American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1919-02-14


whistled to my fl1y. I could hear her
answering whinny far down the dusty
road and then her hoofs as she gal
Hoped toward me. She came within a
few feet of me and stood snorting. i
caught and mounted her and rode to
the nearest house for help. On the
way l saw why she had stopped. A
number of horses were feeding on the
roadside near the log house where An
drew Champion lived. Andrew had
just unloaded some hay and was back
ing out of his barn. ! hitched my
FLY and jumped on the rack saying:
"Drive up the road as quick as you
can. A man has been murdered"
What a fearful word Il was that l
had spokeni What a panic 1t made In
the little dooryardi The man gasped
and jerked the reins and shouted to
his horses and began swearing, The
woman uttered a little scream and the
children ran crying to her side.
The physical facts which are further
related to his tragedy are of little
moment to me now. The stranger was
dead and we took his body to our home
and my uncle set out for the constable.
Over and over again that night l told
the story of the shooting. We went to
the scene of the tragedy with lanterns
and fenced it off and put some men
on guard there.
In the morning they found the rob
ber's footprints in the damp dirt of
the road and measured them. The
whole countryside was afire with e.
element and searching the woods and
fields for the highwayman.
The stranger was buried. There wa
nothing upon him to indicate his name
or residence. Weeks passed with no
news of the nan who had slain him. ]
had told Of the gun with a piece OF
wood broken out of It's stock, but nc
one knew of any such weapon In OF
nea L%ickitysplit.
One day Uncle Peabody and l drove
up to Grlmshaw's to make a payment
of money. l remember 1t was golt
and silver which we carried in a littl'
sack. ] asked where Amos was an,
Mrs. G~rimshaw-a timid, ~tired-looking
bony little woman who was never seel
outside of her own house-said tina
he was working out on the farm of
Mr.. Beekman near Plattsburg. He ha'
gone over IN the stage late in Jun
to hire out for the haying. / observe
that my uncle looked very thoughtfr
as we rode back home and had littl
to say.
"You never had any idee who tina
robber was, did yef" he asked by an
by.
"No-I could not see plain-it wa
so dusk" 1 said.
The swift words, "Your money G
your life,' came out of my memor
and rang In 1t. / felt its likeness [
the scoldIng demands of Mr.. Grin
shaw, who was forever saying In e
feet:
"Your money or your home u
That was like demanding our live
because we couldn't live without OF
home. Our all was in II. Mr.. Grin
shaw's gun was the power he had ov'
us, and what a terrible weapon
wasi / credit him with never reali
ing how terrible.
We came to the sandhills and the
Uncle Peabody broke the silence
saying:
81 wouldn't give fifty cents for
much o. this land as a bird could I
:. around In a day"
Then for a long time / heard on
the sound of feet and wheels muffl,
re in the sand, while my uncle sat loo
1t Ing thoughtfully at the siding. VIII
n l spoke to him he seemed not to he
a me.
" Before we reached home / kne
D. what was In his mind, but Meth
n dared speak of It.
1T People came from Canton and (
d the n%eighboring villages TO see and ia
N with me. and among them were q
he Dunkelbergs. Unfounded tales of n
re bravery had gone abroad.
Sally seemed to be very glad to $
he me. We walked down to the bro
and up into the maple grove and ba
e. through the meadows.