The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1898-06-25

Of reverging yourself upon me, but
remember, sir, thas I have friends!
Remember law and justice.;'
81 fear nothing" he answered. II
defy man and God! Fevenge OH you
is dearer to me than lie; AMI though
for me the bottomiess pit Were yawn-
iag, I world Lave il. ~
+ saw it was useless to appeal to
him, and l sullenly waited fer WI
seemed fate. ,>z5s5z@S/
At his command Iaas.
searched me. One of%@11o ap-
pea:ed to i,e kind Of ~ for the
gang, secnred my wataS1d pocket
book. Then they tied NE with stout
ropes to a chair.
Somers did not address~m again,
but sat upon the floor and gambled
with the rest. Presently he rose, and,
saying he would return by daybreak,
left the room. He evidently felt was
in his poweE and seemed III DO hurry
to complete his ieveae-
> Wien he had gone the card-playing
was kept up for couple of hours.
Then the men all stretched themselves
upon the floor and slept. The door
opened inward, and across it was the
burly form of the treasure. In spite
of the apparent hopelessness of the,
trial, I set about desisiug some plan
OF escape.
The first thing to Go was 70 free
myself. I have large wrists aid small
hands. In tying me they had not
taken this into consideration. With
out much difficulty I liberated my
hands; then. of course, it was the
work of but few minutes to entirely
free myself from my bonds.
Taking the precaution to place the
ropes in such position, that, should
the gang waken, I would still appear
to be bound. ! thought upon my
chances Of escape. They certainly
appeared very few and small. The
fact of the men upon the floor being
asleep, seemed little in my favor. l
could not move the ruii:an who was
sleeping at the door without waking
him. Escape ty the window was inl-
possible. Every plan that suggested
itself had insurmountable objections
to it. IHhad almost given up schem-
ing in despair, and concluded toadopt
some hopelessly desperate measure,
when I thought of the conteuts OF
bottle had in my pocket.
In searching me, the rnfbans' had
not disturbed it, thinking it of no i'm
portance. 1t contained chloroform. l
also had a sponge in my potket. In
moment I resolved what to do. Draw
ing the bottle from my pocket, |
soaked the sponge thoroughly with its
contents.
Slowly, painfully Z could hear my
heart beatl, with all the caution that
man uses when his life may depend
upon the slightest noise, [ stepped to
the side of the nearest .rutnaD.
placed the saturated srenge TO M h1s
nose eniisl. ly--ysel6 1sshe-
influence Of the varor. From man to
man I stepped. One by one they were
made sens eless, helpless.
The man at the door was the last. [
drew him away, first securing my
watch and pocketbook. I also found
in his possession blackjack, which I
took the liberty Of appropriating.
Their, Opening the door, stepped out
into the hail.
I still moved cautiously, feeling that
all danger was not past! I thought
there might be watcher there, but,
to my relief, I saw no one. I de-
scended the first fight Of stairs, and
reached the second story in safety.
I had gone about half way down the
second flight. Ny heart stood still,
for I heard some one enter below,
then, in the muttered oath, I recog-
nized Somers' voice. I Icrouched down
upon the stair next the wall, hoping
he might PASS me. But, as he came
up, his hand brushed my face.
In moment he had me by the
throat. I knew him to be by far the
more powerful man, and it was not a
time for scrnples. Quickly, it being
so dark he could not see the action, [
raised the blackjack I had held it
since l left the room-and brought it
down heavily upon his skull.
His hand left my throat, and he
rolled down stairs. [ found him at
the foot, qui still. I made good my
escape, not stopping to see if I had
killed him. I do not know to this day
whether he is living or dead. l never
saw nor heard OF him again.
When | arrived home, I found very
frightened little woman, but [ did not
tell her till long afterward the history
of that night. I have never since been
in such fix, and if discretion and
reasonable supply of tim dity can pre-
vent it, never will will be in the future.
Saturday Night.