Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-11-22
DOBSON DID IT

Eph Parks and his family lived in that part of Livingston county where the farms are red and gully washed, where the cornstalks are thin and sickly looking and burn yellow in the sun almost as soon as they are green. He was strong and rugged, this sturdy farmer, with his big, bony hands and nut brown, lean cheeks
 At a grindstone at the rear of the house stood an old man grind ing away at an ax. His hair was snowy white. His wide brimmed straw hat, with its shoestring band, did not conceal the deep wrinkles Ion his face. His hickory shirt was torn and faded, and the skin looked blistered through the rents. He rested once in awhile and tested the edge of his ax with his thumb. This was Eph's father. A woman almost as old and long past the age of work sat on a stone in shady spot watching the grinding of the ax and remarking in a cracked voice the chances for crop.
 A tall, angular woman of perhaps forty, though she looked much old CT, came to the door. Her calico dress was soiled and torn. A pair of Eph's boots with great patches of rawhide and with the heels run over peeped out from under her tucked up dress. Her face was hard and pinched. The sallow color con- trasted strongly with the dark, al- most black blue of her gown, and when the sleeves were rolled to the elbows her arms were brown. One bony hand clutched dishrag, which she held against the side of the door as she shaded her eyes with the other. She was looking at her husband as he worked across the red clay field.
 The chatter of horses hoofs on the hard and gravel washed road was heard. Her eyes were turned in the direction of the rapidly ap- preaching rider A half dozen chill dren, the eldest boy of ten, came from a gully near by, where they had been playing, also attracted by the sounds. All moved around to the front of the house. To the sur prise of all, the stranger pulled up lat the fence.
 ''Eph Parks live here ?" he asked.
 f'FYep; that's him over there in the field," answered the woman. ] The stranger dismounted, tied the bridle rein to the rail fence and started across the field toward Eph. The children instinctively clustered around their mother and tugged unconsciously at her dress. She smacked them right and left impul- siyely. She was watching the stran- ger. The man finally reached 'Eph, and the two had barley for several minutes. When they started toward the house the stranger had hold of Eph's arm. Eph's parents and his wife and children were all standing close together when the pair reached the house.
 "Mandy, this 'ere's a gove'ment ossifer, and he's cum ter take me 'way ter jail fur maxim them dollars. 'Twan't no harm nohow-le'stwise I'm church member yet"
 "Hurry up, hurry up," said the detective. ''I want to get to the station in time to catch the night train"
 'How long will yer be gone, Eph ?" said his wife. His aged par ents stood with their mouths open. They did not understand it at all.
 EFDoan know" answered Eph as the handcufss were adjusted to his wrists.
 Then the men climbed over the fence. The stranger got on his horse and told Eph to walk along in front of him. He also said that dAy dCICiiAII O1L AP1A P1A0 Uo ANA would cost him his life. There was no handshaking, no tears. The men moved off down the scorching hot road, leaving the group standing as it had stood at first, together. The old man and old woman looked at Mandy appealingly, but Mandy watched her husband and the stran- ger disappear in the woods. She stood there in the sun with her head uncovered long after they had moved out of her sight. The old man and woman went back to the rear of the house, and the children finally resumed their playing. Still she stood there, looking The sun continued its travelling and finally dropped behind the woods in which her husband had disappeared. ! "Yes," she murmured, "that there's Jim Dobson's work. He tole