The Somerset reporter., 1900-12-27
Mr.. SAMPLES SISTER
BY M. QUAD.
COPYRIGHT. 1900. BY C. 3. LEWIS,
-9-(9-D-e-1-n9-9-a-a-M-<


of sheriff In an Indiana county when
a smart looking middle aged man, who
gave the name of Samples. arrived at
the county seat and gave out that he
was looking around for a site for a
large factory. He was provided with
letters of recommendation, had the air
of q man of business and soon had the
two bankers In the town and other
business men interested in his project
His factory was to make new kind
of cloth out of what he called PERSIAN
hemp" He had samples of the cloth
to show. and 1t could be made and sold
at 400 per cent profit. Samples him
self would put $500, 600 into the enter
prise, but he wanted the town to sub
scribe 100000 additional, so as to
make 1t home affair. That was a
pretty large sum to raise In town of
5000 people, and after the first half Of
1t had been subscribed the thing began
to drag Samples was coming and go
ing. but making our town his head
quarters, and 1t was remembered aft
erward that several tough looking men
called to see him.
On the second night of Samples ar
rival in our town a fine horse was
stolen from citizen. During his first
weeks stay there were more run off.
In three weeks time u of the best
horses in our township were taken. AS
sheriff | was not idle for an hour after
the first horse was taken. Even If |
was little green myself as an officer
| had two or three constables and dep
uties who were old hands at the bust
ness. Some of the horses we traced
for few miles. always headed for the
! Ohio river but the thieves were slick
fellows and covered their tracks so
well that not a horse was recovered.
My position was an uncomfortable one,
as you may guess. | got redhot criti-
| cism from all Sides and, even though
offered large rewards out of my own
| pocket and went to the expense of
employing q detective for three weeks.
share of the public still insisted that
| ought to resign and open a kinder
garten for children.
One day while | was shivering in my
boots and expecting to hear that the
thirteenth horse had been stolen a
fash of light came to me. Every horse
taken had gone south by a certain
road. At certain point all trace had
been lost Ten miles to the south of
us was a big huckleberry swamp of
1000 acres. 1t was state land and had
only been explored by hunters. 1t was
a big tangle. full of snakes and wild
cats. and berry pickers took good care
not to penetrate too far. 1t flashed
over me that the stolen horses instead
of being run out of the state had been
corralled In this swamp to wait until
the hue and cry was over. Within two
hours had started for the swamp, ac-
companied by a constable. By pure
good luck after q tramp of half a day
: we came upon a trail showing the
footprints of horses. and following it
to the very center of the swamp we
came upon the whole - stolen animals.
Feed had been brought to them by an
other trail.
Ii was a fine "plant" we uncovered.
! There were two men to take care Of the
| horses. One of them was a black
smith, and he had a forge and dozens
of horseshoes. AS the animals were
run out the plan was to shoe each one
with the shoes reversed and thus de-
ceive us In case we struck trail. We
made cautious approach. but In SIP tie
of us the two men got away. We
scarcely regretted 1t. however, In view
of the capture of the third one, who
had just arrived. 1t was Mr.. Samples,
the flax cloth man, the factory man,
the man with letters of introduction
Yes. sir. he had arrived to give his
subordlnates directions, and as he fled
with the others he tripped and fell,
and we were enabled to overhaul him,
| He didn't even bluff We had got him
SO pat that he couldn't say anything.
In his pockets were letters sufficient to
convict him twice over, and his game
was up.
You know what human nature is lr
a small town. | had been maligneC
and abused without stint for failing to
capture the horse thieves. Now that
| had got all the stolen horses IN I
b1nch. and the boss thief in addition,
nothing was too good for me. ! wa
| called a hero and all that and got n
serenade from the band and had bon
fires galore In my honor. The arrest
of Samples was a thunderclap but the
! public soon got over its astonishment
and demanded that he receive the
maximum punishment of the law. He
was examined. committed for trial,
and | took care to give him the stron-
gest cell In the county Jail. The man
gave me no trouble. After recovering
his cheek o little he claimed that he
would be able to prove his entire limo
cence before a jury, and he was so
CHEEKY and good natured that | came
! to like him. He had three months ia
wait for the circuit court. and he made
no move In regard to lawyers or wit
nesses until half the time had expired
| BY that time the public had lost most
of its interest In the case.
One day Samples announced to me
: that his sister would soon arrive to see
| about getting him a lawyer and so
forth, and two days later she called at
/ the jail She was a rather quiet look
! ing woman of about %, spoke in a
choked voice and wore veil. and with
cut questioning her much led her to
! Samples cell and left them alone. 1t
so happened that | had to go into
court directly after, and | left it to
| t,t, nl-ox- tr Lot nd