The Monticellonian., 1916-08-31

were too we'll known to work pffeCtual-
ly in the Cumberlands any more, so
the department of justice had taken
over the case. The murderers and
those who attempted murder should
be apprehended.
As the wagon wound along the coun-
try road Todd called the special
agents attention to the report of a
rifle from Hillside t. the right Soon
another gun was discharged further
ahead and third still further on.
This, the iverymar said, was a sys-
tenn of signals that told of their pres
ence.
A little further along the road
wound into hollow down which
flowed brook. Out OF the brush in
this hollow stepped the form of a
mountaineer with rifle across his
arm. Todd drew up his team
What have you go. there?" asked
the man in the road.
Summer boarder," said Todd.
Where's he goin' ?" was the query.
ITO Tenney's." answered Todd.
The mountaineer walked around to
the back of the wagon where Cards
little wicker grip was carried. With
out word he opened the grip and
carefully examined everything in it.
Seemingly satisfied he waved per
mission for them to proceed.
Young feller" he said to Gard in
PARTING, you are n durn bad con-
pany. You cant never tell whether
you will git back when you start out
with that skunk
To which Todd grinned as he drove
on.
They amt never made the bullet
t-at'll kill me. he said.
II was three days later that Billy
Gard. squirrel rifle on his shoulder.
walked into the clearing about the
house of Sam Lunsford, the man who
had survived the charge of buckshot
in the back of his head The Luns-
ford house consisted of one log room
with a lean-te addition at the back.
There was clearing of some thirty
acres where grew a most Indifferent
sprinkling of corn and cotton. There
was a crib for the corn, a ramshackle
wagon. fieabitten gray horse and
some hogs running wild in the woods.
Such was the Lunsferd estate, presid-
ed over by this huge mountaineer and
to which his eleven children were
heir. Seldom did an echo of the out
side world reach this home in the
woods. Not a member OF the family
was able to read Every Sunday Sam
Lunsford drove the feabitten gray or
walked twelve mile. to little noun
tain church where was preached a
gospel of hell fire and birthstone. He
was hated by his neighbors and con
stantly in the shadow of death. Yet
he went unswervingl~ on the way
of his duty in accordance with his
lights.
Gard already had the measure of
his man. No sooner had he presented
himself than he put his business up to
the mountaineer. cold turkey" as the
agents say when they J all the cards
on the table Would Lunsford help
the government in getting the facts
that would bring the murders of Tom
Reynolds and the men who shot him.
to justice? Lunsford would do all he
could
Whom do you suspect" the agent
asked.
There are SO many of them agin
me. said Lunsford, ~that it is hard to
tell which ones done it."
"Wil you show me Just how you
were sitting when you were shot?"
The mountaineer placed the rock
ing chair in front u the fire directly
between hole in he window and
spot in the opposite wall where the
pering up surface two feet square
Thus was il easy to trace the flight
of the shot through the room. The
special agent examined both window
pane and wall.
Gould you tell where the man stood
when he fired ," he asked.
Yes" said Lunsford Il looked for
tracks next day Let me show you
He led the way INTO the yard and
there pointed out stout peg which
had been driven into the ground not
a dozen fee. from the window.
The tracks came up TO there and
stopped" he said
Did you measure the tracks,"
asked the special agent.
The mountaineer had done so and
had cut a stick just the length OF the
track This stick had been carefully
preserved
Did you find any OF the gun wad-
ding?" asked the agent.
Even this precaution was taken by
Lunsford. These men of the noun
tains mostly load their own shells and
the wads in this case had been made
by cutting pieces out of a pasteboard
box. SO there were a number of clues
at hand.
Special Agent Billy Gard stood on
the spot from which the shot had
been fired From this point to that at
which the buckshot had entered the
wall OF the cabin was not more than
thirty feet
An ordinary shotgun at thirty
feet" he reflected. remembering his
squirrel hunting days. shoots almost
like rifle. The shot at that distance
are all in a bunch not bigger than
your fist. Yet the shot in the cabin
wall were scattered. The man with
the gun must have been further
away"
Gard stated this view of the matter
to the mountaineer. but that individu.
al showed how it would have been i'm.
possible for the shot to have been