
breakdown, cake-walk tune, with
nonsense words; but it was lively and
rollicking. and-it hit Sam Browns
taste, and the correctness of that was
not to be questioned in Nevada in the
early sixties.
1.-THE singing finished, we went back
to the wagon and lay down on the
ground to sleep. I had my partners
blankets alone to lend to Sam, so we
were both well fixed for the night We
rolled ourselves up in our blankets a
OF n xypu M nt
each with his weapons by him handy
to reach. OF course, we picked place
where we could see the horses, which
we had tied by the wagon. 1 had de-
cided not to tell Sam about the horse
man, but to let matters take their
course.
"Sam Brown seemed to drop off to
sleep as soon as he lay down, but that
may have been pretence. 1 was rest
less at first and woke two or three
times from short maps; and each time
found that he was awake. At last, as
everything was quiet, 1 fell into a
sound slumber and slept for hours.
woke with q start at the sound of a
shot. The moon was down and it was
dark among the trees. There was the
sound Of voices and a strange rafting
about Of things over at the emigrants
camp looked for Sam and found he
was gone.
81 slipped out Of my blankets and
took look round my camp to see if
everything there was all right. The
horses, Sans and mine, were standing
quietly where we had tied them, and
nothing had been disturbed. The
blanket that Sam Brown had slept in,
and his saddle, which served as a pill
low, were as he had left them on the
ground, so it was reasonable to believe
that he was not far away. Having
found out so much, my next move was
to go over to the emigrants' camp to see
what the matter was there. 1 made
in working order before started, and
then crept to place where could see
what was going on without being seen
myself.
'What 1 saw there was bad enough.
Four men, with Grape masks pulled
over their faces, were holding up the
emigrant party. One Of the grown
sons sat on a wagon pole, his right
hand supporting his left arm, which
had been broken by bullet. A young
woman, his wife probably, lay in a
dead faint at his feet. The others Of
the party stood or crouched about, the
women moaning and crying, the men
hrIJ hot, La, @l,o,, I, Il
They had been surprised in sleep and
were defenceless. Two of the masked
men covered the party with revolvers.
The other two had searched the
wagons and thrown everything in them
out upon the ground.
"Of course, my first thought was that
Sam Brown was in the job, but could
not see him anywhere about. I was
certain that he was not one Of the
masked men, for his build and bearing
couldn't have been mistaken by any
one who had once seen him. felt that
it would not be time for me to take a
hand in the business until found out
where he was and how he stood in the
matter. The two masked searchers
were busily at work ripping up bed
ticks, cutting the lining Of clothes, and
empting trunks and boxes, tucking
everything that struck their fancy into
a canvas bag that lay open between
them. They had found a jug Of
whiskey, and by appearances all of the
robbers had drunk Of 1t more than
once; bad thing to do while conduct
ing a hold-up. At last they stopped,
and one of them said to the man who
seemed the leader: