The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1907-07-11
TIIESHERIFFS STORY
BY Agnes Riley.


one of the most daring desperadoes
In the whole mountain region, one
Dick Roberts, otherwise known as
the gentleman bandit He was a
| handsome fellow, tall and slight
with pale, oval face and certain
| willowy grace that reminded one of a
/ young panther.
In the month preceding his cap
ture he had held up the paymaster OF
! Camp Ellis three times, robbed the
| mail twice and stole Miss Perkin s
saddle horse, and later returned 1t
with a note attached saying that he
didn't care to enter into a deal with
woman. When the whole country
] round was up in arms | came across
him quite accidentally He surren-
dered without a word, saying with
| a laugh that he was unarmed except
for a pair of curling tongs with
which he had held up the mail--and
upon investigation this was found to
be the case.
One morning. after he had served
six months of his fourteen years
sentence, | was summoned hastily to
the Jail. When | arrived they told
me that Roberts had chloroformed
the guard, bound him hand and foot
with the bed-clothing, took his keys
| and revolver, and walked out of pri-
| son. Where he had procured the
| chloroform was a mystery.
There was snow on the ground at
the time and the armed pose traced
the fugitive to the mountains. Here
they surrounded him-a circle of a
hundred men with another hundred
as relief. For two nights and day
they watched, gradually closing in.
when word was received that the
guards uniform had been found in
the kitchen of a house some distance
north
"The night was rather dark-one
of those cold, clear January nights
with plenty of stars. but no moon
took the narrow buggy, as | needed
the protection of the robes, and start
ed up the carriage road.
Il was going at a pretty good gait
and was we'll into the woods when
my horse suddenly SHE'D, and tall
figure clad entirely in white stood at
his head. The figure shrank back
and nervous, high-pitched voice
cried:
For Gods sake, don't shoot,
am a woman
Before / could reach her she had
fallen in dead faint across the
path.
"She wore a long light raincoat,
hat of some light fur, and a huge
muff of a like material pat the
muff under her head, forced her
teeth apart with a small file. and
poured some brandy down her throat.
She gulped little, and as conscious
ness returned, she put her hand
YEARLY to her head, and | saw a
black ugly bruise on the smooth
flesh.
when she came to she told me
her story, a common enough one
among the mountains. She was Mrs.
Hartnet, the wife of a miner.
become brutal In, his discoura ge-
ment--then drink-cross words
finally blows. She had left him and
attempted to cross the mountain to
her brothers In Camden county She
had become terrified at the footsteps
of man behind her, had stepped
into the brush to let him pass, and
on renewing the path, had suddenly
confronted me.
My courage returned at this in
formation, for / knew there was but
80 l.. l.
night, and that was my gentleman
bandit
II hastily assisted her into my
buggy and drove her across to the
end of my route. Here I made her
accept the flask with what little
brandy remained, and she started
once more toward her brothers."
"And in your endeavors to play
the gallant to a fair damsel in dis
tress you forgot all about the fugi-
tive" said /.
con the contrary, | doubled the
reward, with instructions to capture
dead or alive For month we
searched every inch of the vicinity,
but gradually the excitement died
out.
Five years later | had a message
from Hadlock. A prisoner was dying
of bullet wound and wished to see
me. It was quite a journey, but |
went. Imagine my surprise when
was ushered into the presence of
gentleman Dick
HE held out his hand genially.
Any of that brandy left, old
mann
For a minute 1 was staggered
and then light dawned.
You are Mrs. Hartnet's brother?'
HE eyed me quizzically. 1T has
always been a puzzle to me- he said,
sweetly, why they make sheriffs out
of such sentimental asses. My inno-
cent goose, | am Mrs. Hartnet's self.
And you are the kind hearted sher-
iff who fed brandy to a fugitive and
then gave him comfortable escort
out of the country
Where did you get the chloro-
form?'
The jig is up, so l may as well
show you He touched spring in a
large ring that he wore and the
stone flew back revealing a cavity.
1T held enough to knock a man
out, but not entirely, or I'd never die
in prison
"'And the female disguise?' I
asked.
Pardon me, that's my secret"
He died the next day and
heaved d sigh of relief that the story
died with him" Boston Post.