The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-07-18

ton, Mr.. Ario met Sheriff Anton Os-
ten and related the details of the
trail. Both thought that the man
might have gone out the tracks only
a short distance and then returned
! to the city over Pleasant street. So
it was decided to hit the trail again,
and Sheriff Osten got out his auto
mobile and took Queen, the deputy,
d. T. Bowen, w. B. Smith, Robert
Baker and two newspaper men to
the Front street crossing. Here the
deputy, and his dog, Dan Bowen
and the reporters alighted, and the
faithful hound was given the scent
again from a piece of wood from
the damage door.
Hound Gave One Sniff.
| She shifted once, and darted down
the track. She took a pace that
would train a man for a coast to
coast endurance run, and kept it up
for over mile. When the party ar
rived at Whittier's crossing, Queen
was still hot on the trail, and refus-
ed to turn out for road or street
crossings. The fleeing one was keep
ing to the ties. The next five miles
were full of ties, gravel, grade stakes
and mosquitoes. The dog still kept
up a breakneck pace. Dan Bowen
did not follow, but remained at the
crossing with the car and the sher-
iff.
| Queen kept her nose straight in
front of her, about foot from the
ground, and kept on trailing. Some
times she would leave the track
few feet, and go into the grass or
bushes, but always retracing with
her eyes turned south. Most of the
time she walked between the rails,
but where fresh filling had been
put in, and the ties were hard to
walk on, the hound took the outside,
showing that the man she was fol-
lowing had also turned out for a
better footing. Every few minutes
one of the party would stub his toe
on a projecting stone or half-cov-
cred tie, and would go stumbling
along wheeling curses through his
teeth. About the time he had caught
up with the dog, a grade stake
would inevitably get in the way, and
someone would be forced to lamost
kick it out of the ground
The mosquitoes we're belligerent to
say the least. They kept up with
the party easily and the pursuers
were forced to keep both arms and
legs working at the same time. At
every trestle work Queen baked and
had to be carried across, but she
picked up the scent easily on the
other side. 1t was thought that she
would turn off at some wagon road,
or perhaps at the camp where the.
road men are improving the Good
Thunder road, but the dog paid at
tention to nothing but the railroad
tracks. About a mile and a half
this side of the Red Jacket bridge,
Queen ducked sharply to one side
and dove into the thick bushes on
the left hand side of the track.
Here the searchlight revealed sort
of nest, where some one had at
least rested for a few moments be-
fore going on. The trail from this
led back to the rails, and on went
the "vigilantes" as they termed them.
selves. Everything was silent ex-
cept for an occasional yelp from
coyote and the buzZing of the mos
quitoes. They seemed to be every
where, and the more they were
fought, the more their. numbers in
creased Legs began to drag lit
tie too, and the grade stakes seemed
some signs of WEAKNESS. The gravel
became rougher and rouger, and
the ties more and more uneven, un-
til the trailers stumbling blindly
along through the darkness, got the
impression that they were humping
the bumps at Coney Island. Still
the dog kept to the track, and at
Red Jacket bridge, the trail was
abandoned because it was thought
that the man ahead had heard the
pursuit, risen from his bed along
side the track and was still "hoofing
it" at breakneck pace towards Good
Thunder. 1t would not have been
possible to catch up with him be-
fore he caught train and left. The
party took the wagon, road back to
Whittier's crossing, and the walking
was much better, and the road a
good deal shorter. Sheriff Osten
took them to town in the car, slight.
ily tagged, but still game.
About the time Mr.. Zimmerman
entered the store, Mrs. Johnson, wife
of Officer Johnson, who lives up
stairs in the Anderson building, near
the one occupied by Zimmerman &
Bangerter, heard someone in the
rear of the store, but paid no par
ticular attention to the noise, as
such noises occur frequently in the
night She was seated on the rear
porch of the apartment She did