The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-06-20
Jim
b. ALICE ChEEVER
b. ALICE CAEEVER

wearing a boiled shirt, was q very
good man. but he had very bad luck.
He was walking on a trail in the
Rocky mountains from a prospecting
tour to Denver and was feeling very
happy because he had dug up some
quartz that he believed to be valuable
and was going down to the city to
have it assayed.
Besides a pocketful Of nuggets, Jim
had considerable dust about him. and
be made up his mind that as soon as
he reached the stage road he would
look out for a coach and buy a ride.
But before he got there he met 4 man
on an iron gray horse, and the idea &C.
CURED to him that he would buy the
animal and ride to Denver.
want to sell that critter?" he asked
the rider.
"What you want to give for himT
Twenty dollars in dust" Jim Of
fered that to start a trade. He
thought the horse worth three or four
times that amount.
"Done!' said the man, nimbly leap
ing of the horse.
Jim looked his beast over and could
not find anything the matter with him.
30 he mounted and continued his jour
ney. He hadn't gone more than a
mile before he was surrounded by q
dozen men,, each man pointing a re-
volver at him and calling on him to
surrender.
"Git OF my horse!!" said one Of the
men.
Well, to make a long story short, Jim
had paid for a stolen horse. But it
didn't avail anything for him to tell
how he came by it, for he was not
known to any Of the party, and what
he said was considered a very thin
story. He was taken down the noun
tain to a town where the owner of the
horse and the rest of the party lived to
be dealt with, If not according to law.
at least to be tried before Judge Lynch.
Dandy Jim was a good looking chap
and not owe twenty-five years old. He
was confined in a room in the house
Of the owner of the stolen horse, and
Q young girl hanging up clothes in the
garden saw him standing at the win
dow looking melancholy and hand
spme. Either of these features in a
man is enough to win a girls heart.
and the two together are irresistible.
How this young woman. who was
the niece Of the owner Of the house
and was called Mag. made the &C
Quaintance of Dandy Jim was consid-
cred a mystery by the simple people
of the town, though 1t is easily &C.
counted for on the theory Of "love
laughs at locksmiths." Be this as It
may, she had a conference with him
unknown to any n and set her wits
to work to free him from his sad con-
dition. Jim was to be given a fair
trial before Judge Lynch the next
morning. which meant that he would
be swung of by noon.
That night Mag made a second theft
Of the horse-though she put him back
In the stable before any n knew Of
his having been ~taken-and rode FIVE
miles to the sheriff Of the county and
begged him to interfere in the illegal
trial and hanging that were to take
place the next morning. Mays mott
f1cation was not official. and the sher-
ID was not disposed to save the necks
Of horse thieves unless compelled to do
so officially. When Mag failed In this
she begged the sheriff to give her an
order for the body of Dandy Jim, and
the sheriff to get rid of her granted her
request. The officer. was not an edu-
Gated nan and asked Mag to write
the order. She wrote. Give the body
Of tho horse thief to the bearer" and
he signed his name as sheriff to 1t. with
his official seal.
Mag rode back with her paper and
the next morning knocked at he door
Of a young man who had recently come
to town from the east and had hung
out his single as an attorney. She
told him that she had been to the
sheriff to ask him to interfere. but
had failed. All she could get out ef
him was an order for the horse thiefs
body that she might bury it decently.
Couldn't the lawyer do something to
save the mans life?.
The young man asked to see the or
der for the horse thief's body, and as
soon as, he had read it he sat up and
took notice.
This is a habeas corpus" he said.
"A what?" asked Mag.
But the lawyer made no reply. He
sat down by a table and sprinkled Z
lot Of Latin words owe the order, put
In the horse thief's n~ame-which he
got from Mag-and his " name, and
when he got through with it it was
the most formidable legal document
that had ever been e In those parts
He had scarcely finished when through
. window Dandy Jim was seen being
led to a shed near by for trial.
He was convicted before the lawyer
could get ready to go to his defense
and the Judge vas pronouncing sen
tence when the former approached thu
court and said:
"Your honor. ! hereby present Al
order Of habeas corpus In this cas-