The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-02
TEE VENGEANCE OF F0NTAIUE
Tale Of Tragedy on the Texas Border in the Early
Days and Of the Rettibdtion That Fo1loUjed.

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! logs and saw six men in the room, one
of whom was wounded. BY their talk
Fontaine learned that two of their num-
Der had been killed and that another was
lying up stairs, severely wounded. EV-
cry face Of that six was plainly seen by
Fontaine, and the names by 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 refrained from shooting for sew
eral reasons. First, re wanted to as
&ertain what they1were going to do WITH
the bodies of MS friends, and then ne
wanted to kill when he did shoot, SO
he laid there on his stomach looking in
on the band while they drank and ca
reused, boasting of their many deeds OF
murder and robbery during the next
hour, during which three of the rob-
robbers, at the command of their leader,
carried the bodies of the dead men to
the cellar where they buried them, after
which they returned to the barroom.
Fontaine heard the leader of the hand,
who was addressed sometimes as Capt.
Jim, at others as CAT. Markle, order
three Of his men to pursue and overtake
him (Fontaine) at 6aybr5 ak one of them
he addressed as Dick vas ordered to
scout up the road, while another, named
Juan-a halfbreed- NJ x -can-too1 a s 3out
in the opposite direction. When F'on-
tame heard the orders he slipped away
and got into the woods, W thoIt having
been seen or heard. Fontaine now Gcept
up the trail half a mile and went into
hiding until little after Caybre2k, when
he heard horse approach ng. The trail
was narrow. and Fontaine easily found
q big tree so close that from behind It
he could reach out ana catch the bride
of horse as it passed. by, and that was
what he did.
The rider was the man Dick, tall,
black-looking villain VINO was taken
by surprise and made to dismount and
hold his hands behind him while Fon-
taine tied them together. The robber
didn't recognize Fontaipe, 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 headquarters he did
so, hoping to escape death thereby. Aft
er he had learned all he cared to know,
FOntaine tied the prisoners feet to-
gether, took his laSSo from the horn Of
the saddle, threw one end over a limb
which crossed the trail, slipped the moose
over the prisoners neck, tied the other
end to the saddle and walked the horse
off until the robber hung six feet above
ground. Without looking back, Fontaine
tied the robbers horse to a limb stole
off 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 for him in the forest back
of the old log house
1t took FOntaine nearly two hours to
strike the trail. which he succeeded in
doing mile below the tavern, and there
in another carefully selected spot he lay
and waited for nearly another hour, when
he heard horseman approaching.
Peering between the branches Fontaine
saw that the rider was the Mexican half
breed, Juan, who, unsuspiCious of dan
ger, was slowly riding along. This time
instead of holding up his man, FOntaine
waited 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 mis- pistol, aft
er which he tied his 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 Ken
lucky animal-Which he was mighty glad
to recover. In the saddlebags. which
were still across the saddle. Fontafne
found some bread and meat which he
hdal slowed away the morning preced-
After leading his horse half a mile into
the depths of the woods Fontaine sat
down by a 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 a hundred steps
from the front 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
man and the German to keep a lookout
for more victims to be murdered and
robbed, If they should come, by the
quartet composed of the landlord the
wounded robber Juan, and the man
Dick, who would be on hand! When he
had come to this conclusion young Fon-
tame carefully examined his weapons
and, after the German and his compan-
ion disappeared in the barroorn he
stole his way through the brush and
weeds, actually getting into the house
n ord
That morning squad of Texan
rangers. of whom I 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
band of robbers and mUrderers, led by
Black Jim Marllle, one of the worst des-
peradoes on the border. The old tavern
was believed to be one &c 80 gap~'s
HEADQUARTERS. and the Dutchman who
ram 1t was wanted in Germany TO the
amount of thousand dollars. We were
riding along about a mile from the tav-
ern when. as we turned bend in the
trail Jack Robbins. who had been scout
ing in advance. came back with the re-
port that man was hanging to a limb
across the trail short distance 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
a lariat was fast was found tied to a
lllllD, DuI there WIS nothing ABOUT SOrSe
or man to indicate what it all meant.
except in the looks of the fellow him,
self; that was enough to satisfy all OF
us that whoever he was he had met his
dues. Well, We cut him down and laid
his body by the side of the trail and
then rode on until we were a quarter of
a mile from the tavern, when we dis
mounted and approached on foot When
We were within a couple of hundred
yards of the house we heard two pistol
shots--only two-and in a mighty few
seconds ten of us were looking into that
old bar on the floor of which lay stretch
ed out two men, one of whom was the
Dutchman, and the other a vflIainous
looking fellow, and both had "a bullet
hole in their heads: and, standing over
them, with a pistol in each hand. was
slender built. blue-eyed young fellow,
not over twenty years old.