Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-06-08
SID ELIGHTS

SSSSSSSSSSSSSS
clothes line. He filled his old dou-
BILE barrel muzzleloader with about
five fingers of powder and lot Of wet !
paper, so that 1t would roar like a I
Japanese siege gun and then he waited t
developments.
About 8 o'clock we started for the I
house, and on the way out we agreed
that the first fellow who saw the old |
man coming was to yell and run, and
every fellow was to take care of him
self the best he could.
by the time we got to the barn lot
that kid could hardly be pushed ahead
but by talking and telling him how
brave he was and how we would never
have had the nerve to come Ii ne
hadn't been there, we got him around
to the front of the house. There were
about dozen Of us.
1T was a moonlight night-almost |
| light as day-and the old man was hid
in shadow right by the door. He
didn't do thing until the time come.
When we all got stationed behind the
trees and the corner of the smoke
house one of the boys said to start the
noise. The new kid, another boy and
me were together right by the smoke
house, and simultaneously somebody
hit wash boiler with a club and the
boy with me hit the side of the house
with big fiat board that made re-
port like the crack of doom. It al
most scared me. Then the din started.
The gang never did do SO WE'LL
! well, you ought to have seen that
kid! You see, he didn't know the boy
behind him had the board and he was
/ trying to f1atten himself out against
. the house, when the board hit it. It
4 didn't miss his head more than two
inches, and it nearly scared him to
4 death. However, 1t didn't impede his
action. He jumped straight up in the
air and when he come down he went
right up again, then he whirled around
a couple of times and Strengthened out
to travelling. Just as he went past the
corner of the house. someone let out
a whoop and the old man seconded 1t
and took after the kid.
1T was nice and light and we could
see the race down through the
orchard. The ground sloped down
the way the kid started and he kept
] surely stepping some and the old man
eiloAE dS ldoJ do llc COulu duu
! letting out yell every jump and the
kid was going SO fast that you could
not see his legs move. On the far
side Of the orchard there was four
foot hedge and we all looked to see
the kid dive into it head first, but just
, as he got to it the old man touched
: off the gun and the kid cleared thar
, hedge like circus greyhound. When
hn wont bo Lot u
in the road and we thought he would
take down the middle of it; but we
didn't know him. He went straight on
Z hedge on the other side, the old man
shot the other barrel and sissy boy
| went over that fence like there was
l nothing there, and he lit running, too.
, This last jump landed him in a. big
f meadow and he went across it SO fast
i that his shadow couldn't keep up.
!, 1T was the funniest thing l ever
saw We never had had such time,
and we talked and laughed about 1t
for awhile at the house and then
: started homo.
J "A couple of days before this, man
J had broke Jail in the county seat. and
: all the country constables in the
0 county were looking for him in hopes
g that they would get the small reward
o offered by the sheriff In the kids
> line of flight he had gone straight
toward where one of the constables
= lived. This was one of the most
y watchful and he was upon duty. We
Q met him about half quarter from his
, house, coming back up the road. and
as soon as he recognized us he said /:
L nearly ketched that Teller that
7 broke jail | knowed it was him. |
J. was watchin' fer him, and as cum
Q aroun' the corner of the house I see
} him runnin' acrost the medder. j
run down through the hog lot to head
: him off and just as he got in the road
/ hollered to him to halt, but, lori he
0 jest cut loose and run like he had
0 wings. | couldn't git close enough to
J. shoot. It's him. know it's him.
u Then we got to laughing SO again
s that he was going to run us all in. We
Il told him he was sure after the right
n man.
e I'VE nearly never got home, but II
made man out of him. His mother
IS made him. go to work and hear he
y is doing all right now and can still
o beat any man in the county in foot
IL race" G. P. G..
y Limitation are much more credible and