The Brandon news., 1916-07-13

L
back to Pennsylvania, and with his
| aid speedily rounded up all the mem
| bers of the gang with the exception or
| Wess Watts. Through the help OF
a sister of Mrs Watts, who was In
correspondence with her, learned
| that Watts had last been heard from
at Paducah, KY. / went to Paducah
| and found Watts wife there, intro
ducing myself to her as friend OF
| her husbands.
You get out of here!" shrieked the
woman. "or I'll throw a kettleful of
| hot water over you. / amt got no
| use for Wess nor none OF his friends
It appeared from the woman's fur
ther explanations that her husband
| had deserted her and their child and
| had run of with another mans wife.
Thereupon l quickly dropped my dis
guise and explained to the woman the
purpose of my visit. / learned from
her that Wess and man named OH
yer Brooks had opened gunsmith's
shop at Shawneetown, ILL.,, and had
their shingle out for repairing, but
were in reality committing burglaries
and thefts almost nightly In the vi
cinity of that town.
Shawneetown Is on the Ohio river
some fifty miles from Paducah. l
started for this point under circum-
stances which will be described later,
but was compelled to abandon my
first plan. / now took boat and
arrived at Shawneetown very early in
the morning. l had no difficulty In
locating the gunsmith's shop, and.
having done 80, seated myself upon
an empty box outside a general mer-
chandise shop across the way and
| awaited developments. / had been
seated there for about an hour when
l noticed little cloud Of smoke COM
ing out of the stovepipe chimney in
| the gunshop shanty. A few minutes
| later the door was opened, and it be-
came evident, that some one was
sweeping, though who this person was
could not determine. Accordingly,
feeling curious, / got up to investi-
gate.
When I reached the spot the sweep
er had disappeared and there was
nobody in the front room. I knocked
at the door leading into the rear room
and was answered by a man who came
out carrying the broom. He was clad
| in blue overalls, knit undershirt and
a pair of rubbers. From his resemb-
| lance to other members of his family
It was evident that this was Watts
| himself.
| Are you a gunsmith?" I inquired.
'Well, / have a job for you. | have
an old gun here, but ! don't know
whether you can do anything with 1t
or not"
| / awkwardly drew from my pocket
the Al Colt double-action revolver
which had brought with me, holding
it about the middle. Watts turned
around in a leisurely manner to set
down the broom. AS he turned again
and extended his hand to take the
weapon he found it pointed at his
| head.
Hands up!" I ordered.
| Watts hesitated for an instant.
Throw up your hands or III blow
your head off" / continued, and
Watts obeyed.
At that moment man with bushy
head of red hair peered through the
| door leading into the rear room, but
when he saw what was happening, he
ducked his head and disappeared.
| Paying no attention to the second
man. I commanded Watts to face
about and step forward to the door,
which he did, keeping his hands up.
| AS he stepped down and out of the
| door I took pair of handouts out
of my left-hand coat pocket and
snapped them on my prisoners wrists,
| which were held above his head.
'Now you can drop your hands,
/ said.
I marched Watts to the door of the
| village hotel, Watts obeying all my
| commands in a mechanical manner
and uttering not word. On arriv-
ing at the hotel / found the night
clerk in charge asleep in a chair, and
he seemed to be terrified at the sight
OF his visitors. He quickly recov-
cred, however, and upon instructions,
brought us something to eat. Watts
managed to make a pretty gooo
breakfast in spite of his irons.
On arising from the table 1t oc-
Cured to me that my prisoner was
not very well dressed for making q
long journey. / had espied a large
sized old fashioned linen duster ana
a big brimmed straw hat hanging on
the wall OF the hotel sitting ROOM
which, after some dickering with the
porter, purchased for seventy-nve
cents and placed upon my prisoner
/ The addition of these garments made
Watts more like the leader Of 9 husk-
/ ing bee than the outlaw he really was.
II was only six in the morning when
we stepped aboard train bound TOT
| m - 90 r <.x,fc Altar wa had beeQ