Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-05-30

\ hay, ne tOlu DIS plGe9uS tale, klttl0
shifting, sobbing, wailing at intervals,
but ever intently listening. One sxtrav-
agance after another had swamped him.
He used the money of the men S Ath-
letic and Dramatic association, of which
he was treasurer. He stole forage from
the stables and sold it to dealer in
Butte to cover his shortage; but, that
not yielding enough, planned the rob-
berry of the magazine, which took place,
Croxford and Elzey assisting, one furi-
ously stormy night. They worked the
old ordnance sergeant with liquor and
| got his keys, took out the boxes of car-
tridges, revolvers, etc., and, 10, the
wagon Of their confederates in Butte
failed to come 1t was beaten back by
the storm. They then ran everything to
| the stack nearest Merriweatber' S stable
and cottage and hid the plumber under
meath. Dawn almost surprised them at
the task. Luckily the old sergeant was
made too sick to 60 to his magazine for
two days. They had arranged for the
wagon to come out the next night and
then to blow up the magazine and so
destroy evidence of their guilt, but again
there was failure, and Merriweather
was at his wits end when he hsard the
i colonel say that stack must be moved
on the morrow. Then, rain or shine,
4 snow or sleet, the wagon had to come,
| and then it was found, too late to
change the hour, that the swell recruit,
Hunter was on the very post that guard
| ed the stacks and stables and would be
there at the very time they needad to
act. So to robbery they were compelled
to add assault.
The plumber was safely run off to
Butte and paid for at about one fifth it's
| cost and one-tenth its value in frontier
city. They got their money and felt
measurably safe SO long as Hunter re-
manned in hospital, used up as result
| of the fearful Commissions he had receiy-
| ed. But his wife had told them of her
encounter with and revelations to Hun
| ter, and their fears of discovery were
such that Croxford and Elzey determine
ed to desert. The news that Hunter was
arrested as having guilty knowledge Of
| the whole affair was thunderbolt
Now in self defense he would have to
| produce even a woman as witness and
/ that woman Merriweather' wife. Twas
Merriweather who babe her go at once
to Pawnee, whittier Croxford and Elzey
/ followed. The three men were to meet
and divide their spoils in certain sa-
loon in town. The first two demanded
more than their share. There was
quarrel, then murderous battle. They
took all he had and fed, but, with fatu-
GUS laundering, had gone to Pawnee to
buy her silence, and there all three were
jailed. Hunter was an innocent man.
And when this was told to Mainwar-
| ing he beloved, "Then what in dash
| destination did Brady mean by his
story?' For Brady's story was practi-
| oally this:
| That he and Rawson occupied room
| together over the one fine restaurant in
Pawnee, and one night they were hay
ing supper in one box when a party Of
| four railway hands came into that adj
| joining, talking loudly about the en-
gineer Of 7SS, old Jim Long, and the
swell that engineered the hold up--how
| he had pretended to be out there to en-
| list in the cavalry, how he had tried to
! ride with and get points from Long and
had two or three Of his gang on that
| very train all ready for business, but
was scared off by the fact that there
was a carload Of soldiers. Then when
| the train robbery did take place they
nabbed seven of the followers afteria
long chase, but never got the leaders at
all. Why, one of them was right there
at the fort this very day, enlisted SO as
to divert suspicion, and he was keeping
his hand in by engineering other rob-
berries. That magazine explosion they
had read about was all his doing.
II Brady had not been added, he
could have remembered that Hunter had
enlisted before the train robbery took
| place. But he posted back to Butte,
gave Mainwarirg wildly exaggerated
account of what he had heard, vowed
he could bring the men with him next
trip, and Maingaring, already suspi-
cious, had ordered Hunters arrest 40
nnrdinelv.
ITO be Continued
/ &c. ~