The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-06-11
A WARMING
COnVeyed&
Advice of Knoo County Native
Regarding rapPi1g of
Chicken Thieves

since ne SllOJ bilt Dl8 tame bttI
o mine right in its own pastur' and
Rugged it away, KNOWN it was mine
and that he hadn't no more right to
do il than he had to shoot one o my
cows" said the man from the Knob
country, and yit now he goes and
summonses me to be defendant in a
lawsuit he's briugin' ag'in me for
Islander. Hain't spoke to him nor
mentioned his name in better than
four years, and here he goes and
summonses me to be the defendant
in a smit for SANDER!
Josiah come in t'other day and he
was considerable glum. | asked him
what was achin', and he says:
Its them chickens O mine he
says. Half dozen o my best ones
was stole last night. Half a dozen
was stole the night afore that, and
/ s'pose that half a dozen II go ag'in
tonight. and then | won't have none
left he says. That's what the ailin'
is, Danl,' says he.
Josiah is old Jason's son-in-law,
and a consarned nice young Teller
he is, too for all o that And Jason
lives neighbor to Josiah.
I'm goin' to put a bar trap in
that hen coop tonight says he, and
Jest find out who it is that's unpop-
ulatin' of it. says he.
81 sot and thunk awhile. and then
says:
"'Josiah,' l says, before you set
trap for your chicken thief, let me
tell you little recollection about
somethin' that happened in the Knob
country somethin' like a good many
years ago. Then says |. if you
want to set your trap. why set it. 1t
won't make no difference to me-
j says.
THE time I'm referrin' to- saws
i, 'Saclrider & Jupp was in pardner-
ship in the shingle splittin' and lad
der maxim business, over back o. the
Knob Sacllrider had a daughter
jimmy. She want more than IS when
this happened, but she could fill out
a calico dress like sugarcake dough
run into a mould.
'Sackrider's pardner. Judd. was
tiptop, strappin' youngster of % or so.
He was an orphan on his mothers side,
but his poor old father. Abner, was
left to be a consolation and comfort
TO him. The old man lived on the boy,
and had the rheumytis most o. the
time, with now and then a call from
plumbago in the back, and similar
cheerful ailin's.
"'Abner was a fine old man, but
there was folks mean enough to say
that though he was always sufferin'
terrible when his boy was around
which the Youngsters name was
Caleb-he was clipper enough when
the boy was away in the woods shinele
-splittin' and could walk three miles to
the tavern and absorb more rum and
tanzy that any other citizen o. that
bailiwick. That's what there was
folks mean enough to say about Abner.
but you'll find jest setch meGdlin' folks
verywheres, Josiah, everywhere
"'Caleb, he never knowed of their
talk, though, and was always worryin'
about his poor old father, and feelin
sorry for him, and saying that he was
.afeared he wasn't doin' enough to
make the old man comfortable on his
way to t'otheT shore.
1.-The ground that Sackrider's
daughter jimmy walked on was worth
somethin' like $4,000 a squire inch to
Caleb and the price mark that jimmy
put on Billy was so high that the Queen
o. Shelby couldn't carried encueh
treasures and things in her chist to
pay it, and setch bein" the case. of
course, it was settled thing. all over
the destrict that them two was goin'
to marry one another when the time
come right.
"'T'here was considerable o. sheep
stealin' and chicken stealin'. and setcl7
pastimes as them going on back o.
the Knob in them days, and nobody
was more dead sOt ag'in 'em than
.Sackrider's daughter jimmy.
"Why, says jimmy to Caleb one
day, 81 wouldn't think no more o.
shootin' sheep thief" says she, than
would o. shootin' a skunk, and cit
mad" says she, every time | think o.
,one!"
Caleb he said that he did, too, and
that he didn't want nothin' to do with
anyone that belonged to a sheep thief
"''Me neither" says jimmy. I'D
as soon fetch p'isen." says she.
"'Along early that spring man
came through there buyin' up sheep.
Caleb had some o the choicest kind o.
sheep, but none of 'em was for sale.
1.-The sheep buyer he sort o. depu-
tized Uncle Lijer. at the tavern, to
pick up all he could and forward EN-
to him at the Eddy. Now, somehow
or other, of all the sheep that had
been stole in the deestrict the most of
'em had always been took for Caleb.
and somehow when chickens was levied
on. Caleb's seemed to be the favorite
,hEa I'D o chickens that was called for