Connecticut western news., 1902-03-20
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 :: IN I'll F. } : |. { DEVILS } ; |. ] CALDRON } :
, Copyright 1901, by A. g. Richardson
H S S By Ceoete Neville H H H

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 "The prisoners are out! They've broke jailr'
 The cry was picked up by a score of voices and carried down the long, mar row main street of Cimarron-to the gambling dens, where players dropped their cards and grabbed their guns; to the dancehall, where the music stop ped with a crash; to the ofice of the Windsor hotel, where travelling men suddenly lost interest in a lively yarn; to the Ill lighted shops, where mer- chants locked safes and tills and pre- pared to join in the man hunt. There was need of many deputy sheriffs in San Miguel county In those days. It was 9 o'clock when the alarm was sounded. It was midnight before truth and fiction had been sifted and the women of Cimarron knew the worst. Every ablebodied, dependable man in the mountain town had been sworn in either as a member of the sheriff's posse or of the patrol which guarded the town.
 On a cot in his office lay Heynman, the county jailer. He was encircled by stern faced men. A notary public was taking his last statement, setting forth that Randall Wolfe, Jose Roday, Manual Sanchez and Filipe Montex had choked and gagged him while making their escape from the San Miguel county jail. Later, at the cor oner's inquest, the attendant physician testified that had Heynman been in ordinary health the fracas with the desperadoes would not have proved fatal. but the poor fellow was a "lunger' who had come to Colorado for his health. The gag had caused . hemorrhage.
 The fugitives had been sentenced for six months or less on petty charges, and public opinion laid the exploit at the door of Wolfe, handsome, daredevil Randall Wolfe, who had dropped into Cimarron from no one knew where, with plenty of money and a fondness for shooting at lamps in store win dows. Soon after his arrival he had married one of the most beautiful Mexican girls in the vicinity, and they had settled down to a somewhat bo- hemian housekeeping in a picturesque cabin among the river willows. All this had happened months before Wolfe had shot the lamps in Browns | drugstore, thereby starting a conhagra- | ton and landing in jail. And now Conchita, she of the great wistful eyes opd tho nfho rro noP,,l Nov,ro hod dic- appeared from the cabin among the willows. People said that in her hour of disgrace she had gone back to her own people, who lived across the state line. s.. s@
 Two days, and three, slipped by, and one posse after another rode wearily into town until only Sheriff Mcguire and few picked men hung desperate | ly on the trail of the outlaws. These l too, were becoming disheartened when in the steel gray of an early dawn they Devils caldron.
 l A circular pit was this, It's bottom reached only by rocky paths such as mountain goats or fugitives alone would tread. On one side the walls dropped sheerly full fifty feet, and al one point a clear mountain stream cut It's way through solid rock.
 Mcguire had ordered the horses staked a mile back in the thick timber and as the posse drew close to the pit he motioned his men to halt. Then dropping on his hands and knees, he crawled to the edge of the precipict and peered over. What he saw sent ( thrill of exultation along his nerves Near the smoldering fire lay the three MexIcans, while on the rocky ledge slightly above them, lay two other fig ures, one of whom he could easily Identify, even In the dawn's uncertain light, as the stalwart Wolfe. The fiftf figure he studied carefully, but it wa, hidden by wrappings of gaudy blan kets. But Mcguire, recalling the sulfeI Mexican wood hauler they had passet far down the ravine the day before knew that the outlaws had been pro vided with food and tidings from tn, outer world. Then, turning his gaz, on the zigzag mountain trail ending within two feet of his hand, the sheriff smiled grimly. His prisoners wer, neatly trapped.
 But the smile died suddenly. Tn, fifth figure, the one at Wolfe's side stirred restlessly, the red and purpl, blanket was tossed aside, and beauti fully carved arm was thrown above [, mass of raven hair. 1t was Conchita Maguire drew back. To shoot mel down in cold blood was one thing-h' had done 1t before-but she was a wo man, a woman who had done nothin, but love too we'll this man of a rae, not her own. The sheriff had seen tn, firearms scattered about the campfire And if the outlaws fought the gir would be in the midst of 1t.
 He crept back to his men. Ther
 was a whispered conference. Eigh men carefully looked over their guns Then, dropping on their stomachs, the, slid noiselessly to the edge of the cal dron and surrounded 1t. The steel gra,
 light had changed to rose color whel
 Maguire's voice echoed sharply dow
 the rocky walls of the pit. The fug
 tives sprang to their feet.
 Might as we'll come up and SUI
 render, Wolfe. We've got you SUI
 rounded"
 Wolfe threw back his handsome hen
 and gazed upward where the frs
 beams of sunlight touched the dwarfe
 pinons. He saw eight set faces an
 eight guns. He dropped his own wear
 on, with bitter laugh, and stood wit
 folded arms, staring straight at Mi
 guire. When at last he spoke, tn
 sheriff, even with the thirst of tn
 man hunter upon him. caught himsel
 wondering how that voice would soun
 in legislative halls.
 Its no use to surrender, Maguirt
 It means the gallows now. Conchit
 told us about Heynman's dying, an
 maybe you won't believe us, but "
 didn't mean to kill the fool. By heav
 en, I couldn't stand being cooped u