Greene County herald., 1919-05-23
e TINE of SILAS WRIGHT


hill few steps and stopped and
whistled to my filly. could hear her
answering whinny far down the dusty
road and then her hoofs as she gal
loped toward me. She came within Q
few feet OF me and stood snorting. !
caught and mounted her and rode TO
the nearest house for help. On the
way 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
filly and jumped on the rack saying:
Drive up the road as quick rs you
can. A man has been mardered."
What fearful word 1t was that !
had spokeni What panic 1t made In
the little dooryardl The man gasped
and jerked the reins and shouted to
his horses and began swearing. The;
woman uttered little scream ard the
children ran crying to her side.
The physical facts which are further
related to this 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 I 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 ex-
citement and searching the woods and
fields for the highwayman.
The stranger was buried. There was
nothing upon him to indicate his name
or residence Weeks passed with no
news of the man who had slain him. /
had told of the gun with piece Of
wood broken out of its stock, but no
one knew of any such weapon In or
near Lickitysplit.
One day Uncle Peabody and ! drove
up to Grimshaw's to make a payment
of money. / remember II was gold
and silver which we carried in little
sack. i asked where Anlse was and
Mrs. Grimshaw--a timid, tired-looking,
bony little woman who was never seel
outside of her own house -said that
he was working out on the farm Of q
Mr.. Beekman near Plattsburg. He had
gone over on the stage late in June
to hire out for the haying. 1 observed
that my uncle looked very thoughtful
as we rode back home and had little
| to say.
"You never had any idee who that
robber was, did YEP he asked by and
| by.
"No-I could not see plain---it was
so DUSK" said.
The swift words, .'Your money OF
your life,r came out of my memory
and rang In It. felt it's likeness to
the. scolding demands of Mr.. Grim
shaw. who was forever saying In ef-
| feet: asii-s AH
"Your money or your homer
That was like demanding our lives,
because we couldn't live without our
home. Our all was In It. Mr.. Grim
shaw's gun was the power he had over
US, and what terrible weapon II
was credit him with never reali1
ing how terrible.
We came to the sandhills and then
Uncle Peabody broke the silence By
saying:
II wouldn't give fifty cents for a.
much o. this land as. bird could fly
around In a day" 3sA =
Then for long time heard only
the sound of feet and wheels mufied
in the sand. while my uncle sat look.
ling thoughtfully at the siding. When
I spoke to him he seemed not to heal
me.
Before we reached hone I knew
what was In his mind. eut aeitheI
dared speak of 1t.
People came from Canton and ali
the neighboring villages to see and tall
with me, and among them were tn
Dunkelbergs. Unfounded tales Of my
bravery had gone abroad.
| Sally seemed to be very glad to se>
me. We walked down to thu brook
and up into the maple grove and bach
through the meadows.