Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-29

was fighting with his carb1ne as a CluD
when o~verpowered and shackled. He was
a tail, swarthy fellow, Wllh handsome
dark eyes and a nervous temperament;
had been a member Of one of the regular
army posts further west, but got into
some difficulty with one of his officers
and had deserted.
He was put through a
and sentenced to be shot.
These sentences, of course, have to be
approved by the administration. Report
of the courts action was forwarded to
Washington and the prisoner was closely
guarded until the president had signed
the death order. This was finally done
and the day of execution set. The prls-
oner's name was Yoakums and l had sew
eral talks with him.. He took the trouble
to make a fair statement of his case to
nj and offered several good points in mi
tigation. He wrote some letters to
friends he had in the east, which | after
ward learned We're for the purpose of
getting them to intercede for him. The
curious part of the story, which follows,
was told to me, and it shows the slen-
der thread by which a man sometimes re-
tains his hold on life.
The colonel at the next post, some $50
miles away, received the order from
Washington passing upon Yoakum's case.
He selected a messenger from among
the best riders, and, without telling him
the import Of what he was carrying, sim
ply ordered him to use all haste in reach
ing FIT, Kearney. The trooper took it
and lit out at a rapid rate three days be-
fore the sentence was to be executed.
The second day afterward he returned
and presented himself to the Colonel, look
ing rather sheepish. The Colonel inter-
rogated him on his early return and the
soldier confessed that he had got in with
some companions at N, a sort of settle
ment on the road to Ft. Kearney, and
| uhiI, G,iplino tbnra had 1Ost the mas
sage.
The colonel's face blanched, and for
once he lost his composure. In excited
tones he asked the trooper if he knew
what the message contained. The mes
/ senger shook his head.
you internal scoundrel!' Numbered
the colonel, that was oakum reprieve,
and now no power on earth can get a mes
sage there before his execution. He was
sentenced to be shot at noon today, the
order approved by the president and later
en- rescinded. The paper gave you was
the annullment of the death sentence.
You have been the cause of his death,
sir, and by the Eternal! | intend that
you be shot for the Infamous manner in
which you have attempted to perform
your duty.' Oh. but he was hot.
The trooper was as badly scared as a
man aver gets when he heard the awful
consequence of his dereliction. There
were no telephones nor telegraph wires
ir those days, and it was out of the ques-
ton to attempt to get another message
there in time.
Here is the odd feature of the story;
The messenger, while drinking at the bar
i'm the little settlement, had inadvertent-
ly pulled the dispatch out of his pocket.
An hour later, while on the road to the
post. he discovered his loss and hurried
ly retraced. The saloon was then clos
ed, but the barkeeper was aroused from
his bed and a thorough search made on
the floor, but nothing could be found.
The trooper, not knowing the Importance
of his message, resolved to ride back and
get a new one.
At sun-up next morning a soldier, who
(had spent the night in town, was walking
up the street when he noticed a dog lying
on the sidewalk playing with a scrap Of
plpcr. There was nothing in that, bUc
when. a passing breeze jerked it from the
animals paws and sent 1T Whirllng across
the street, the dog made a quick bound
to get it. The rapidity of his action ex-
cited the admiration of the soldier; he
saw a chance for some fun.
He went over to the dog, took the pa
per from his paws and held it up for the
wind to blow it again, so the dog could
make another run. AS soon as he touch
ed the paper his trained eye saw that it
was an army document. He opened and
read it.
To say that he was astoqlished would
be putting it mildly. He went into the
saloon and asked the barkeeper about 1T,
The dispenser of Rocky Mountain corpse
reviver related the incident of the even
ing before. The trooper secured the best
horse in, town and struck out, arriving at
the outpost just as the firing squad was
getting ready to perform it's unpleasant
duty.
Yoakum's friends had managed to get
lin their work with the authorities, put IL
would have gone for naught had not that
breeze blown the paper from the dogs
paws just at the time it did.