The National tribune., 1910-12-15

. in range of him again. And as it was
| only d few rods to the timber, once he
reached that cover his chances OF es-
| cape were good.
This plan forestalled by opening the
door wide myself, and stood holding it
with my left hand, with my pistol in
my right as | cautioned him.
Now, you march straight out into
the street, turning neither to the right
nor left, till I command Halt! and
make no crooked move, for remember
I'm right behind you, and I'm u pretty
good shot"
He looked me in the eye a moment
TO see if l meant ii, and then promptly
complied with my instructions.
followed him closely enough for
sure shooting if need be, bat far enough
in his rear so that he could not have
grabbed my pistol by suddenly whirling
| around. which ] suspected was prob
ably his second plan.
] was confirmed in this suspicion
moment later, as l was marching him
around the house, taking the precau-
ton to keep him so far away from the
building that he could not dodge around
corner suddenly, when he abruptly
stopped and glanced over his shoulder,
as tho expecting that / would naturally
close mp on him before noticing his
halt, and he would then be able to turn
quickly, seize me and wrench my pistol
from me. But ] was watching for just
such manuvers and stopped as quickly
as he did, and, aggravated at his evil
dent design to trick me, i warned him
again:
Now, GiIlett if you make another
such move I'll put bullet thru you
quicker than lightning"
He protested his entire innocence Of
any evil intentions towards me, and
tried to persuade me that / had mis-
=
of him when ! found that he had no
real occasion for coming out, and was
confirmed in my first suspicion that IL
was mere excuse to create an oppor-
tunity to escape.
BY the same cautious manuVers !
marched him back into the court room,
and l noticed that he heaved 4 deep
sigh as he re-cntered the room, as tho
he had seen his last chance of escape
vanish.
It was near midnight as I returned
! Gillett to the care Of the regular guards,
cautiOning them to keep watchful ego
on him, and i then went home and
turned in.
Heard Pistol Shots.
I don't think ] had been asleep long
when i was awakened by pistol shots,
! and, listening, counted six reports In
rapid succession. little interval and
! then a seventh shot. j felt certain that
one OF the two condemned prisoners
! had made a break to escape, and said
/ 10 myself: "PIl bet it's Nick GilIett'
| I got up and struck a light, and was
! hurrying on my clothes, intending to
go over to the court room to see what
| was up, when / heard mems voices
approaching my house. Presently a
| Vigilance Committee rap came at my
| door. ] answered: who's there?" ard
was requested to put my ear to the key
! hole and receive the committees coun-
| tersiRn, which ] did. | then opened the
/ door, and three vigilants, accompanied,
to my surprise, by Callahan, who was
not Il member, came in, one of the three
requesting n pan of water to wash his
hands, which ! gave him.
In low tones they explained the cause
4 Of the shooting. They had taken the
two prisoners, Edwards and Gillctt,
4 down to the tree TO execute the courts
sentence, and had swung Edwards up
without any trouble, during which op-
Grafton Nick Gillett had managed to get
his hands united, tried to snatch a pis-
tol from one of the vigilants, and. fail
!. ing in that, made a dash into the dark
ness to escape.
AS ] have before stated, the old elm
i tree stood on n little island with a mere
{ ribbon of water on each side. Gillett
sprang across the little branch, up the
bank, over a rail fence and across lit
tie patch of cleared ground nearly up
to Van Epps's house. BY the time he
had got over the fence and ran a few
rods six of the seven shots had heard
| had been fired at him, and, considering
that they were shooting in the dark at
a nan running, l think those men did
| phenomenal pistol practice. for it was