The representative., 1901-06-06
The VENGEANCE OF FONTAlNE
the Texas border the Early Days ana Of the
Retrlbution Followed.

the room, one Of whom was wounded. BY
their talk Fontaine learned that two Of
their number had been killed and that an
other was lying upstairs. severely wounded.
Every face of that six was plainly seen
by Fontaine and the names OF which all were
known were also learned during their talk.
He knew that he could shoot through the
crack and hit one at least, but he re-
Trained from shooting for several reasons.
First, he wanted to ascertain what they
were going to do with the bodies Of his
friends. and then he wanted to kill when
he did shoot. $50 he laid there on his
stomach looking In on the band while they
drank and caroused, boasting of their many
deeds OF murder and robbery during the
next hour, during which three Of the rob-
bers, at the command Of their leader, car
ried the bodies Of the dead men to the eel
lar, where they buried them, after which
they returned to the barroom.
Fontaine heard the. leader Of the band,
who was addressed sometimes as Capt. Jim,
at others as Capt. Markle, order three OF MS
men to pursue and overtake him tFontaine)
at daybreak; one Of whom he addressed as
Dick was ordered to scout up the road,
while another. named Juan-a half breed
Mexican-took scout In the opposite direc-
tion. When Fontaiua heard the orders ne
slipped away and got out into the woods.
without having been seen or heard. Fon-
taine now crept~up the trail half mile. and
went into hiding until little after day.
break, when he heard q horse approaching.
The trail was narrow and Fonta1ne easliy
found a big tree 50 close that from behind
it he could reach out, and catch the bride
Of horse as it passed by. that was what
he did.
The rider was the man Dick, tall. black
looking villain, who was taken by surprise
and made to dismount and hold. his hands
hob vh n<oin al n.
gether. The robber didn't recognize Fon-
taine, of course, but he knew that whoever
his captor was he would put up. with no
foolishness, and when ordered to give the
names of the gang and all their headquar-
ters, he did so, hoping to escape death
thereby. After he had learned all he cared
to know. Fontaine tied the prisoners feet
together, took his lasso from the horn OF
che saddle, threw one end over limb which
crossed the trail slipped the the moose over
the prisoners neck, tied the other end to
the saddle and walked the horse on until
the robber hung six feet above ground
Without looking back, Fontaine tied the
robbers horse to limb stole OH IN the
woods and cut across as near as he could
guess for the trail below the old tavern, all
the time keeping a sharp lookout for his
pursuers, who, however, were looking Tor
him in the forest back of the old log house
1t took Fontane nearly two hours to
strike the trail which he succeeded In doing
a mile below the tavern, and there, In an
other carefully selected spot, he lay All
waited for nearly another hour, when he
heard horseman approaching.
Peering through the branches, Fontaipe
saw that the rider was the Mexican half
breed, Juan, who, unsuspiclouS OF danger,
was slowly rinding along. This time, III
stead of holding up his man, Fontaine walt
ed until the horse was nearly past the tree
behind which he was hid, when he leaped
out and knocked the Mexican senseless with
the butt of his pistol, after which he tied
the prisoner hand and foot; but instead OF
using the horse as before, he took the mans
lariat and hung him up with his own hands.
The horse the Mexican had been riding
was Fontaine's-a thoroughbred Kentucky
animal-which he was mighty glad to re-
cover. In the saddlebags, which were still
across the saddle, Fontaine found some
bread and meat which he had slowed away
the morning preceding.
the depth of the woods Fontaine sat down
by small spring and ate his meal; then,
leaving his animal where he knew he could
find him he stole back until he was less
than 100 steps from the fornt of the tavern.
He could see only one man, except the
Dutch landlord about, and as the fellow
limped about he came to the conclusion that
the others had gone, leaving the wounded
man and the German to keep lookout for
more victims, to be murdered and robbed,
posed of the landlord, the wounded robber,
Juan and the man Dick, who would be on
hand. When he had come to this conclusion
young Fontaine carefully examined his
weapons, and. after the German and his
companion disappeared in the barro0m. he
stole his way through the brush and weeds,
actually getting into the house unseen or
heard.
That morning a squad OF Texan rangers,
Of which was one, was riding along the
trail leading to the log tavern near Walnut
bayou, for we had been sent out to round
up and wipe out a band of robbers and
murderers led by Black Jim Markle one OF
the worst desperadoes on the border. The
old tavern was believed to be one of the
gangs headquarters, and the Dutchman
who ran it was wanted in Germany to the
amount of 81 600. We were riding along
about mile from the tavern when. as we
turned a bend in the trail Jack Robbins,
who had been scouting in advance, came
back with the report that a man was hang
Ing to a limb across the trail short dis
tance ahead. The sergeant ordered the men
to spread out in the brush and to center on
the spot. but they didn't make any discov
cry man was there sure enough, and
dead enough, although his body wasn't yet
cold. horse to which one end OF lariat
was fast was found tied to limb, but
there was nothing about horse or the man
to indicate what 1t all meant except In
the looks Of the fellow himself that was
enough to satisfy all Of us that whoever
he was he had met his dues. Well, we cut
him down and laid the body by the side
of the trail. and then rode on until we were
q quarter of a mile from the tavern, when
we dismounted and approached on foot.
When we were within a couple of hundred
yards of the house we heard two pistol
shots-only twC-and In a mighty few Sec
onds 10 of us were looking into that old bar
On the floor of which lay stretched out two
men, one of whom was the Dutchman, the
other villainous looking fellow, and both
had bullet hole in their heads; and,
standing over them, with a pistol in each
hand, was a slender built, blue eyed young
fellow not over 20 years old.
What does this mean, young MANI" in
Quired Sergt Robbins.
Justice, sir" replied the young fellow.
"Justice?"
Yes; the bodies of my brother and my
friend, murdered by these fends, he at this
moment in the cellar Of this house."
Give US your story, young man; tell US
who you are, how you came here and all
about this affair and. perhaps, you can tell
us who hung the man we found up the
trail.' -
II hung myself, and you'll find an
other, q Mexican, below hanging to a tree"
and then the young fellow told his story,
simply, and without the least word OF
braggodocio. 1t was a wonderful story Of
single mans courage and determination,
and after he was through Robbins offered
to take him into. our company, place
which almost any man in Texas would
gladly have taken, but he declined, giving
as his reason that he never intended to
give up the search Of Jim Markle and the
other two who had disappeared until he had
killed them. The next morning, after we
had buried the two dead men under a big
tree in little glade, young Fontaine LETT
US, and he trailed down and shot two of the
thron h0fn ho yooP WA mt IA