Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1914-12-31
THESHERIFFS STORY
BY Agnes Riley.

his chair, I knew there was a story
coming. He threw three long whiffs
of his pipe and as the smoke curled
slowly upward he began:
after I had been sheriff only five
months 1 had personally captured
one of the most daring desperadoes
IN the whole mountain region, one
Dick Roberts, otherwise known as
the gentleman bandit. He was
handsome fellow, tall and slight,
with a pale, oval face and a certain
wiIlowy grace that reminded one Of a
young panther.
In the month preceding his cap
ture he had held up the paymaster Of
Camp Ellis three times, robbed the
! mail twice and stole Miss Perkins
saddle horse, and later returned it
with note attached saying that he
didn't care to enter into a deal with
a woman. When the whole country
round was up in arms I came across
him quite accidentally He surren-
dared without a word, saying with
a laugh that he was unarmed except
FOR a pair of curling tongs with
which he had held up the maitland
upon investigation this was found to
be the case.
zone morning, after he had served
six months Of his fourteen years
/ sentence, I was summoned hastily to
the Jail When I arrived they told
me that Roberts had chloroformed
the guard, bound him hand and foot
with the bed-cIOthing, took his keys
and revolver, and walked out Of pri-
son. Where ne had procured the
chlOrOfOrm was a mystery.
There was snow on the ground at
the time and the armed pose traced
, the fugitive to the mountains. Here
| they surrounded him-a circle of
hundred men with another hundred
as relief. For two nights and a day
they watched, gradually closing in,
when word was received that the
guards uniform had been found in
the kitchen Of a house some distance
: north.
"The night was rather dark-One
Of those cold, clear January nights
with plenty of stars, but no moon. l
took the narrow buggy, as I needed
the protection Of the robes, and start
ed up the carriage road.
81 was going at a pretty good gait
and was well into the woods when
my horse suddenly SHE'D, and a tall
figure clad entirely in Wkito stood at
, his head. The figure shrank back
and a nervous, high-pitched voice
cried:
For Gods sake, don't shoot! I
am q WOman!'
'Before I could reach her she had
fallen in dead faint across the
path.
"She wore a long light raincoat,
hat of some light fur, and a huge
muff Of a like material. l put the
muff under her head, forced her
teeth apart with a small file, and
poured some brandy down her throat.
She gUlped a little, and as conscious
ness returned, she put her hand
YEARLY to her head, and I saw
/ black ugly bruise on the smooth
! flesh.
when she came to she told me
! der story, a common enough one
among the mountains. She was Mrs.
| Hartnet, the wife of miner.
Though a college graduate, he had
become brutal in his discourage
ment-then drink-crOss words
finally blows. She had left him and
attempted to cross the mountain to
her brothers in Camden county. She
had become terrified at the footsteps
OF man behind her, had stepped
into the brush to let him pass, and
on renewing the path, had suddenly
confronted me.
MY courage returned at this in
formation, for [ knew there was but
one man afoot in the mountains that
night, and that was my gentleman
bandit.
II hastily assisted her into my
buggy and drove her across to the
end Of my route. Here l made her
accept the flask with what little
brandy remained, and she started
once more toward her brothers,"
"And in your endeavors to play