The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-10-30
Mr.. SAMPLES SISTER.

care not to penetrate too far. IL naSheG
ever me that the stolen horses, instead ct
being run out Of the State. had been cor
rallied In this swamp to walt until the nue.
and cry was over. Within two hours l
had started for the swamp. accompanied
by constable. By pure good luck after
tramp Of half day We came upon tran
showing the footprints OF horses. and
following Il to the very center OF the
swamp we came upon the whole twelve
stolen animals Feed had been brought
into them by another trail.
II was a fine plant We uncovered.
There were two men to take care Of the
horses. One Of them was a blacksmith.
and he had a forge and dozens Of horse
shoes. As the animals were run out the
plan was 10 shoe each one with the shoes
reversed. and thus deceive US in case We
struck a trail. We made a cautious ap-
proach. but in spite OF US the two men
got away. We scarcely regretted it. how
ever, in view Of the capture of the ;hird
one, who had just arrived. II was Mr..
Samples. the fax cloth man. the factory
man. the man with letters of introduction.
Yes. sir. he had arrived TO give his sub
ordinates directions. and as he fed with
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 in a
small town. had been maligned and
abused without stlat tor failing to capture
the horse thieves. Now that had rot all
the stolen borses In a bunch. ard the boss
thief in addition. nothing was too good
for me. was called hero. and all that.
and got a serenale from the band. and
had bonires galore In my honor. The
arrest of Samples was a thunderclap but
the public soon got over its establishment
and demanded that he receive the maxi
mum punishment OF the law. He was
examined. committed for trial. and 1
took care to give him the strong
est cell In the county jail. The man
gave me no trouble. After recov-
ering HIS cheek a little he claimed that he
would be able to prove his entire inno-
cence before Jury, and he was so CHEEKY
and good-natured that | came to Ike him.
He had three months to wait for The cir
cult court, and he made no move in re-
gard 10 lawyers or witnesses 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 rather quiet-looking woman of about
twenty-five. spoke in a ehoked voice, and
wore VEIL and without questioning her
much / led her TO Samples cell and left
them alone. 1t so happened that had to
so into court directly after, and / left 1t
to turnkey TO let her out He did so,
and 1t was three hours later when | made
the discovery that the two had exchanged
clothes and the woman had been LEFT be-
hind. The turnkey hadn't noticed any,
thing out of the way rs the woman"
passed out.
l didn't faint away or have At or
commit suicide. | simply rendered my
resignation and went off on vacation.
knew my public. and l knew that, al
though | had recovered the horses and
broken up the gang of thieves, that isis
ter business had taken me out of poll
ties forever She got ninety days in jail
as a punishment, / believe, but Samples
got clear off and no doubt worked his lit
tie game to advantage in other local. les.