The National tribune., 1903-11-05

q visY Il h. roads On which the BlasA
HsSvss and Sloan Creek gangs wsrA
wA1ls 6andbrsakse slipped over 10 the
ItsAt 70 another ri;s 70 take = look a
5:0 sas Minute Ssa iSsh sa%' u Saio
Tho COnfedris air on .he road said
Santhreaker as we got acruss and into
the mouth Of q similar dry guleh coming
down from the other side. 'They'un's
comm forward TO lay behind that hump
thls-a-wny. The Cnnfedrits hsv some one
| they'uns is gittin' they'uns monty we'll
surrounded. The only hole is at Soap
stone Crick. an we'uns'll stop that
I'VE made our way up the bed OF the
gulch to near the head, and fastened
our horses there. We slipped carefully,
one BY one, over the ridge, keeping as
much In line as possible with trees and
stumps, so as not to break the line Of
light coming from the western sun.
| AS we passed over We took hasty
glance down toward the Black Reeves
banditti. who seemed to have settled their
free fight, and were gathering their horses
together, preparatory to mounting and
starting.
| IT began to understand something about
Il
greatly puzzled me Mt first. Though they
were both strong Union men. and burning
with desire to revenge themselves on their
enemies-were almost shockingly merci-
less in their intentions against them-yet
| they wanted Larry and l with them in
| uniform, to give color of United States
authority to what they did, and they
| wanted US to make a show of taking the
lead. They were Americans. and there
fore law-abiding men. They felt the au-
| thority Of the Confederacy and Of the
State of Georgia. They were brave and
determined. ready to fight the guerrillas,
but the coming of the regular Confeder-
| ate forces seemed to dampen them a lit
| tie They wanted US to be right by them
| all the time, and they would hang back at
times when there seemed no danger to let
us go ahead"
"'Yes,' said 81, we know all about that
We saw that with all the loyal Tennes-
scans we had anything to do with. 'You'ns
is the Government they'd say, and when
we were along they were keen to do any
| thing"
almost too keen to kill, if anything"
corroborated Shorty.
"Sandbreaker and Throckmorton found
| an ambush behind some rocks, behind
which we could lie and cover the faint
| trail which ran over the ridge at the head
waters of Soapstone Greek. How in the
world they ever knew about it 1 couldn't
| imagine, for all around was jungle
Of cat-briars and brush, covering every
| thing up to the steep rocks, where the
gorge began. They sat down there, looked
their guns over carefully, brought their
cartridge boxes around to the front, and
| waited in silence, as il they were still
hunting for bear or catamounts. Larry
and / We're not so patient. We climbed
up tall, straight sweet-gum trees on the
al IS tho Lab, md nEad oh 70,
where Black Reeves's gang were. They
had apparently decided to start after Us,
and were pulling out on the road. with
the black-bearded Reeves in the lead. A
man who appeared to have come
out second best in the fight was helped
| on his horse, ana started to go the other
way, but Reeves turned toward him, yelled
the man turned and followed the others.
Just then Wolf Sloan charged up at the
head of his gang. and knocked this man
off his horse and began doing the same
to the others. They seemed sure that
Reeyes's crowd had got away with US and
our money, and were making of. There
was a general mix-up, with lot Of yell
ing and cursing. and several shots fired. It
was mostly scuffling on horseback, with
them striking at one another with gun
barrels. trying to knock each other out of
the saddle. Black Reeves's gang was get
ting the worst of it, for they were out
numbered three to one, but there were sew
eral pretty little scraps, in which the Reeves
men came out ahead. Some of the men
knocked off jumped up and ran back into
the woods, and began shooting from be-
hind trees. Black Reeves, seeing that his
crowd was getting the worst of it, tried
to make off up the road, when the man /
took for Wolf Sloan, a tall, hatchet-
faced man. riding the best horse in the
bunch, made after him and overlook him.
He struck Reeves over the shoulder with
his revolver. and then the two had it.
They clinched. their horses went from IN
der them, and they fell to the ground.
They jumped up and Wolf Sloan ran at
Reeves. who caught him. and after min
ute of wrestling. threw him to the ground,
and jumped with both heels in his face.
Just then a shot from one of the Noses
Checkers tumbled Reeves. and Sloan
jumped mp and picked up his revolver,
which had fallen from his hand, to finish
him. Before he could cock it, shot from
one of the Reeves men in the woods
dropped him.
GAS soon as the shooting began a
slouchy man on uninterrupted roam start
ed to gallop away, and he took the trail
which led directly to our ambush. His
up the hill. and he jumped off to lead him.
called down to Sandbreaker about 1t.
He stood up behind a tree and raised
his gun like club. As the man pushed
ais way between the briars and came in
sight Sandbreaker said:
'Swackhammer, you soldering sneak,
1 intended to kill you the next time saw
you, but l want to save my powder an
lead for better men. Take that, you
sheep-killing hound
"He brought his gunbarrel down on the
shutting cracker with such force that ]
thought he had killed him. The fellow
sprawled and his arms and legs were
positively limp.
81 looked back towards the fight, and
saw Reeves and Sloan rise and staggef
toward each other, grapple and fall. The
men on each side of the road kept pecking
away at each othe- but some of the rest
were riding off in the direction of where
the rebels were waiting for them.
ats about time to hear something
from the critter-back gents I called to
Larry.
"'Sure. They're saying nothing moigh-
ty loud,' answered Larry.
almost at that moment we saw the
squads which had gone up the other roads
come rushing back, and after them were
the rebel cavalry. yelling, in chase. They
rushed back over Reeves and Sloan, ~
ing on the ground, and the men who had
been shooting across the road at one an
Away they all went down the road for
perhaps a half mile, when we heard an
other yell. and some shots.
as 'spected,' explained Sandbreaker.
nd haIp