The Tupelo journal., 1911-04-21
HOW He
WAS SAVED
BY WILLS BEACH POTTER
Copyright. 1910. by American Press
Association.

There had bee q lot o. cuSsedneSS
IN Galloway county. and the people
was hot to find some IN to string up
fer u w%arnin'. Ole Man Thompson
! had been murdered in his bed and
$3.50 taken. Bill Stimson was held up
Va the road and relieved Of his watch
and chain. These and other crimes
were committed. vet no n was ar
rested.
About that time my brother Tim
come from Californy and was stayin'
with me on the farm. Tim was as
.ica, cable a Teller as you ever see
wouldn't hurt nobody. But he liked
10 hunt. and, it bein' in the fall q the
year. when game was plenty. l got a
lt o my friends to go over into Ma.
ron county. where there was wood.
mex. We took a kit with us, calcu-
latin to be gone a week.
Waal. one evenin' when we was
collcctin' In camp all on us got in ex-
cert Tim. When we sot down to sup
PR he wasn't there, and when 1t was
|stiGletto turn in we was obleeged to do
II without him. I wanted to go out
land hunt for him, but the rest lowed
| ,ouldn't find him in the dark, that
turn up next day.
Waal. about midnight I was woke up
Dy Tim himself.
BY gum. Timw l says. "Have y
seen q ghost?"
He was the most skeered Teller you
ever seen-white as the snow and his
teeth a chatterin'. As soon as he
could ketch his breath he said:
They're comm to hang me. / was
lwGtchin' fer birds when ! met a mar
WHO looked at me kind o. queer. He
went off and come back with two 9TH
err men. They all tied my hands and
TUX me to a small town. A Teller was
brought in. who looked at me and said,
"That's him." Then they all set around
land talked me over. / knew they TUX
,ne fer some un else, and there wasn't
no use tryin' to make 'em think I
wasn't. Most of 'em was for hangin'
line right up at onct. They said IL the
Flaw got a holt Of me I'd never be pun
lisIled. l begged so hard for 'em to give
me day to prove who I al that
lat last they consented.
They TUX me to some un'S Office and
left me in charge of two of 'em. One
of the two left me In charge Of the
other. while he went off to git somep'n
for 'em both to drink. He brought
back a bottle, which they finished,
then the other one, he went OF and
got another bottle, and by the time
they'd drank that they was both
drunk. First one went to sleep then
the other. dug out and here I am.
AS soon as I'm missed I'll be follered."
woke up the other men, Abe Wood
ruff and Oliver Swayne, and we held
a consultation. Eff they come to take
Tim there'd probably be enough Of EN-
to take him in spite of all we could
do, but we was four shotguns in the
party and concluded to put up a fight
rather'n have 'em take him. About 4
o'clock in the mornin' we heard the
barkin' o. dogs. and 1 knowed they'd
find Tim shore. since they was after
him with bloodhounds.
We wasn't fur from Jimtown, where
there's a postoffice. and the railroad
run through II. While we was con
sultin' we seen a man git up on a plat
form and hang a mail bag to n O.
| them posts what's used fer deliverin'
| the bag to a man in the mailcar on a
pain train without its stoppin'. The
man left the bag and went away. The
barkin' was comm mighty near, and I
concluded I'd go out and meet the
posse and have a talk with 'em. Restin'
my shotgun across the pommel Of my
saddle. / rode forward, crossin' the
track beside which the mail bag hung,
lookin' In the night for all the world
like a man swingin' on a gall0ws. At
fust 1t seemed it meant that my BROTH
err would swing shore. Then all on a
student an idee come to me. There
was a faint light in the east when I
met the party comm down the road.
| counted ten of EN-.
"Ilellor!' / says. whats up?"
"Yistiday," said n on 'em, W
caught the mar that killed ole Thomp-
sen. Sam Jones found him hidin' in a
weed. We TUX him and was keepin'
hin under guard till tomOrrer mornin'
to hang him. ALI Andrews and Charlie
Moore WAS watchin' him, but he got
'e.a both drunk aud lit out"
"Waal." says l, there's two crowds
Of US got onto the same purpose, and