The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-02-24
THE RUNNING cINcH.
its Meaning and Economical Uses
ExpIuinrd by II Western Sheriff.

at is in the newly settled regions of the
far west, where bad men congrcgatc and
turn loose, that the running cinch works
to best advantage, and it saves costs to the
community and trouble to the sheriff, "
said an cX-Shcriff from New Mexico to q
| reporter i'll the office of an up town hotel.
cit works well all round and satisfies
everybody concerned except the man that
is cinchcd, and he never complains, be-
cause he's dead.
"You see, it often happens that a sheriff
in d wild and woody region, with the best
intentions, has live prisoner on his
hands that ought by all good rights to be
planted. He is responsible for his safe
keeping in II jail that COW could walk
Through, and he knows that the man is
dangerous every minute that he lives.
TIE prisoners friends outside are plotting
to help him escape on the one hand, and
on the other there is always the chance
that the citizens get up a nccktie party
and call for the prisoner with n rope,
which is II reflection on the sheriff and
gross disrcspect to the majesty of the law.
"Thcsc things worry tho sheriff, and he
! thinks he's stood enough of it, so he leaves
matters loose in the Jail, and there is not
much of n watch kept that any one can
| Sit, anu INV St'lIiSs liptiilHS w
| hinder, walks out some day and runs for
H. lie docs not get far. The sheriff has
| everything prepared, with men waiting,
and the prisoner is bored and ballastcd
with lead before he has time to make
| much of a show rs II pacemalIcr.
THE Mormons have used tho POSSIBLE
| ties of the running cinch the most sys-
| tcmaticaliy, and in the days when they
| held cards and spades in Utah gentle
| prisoner i'll their hands was liable to he
| ovcrT crsuaded If he declined to take ad-
vantage of the chances they gave him to
| run. During the building of the Union
| Pacific road through Utah the Jail at
| Brig,l;.mville, 20 lIilcs from Salt Lake
| City, became famous for this. Although
| the prisoners comprised the toughest
class Of men. such as naturally flockcd to
| the country as the railroad advanced, no
| effort was made to hold them in jail
| and a door window was always left
| open somewhere at their service should
| they feel inclined to walk out. But none
| ever got away or outlivCd his experiment.
| in breaking jail The M0rmOns i'll official
authority ARE always good shots, and the
| prison guards kept their practice up i'll this
way.
It was through an atrOcious misuse of
| the running clEch that the great AlGlcne
| chief ManaaS Colorado was killed by
| United States soldiers about 40 years ago.
| He had surrendered as a prisoner of Wal
and was held under guard in camp when
| tho plot was made for his death. As he
refused the opportunities given him to run
he was prickcd with n rcdhot bayonet
thrust through the wall of the tent in
| which he was lying. At that he sprang
from the tent and was killed by the guard
as an escaping prisoner. This dastarlly
murder, which was wholly without justi-
fication, proved n costly crime in the gov
eminent i'll the end. After this the
| Apachos would not trust the white man S
word, and long wars followed as IL conse-
| quCnce, in which thousands of lives We're
lost and vast expense incurred. New
| York Sun.