The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-10-28

S'-; ~ ~
GGl1hnd' g horse goes free, his rider failing
faintinn from loss of blood.
motherless children, now orphaned BY
that zone more square fight in Texas. ="
Gallant Ned Lawrence! Far on the way
to Cramer's bewildered force they found
his body, shot from ambush through
and through in two places. Yet, said
his weeping orderly, he had chung to
the saddle nearly mile. Oh, the wrath
at department. headquarters and along
the line Of posts and camps against that
gang, made up, as SO many knew it
must be made, mainly Of the thugs and
deserters offscoured from the army in
days when moral character as vouched
for was no requisite before enlistment!
Among the dead upon the field was
found the body of once trusted SER
geant Of Lawrence's troop, but the
other outlaws were Mexicans or Jail
birds, strange to the soldiers who turned
them curiously over. Pennywise, scared
half to death and dreadfully shaken by
the capsizing Of his wagon. was other
wise unscathed. His clerk was shot, his
driver sorely wounded; two of the San
Saba escort were killed, and others hit
Brooks, with Captain Haines from the
San Saba, pushed on until at noon he
reached Cramer's people. now re-enforc-
ed by Fuller and his men and by the
shame stricken Mullane. By nightfall
his exhausted horses were drinking their
fillefrom the stream. The two wounded
officers, Barclay and Cramer, with half
dozen troopers, were being made as
comfortable as possible
By dawn of the next day Mullane's
pleading had overpowered Brooks,
whose heart was wrung at the contem-
plation of such unrequited losses, and
taking Lieutenant Vim and 40 troop
ers with him the Irish captain, given a
chance as he prayed to redeem himself,
marched away westward from the can
torment at Crockett's, bent on overtak-
ing the outlaws in the Apache noun.
tains, whittier they had gone, burdened
by half dozen wounded, SO said tho
one prisoner, who, unable to bear the
torment Of jolting along on horseback
with an arm bullet smashed at the
elbow, had begged to be left behind.
He was mere boy, whose elder brother
had been for years fugitive from JUS
tioe and of late a prominent member of
the gang, and it was by the side of that
mortally wounded ruf1ian they found
the youngster weeping, more from grief
than from pain, only mile away from
the scene of the second ambuscade.
Verify the men who planned those
death traps were masters of their vii.
famous trade. Concentrate all your
shots on the officers, were the instruc-
tions. Get them down, and the men
will be helpless as sheep" Cramer, his
doctor and his sergeant had fallen at
the first fire, and that little command
was paralyzed. Vigilant bushwhackers,
schooled for years in Indian fighting,
Watching the Crockett trail against the
coming Of other leaders, had easily rec
ognized Lawrence as he rode galloping
ON ct the head of his half dozen, and
the zone more square fight" proved but
one sided affair after all. Poor Ned
knew he had his death wounds at the
instant, yet whipped out his revolver
and ordered. "Charge!" and charge
they did upon the scattering, cowardly
crew that fed before them on their
fresh horses until the trooper leader
tumbled from his saddle, dead without
groan, and then, at safe distance, his
assassins turned and jeered their help
less pursuers. How the veterans of ID
troop clustered about their old time
captains lifeless form that night. and
weary though they were after 40 hours
Of sleepless chase and scout and battle,
implored the major to let them start at
once upon the outlaws trail
The same tactics that had halted
Cramer's men and murdered Lawrence
had been played on the escort from San
Saba. Kidding the ambulance at the
{ first volley, yet in the dim moonlight
missing the lieutenant commanding,
who happened to be riding at the mo-
ment on the flank of his column instead
of at the head, the sudden volley felled
q sergeant, but left the subaltern full
Of fight, and he rallied his temporarily
stampeded troopers not 400 yards away
and charged back on the Fridays with
"a splendid dash that drove them heller
SHELTER to the rocks Then, dismount-
ing, he had stood them off superbly I'M
til rescue came.
Not for another 4S hours could old
Pennywise be induced to go on to
Worth. Though there was reinsurance
in the fact that the Fridays were scat
tered over far western Texas by that
time (some never stopping, as it turned
out. until safe from pursuit beyond the
Bravo, the veteran money changer
nerve was sorely shaken He had not
half the pluck Of his punctured clerk,
who though shot by Henry rifle bull
let throngh the left arm and across the