The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1913-06-27
Dandy Jim
By ALICE CHEENER

me q OOACu Gun WIS a very
good man, but he had very bad luck
He was walking on 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 he valuable
and was going down to the city to
have it assayed.
Besides 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 coach and buy a ride
But before he got there he met man
on an iron gray horse. and the idea oc-
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 himf"
Twenty dollars I'm dust" Jim of
fered that to start trade. He
thought the horse worth three or four
times that amount.
"DOne" said the man. nimbly leap
ing off the horse
Jim looked his beast over and could
not find anything the matter with him.
so he mounted and continued his jour
ney. He hadn't gone more than
mile before he was surrounded by n
dozen men, each man pointing re-
volver Mt him and calling Oh him to
surrender.
"Git off my horse!" said one of the
men
Well. to make long story short. Jim
had paid for 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 4 very thin
story. He was taken down the noun
tain to 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 Il good looking chap
and not over twenty-five years old. lie
was confined in a room in the house
of the owner of the stolen horse, ami
a young girl hanging up clothes in the
garden saw him standing mt the win
dow looking melancholy and hand
some. Either of these features in a
man is enough to win 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 ac-
quaintance of Dandy Jim was consid-
cred Il mystery by the simple people
of the town, though it is easily nc
counted for on the theory of love
laughs at locksmiths." BE this as il
may, she had a conference with him
unknown to any one and set her wits
to work to free him from his sad con
dition. Jim was to be given n fair
trial before Judge Lynch the next
morning. which meant that he would
be swung off by noon.
That night Mag made a second theft
of the horse-though she put him back
in the stable before any one 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 We're to take
place the next morning. Mays mott
fcation WAS not official. and the sher.
iff was not disposed TO save the neck>
of horse thieves unless compelled to Gle
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 hei
request. The officer was not an edu
Gated man and asked Mag to write
the order. She wrote. Give the body
of the horse thief to the bearer, ana
ne signed his name us sheriff to it. with
has official seal.
Mag rode back with her paper and
the next morning knocked ut the door
OF il 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 ell
him was an order for the horse thief 5
body that she might bury it decently
Couldn't the lawyer do something to
save the mans lifei
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 table and sprinkled a
lot of Latin words over the order, put
In the horse thief's name-which be
got from Mag-and his own name. and
when he got through with it it was
the most formidable legal document
that had ever been seen 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 was prOnouncing sen
fence when the former approached the
court and said:
| 1OuT uOHOI' ueleDy plSSchI al
order of habeas corpus in this case
| from the sheriff"
The sheri1f's name. backed by hi:
seal and the sprinkling of Latin words
was too much for the committee. ant
1t surrendered the prisoner
Two days later the real thief was
brought in and was swung off in Dandy
Jim's place.
This story ends as all such storie:
should end. with a wedding between
Dandy Jim and Mag.
DO G Il E n