Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-04-02

have started for the Crossroads b.,
not rumor sprung up which passe,
rapidly from man to man and i'm few
moments had reached every person il
the crowd The news came that TIL,
TWO shell gamblers had wrenched a bal
out OF a window under cover of tn,
storm, had broken Jail and were n
large Their threats of the day befor,
Were remembered now with convincin.
VivldneSs. They had sworn repea tedl,
TO Bardlock and to the sheriff and i'm TN,
nearing OF others that they would do
Ior the Man who had taken their mon
ey from them and had them arrested
The prosecuting attorney. Quickly nor
; ceiving the value of this complica tior
In holding back the mob that was nj.
ready forming, called Horner from the
| crowd and made him get I'D on ths
. renee and confess that his prisoners
had escaped, at what time he did moi
: KNOW, probably toward the beginning
OF the storm, when it was noisiest.
lou see, cried the attorney, there
is nothing as yet of which we can ac.
cuse the crossroads. If our friend has
peen hurt II is much more likely that
these crooks did it. They escaped in
time 10 do it, and we all know they
Were laying for him. You want TO be
mighty careful, fellow citizens uor.
ner Is already in telegraphic commtni-
cauon with every town around here.
anu he'll have those men before night.
All youv got TO do is to control vour-
selves little and go home quietly"
lie could see that his words (except
those in reference to returning home
no one was going bome) made an inn
preston. There was babble of shout
ing and argument and swearing that
grew louder and louder.
Mr.. Ephraim Watts, in spite of all
confusion, clad as carefully as upon
the preceding day, deliberately climbed
the renee and stood by the lawyer and
made single steady gesture with his
hand. He was listened to at once. as
his respect for the law was less noto-
rious than his irreverence for II. and
he had been known in Carlow as ems
tomarily reckless man. They want
ed Illegal and desperate advice and
quoted down to hear it, He spoke i'm
his professionally calm voice.
Gentlemen, it seems TO me that Mr..
Smith and Mr.. Ribshaw." nodding TO
the man with the rawhide whip. are
both right. What good are we doing
here? What we want 10 know is what's
happened TO Mr.. HAIRLESS. 1t looks
just now like the shell men might have
done it. Let's find out what they done
Scatter and hunt for him. Soon rs any
things known for certain Hibbard's
mill whistle will blow three times.
Keep on looking till IL does: then" he
finished. with a barely perccptible
scornful smile at the attorney-..then
we can decide on what had ought he
done"
Six Crossroads lay dark and steam
inS in The sun that morning. The forge
was silent. the saloon locked up. the
roadway deserted even by the pigs.
The broken old buggy stood rotting in
the mud without a single lean little old
man or woman-such were the chill
dren OF the Crossroa ds-to play about
1t. Once. when the deputy sheriff rode
through alone, n tattered black hound.
more wolf than dog, half emerged.
growing, from beneath one of the
tumbledown barns and was jerked
back into the darkness by his tail. with
snarl fiercer than his own, while n
gun barrel shone FOR a second as II
swung for stroke on the brute's head.
The hound did not yelp or whine when
the blow fell. He shut his eyes twice
and skunk sullenly back to his place.
The shantics might have received a
vOlley or two from some of the mount
ed bands, exasperated by futile search
ing, had not the escape of Horner's
prisoners made the guilt OF the Cross.
roads appear doubtful in the minds OF
many. AS the morning waned the ad-
vocates of the theory that the gam
blers had made away with Harkless
grew in number. There came a tele-
gram from the Rouen chief of police
that he had clew to their whereabouts.
He thought they had succeeded in
reaching Rouen. and ii began TO be
generally believed that they had es.
capped by the ! O'Clock freight tram,
which had stopped TO take on some
empty cars at side track mile north
west of town, across the fields from
iiAN IStOt NO(lSc- loW0Eu nOOn Il
party went out 10 examine the rail-
road embanklnent.
Men began to come back into the viii
lage for breakfast by twos and threes.
but many kept on searching the woods
not feeling the need of food or caring
if they did. Every grove and clump
OF underbrush, every thicket, was ran
sacked. The waters of the creek, shall
low for the most part, but swollen
overnight, were dragged at every pool
Nothing was found. There was not a
sign
The bar of the hotel was thronged
all morning as the returning citizens
rapidly made their way thither, and
those who had breakfasted and were
going out again paused for Internal as
well as external reinforcement The
landlord, himself returned from a long
hunt, set out his whisky with a lavish
hand
He was the best man we had, bows"
said Lands as he poured the little
glasses full. Wed ort Of sent him to
the leSiSlat tive halls of WoSbinoton