Amador ledger., 1901-02-22
Mr.. SAMPLES SISTER
BY M. QUAD.
COPYRIGHT, 1900, By C. B. LEWIS.

" w v V v v " "
was serving my first and only term
of sheriff in an Indiana county when
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
large factory. He was provided with
letters of recommendation, had the air
of 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 a new kind
of cloth out of what he called PERSIAN
hemp" He had samples of the cloth
to show, and it could be made and sold
at 400 per cent profit Samples him.
self would put 100000 into the enter
prise, but he wanted the town to sub
scribe 100000 additional, so as to
make it a 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 it was remembered aft
erward that several tough looking men
called to see him.
On the second night of Samples ar
rival i'll our town a fine horse was
stolen from a citizen. During his first
weeks stay there were more run off
In three weeks time IL 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 l
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. 1 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 detective for three weeks,
a 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 certain
road. At certain point all trace had
been lost. Ten miles to the south of
us was big huckleberry swamp of
1000 acres. 1t was state land and had
only been explored by hunters. 1t was
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 snd cry was over. Within two
hours had started for the swamp, ac-
companied by a constable. By pure
good luck after tramp of half day
we came upon trail showing the
footprints of horses, and following 1t
to the very center of the swamp we
came upon the whole II stolen animals.
Feed had been brought to them by an
other trail.
1t was fine 'plant' we uncovered.
There were two men to take care of the
horses. One of them was a black
smith, and he had 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 a cautious approach, but in spite
of us the two men got away. We
scarcely regretted it, however, in view
af Nf ,f,,1
had Just arrived. 1t was Mr.. Samples,
the fax cloth man, the factory man,
the man with letters of introduction!
Yes. sir, he had arrived to give his
subordinates 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 in
small town. l had been maligned
and abused without stint for failing to
capture-tbe horse thieves. Now that
l had got all the stolen horses in a
bunch. and the boss thief in addition,
nothing was too good for me. was
called hero and all that and got a
Serenade from the band and had bon
fires galore in my honor. The arrest
of Samples was thunderclap, but the
public soon got over its establishment
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 little he claimed that he
would be able to prove his entire inno-
cence before a jury, and he was SO
CHEEKY and good natured that l came
to like him. He had three months to
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 it's 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 lcoi1-
ing woman of about %, spoke in q
choked voice and wore veil, and with
out questioning her much led her to
Samples cell and left them alone. 1t
so happened that had to go into
court directly after, and l left it to a
turnkey to let her out. He did so, and
it was three hours later when l made
abe discovery that the two had ex-
changed clothes and the woman had
been left behind. The turnkey hadn't