Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1915-02-11
Nh. Samples Sister
By NJ. QUAD
Copyright, 1915. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.


smart looking aged man who gave
the name of Samples arrived at the
county seat and gave out that he was
looking around for a site for large
! factory. He was provided with let
tiers of recommendation and the mir of
man of business and soon had the
| two bankers i'll the town and othel
| business men interested in his project.
His factory was to make a new kind
| of cloth out of what be called Persian
hemp. He had samples OF the cloth
to show. and it could be made and
sold at 400 per cent profit Samples
| himself would put 100000 into The
enterprise. but he wanted the town 10
subscribe 100000 additional 50 as 10
| make it il home affair.
On the second night of Samples ar
! rival in our town fine horse was
| stolen from a citizen. During the tir>t
weeks stay more horses were run off
| In three weeks time twelve of the
| best horses in our township were tax
en-. AS sheriff was not idle for an
| hour after the first horse was taken
Even if l was a little green myself aS
| an officer | had two or three coDsta
| bles and deputies who were old hands
at the business. Some of the horses
We traced few miles. always headed
| for the Ohio river. but the thieves
were slick fellows and covered their
tracks so we'll that not horse was
recovered.
One day while was Shivering i'll
my boots and expecting TO hear that
the thirteenth horse had been stolen II
flash of light came TO me. Every
horse taken had gone south by GER
tain road. At a certain point all trace
had been lost Ten tiles to the south
of us was big huckleuerry swamp OF
| 1000 acres. IT was Il wilderness and
had only been explored by hunters. 1t
was a big tange, full Of snakes ana
good care not to penetrate too far. 1t
| flashed over me that the stolen horses
instead of being run out of the state
! had been corralled in this swamp
to wait until the hue and cry were
over. Within two hours | mad started
for the swamp, accompanied by CON
stable. By pure good luck after a
tramp of half a day we came upon Il
trail showing the hoof prints of horses.
and, following it to the very center OF
the swamp, we came upon the whole
twelve stolen animals. Feed had been
| fpoiI
1t was fine plant" we uncovered.
There were two men to take care OF
the horses. One Of them was black
smith, and he had a forge and dozens
of hOrSeShoeS AS the animals were
run out the plan was to shoe each one
with the shoes reversed and thus de
ceive us in case we struck a trail. We
made cautious approach. but in spite
of us the two men got away. We
scarcely regretted it, however. in view
! of the capture of the third one, who
had Just arrived 1t was Mr.. Samples,
the fax cloth man. the factory man.
! the man with letters Of introduction
Yes. sir, he had arrived to give his
subordinates directions. and as he fled
with the others he tripped and fell. and
we were enabled to overhaul him. he
didn't even bluff. We had got him SO
pat that he could not say anything. IN
his pockets were letters sufficient 10
convict him twice over, and his game
was up.
You know what human nature is III
a small town. | had been maligned
and abused without stint for failing to
capture the horse thieves Now that
| had got all the stolen horses III a
bunch and the horse thief in addition
nothing was too good for me. ! wis
called hero and all that and got
serenade from the band and had bon
fires galore in my honor The arrest
of Samples was thunderclap. but the
public soon got over its astonishnpnl
and demanded that he receive the
] maximum punishment OF the law. lie
was examined. committed for triai. and
| | took care to give him the strongest
cell in the county Jail. The man gave
me no trouble. After recovering ms
cheek II little be claimed that be woniO
be able 10 prove his entire innocence
before Il jury. and he was so CHEEKY
and good natured that came to like
| him He had three months to wait
for the circniI couri, and he made 10
move in regard TO lawyers or witnesses
until half the time had expired. BY
that time the public had lost most OF
its interest in the case.
/ One day Samples announced TO me
| that his sister would soon arrive to see
about getting him a lawyer and so
forth, and day or two later she called
at the JAIL She was a rather quiet
| looking woman of about twenty-five
| spoke in choked voice and wore
veil, and without questioning her much
| led her TO Samples cell and left them
alone 1t so happened that I had to go
into court directly after. and ! left ii
to a turnkey TO let her out. He did
SO. and it was three hours later when
! made the discovery that the two had
exchanged clothes, and the woman had
been left behind. The turnkey hadn't