New Britain herald., 1925-01-08
BEGIN HERE TO-DAY


 Charlie Purvis donated his big corral for the show. It contained nearly an acre, surrounded with a lofty and solid fence. On the out side of that fence leaned the men and the women; the youngsters were perched on the top rail; for the entire population had turned out to witness the contest. For the. quality of the combatapts was known.
 1 Now and again eyes turned to a rear window of the Purvis house. Stretched in agony on his bed, with three ribs smashed In, great scalp wound throwing his head, and his left arm fractured in three places. Charlie Purvis could still turn his head and see the battle through his window. It was for that reason that he had donated the corral, as every one knew. He had tried to ride the Captain the day before, and now he wanted to see some other hero conquer where he had failed or fail and perhaps pay penalty al- most as grim as his own.
 The picked riders of the county had gathered for the testing. There were score who had courage enough to make an attempt 10 con- quer the great black stallion. And there were three famous horsemen who were believed to have an ex- cellent chance of riding the big devil, These were Lefty Gilmore, Sam Kicks. and Champ Hudson. men of genius, every one, when it came to the governing of a pitch ing horse.
 Now entered the great antagon- ist, dragged along by half dozen ropes twisted over the saddle horns | of tugging cow ponies. He came raging and rearing, already drip ping in sweat so that the sun gilt tered and shimmered and washed in waves of binding light along his sides. He had done a days work in the passage from the stable behind the hotel to the field of action. and yet 1t was plain to see that his mettle had simply been aroused by what he had already done.
 He's ready to go." cried a chorus of the spectators. And there was a little shivering cry Of admiration and fear from the women, old and young, for there was enough fiend in the huge animal to thrill them with wonder and with terror at the same time.
 lt was said that after Lee Haines died. the stallion had been sudden ly changed, so that from perfect docility he passed at step into the most demoniacal temper.
 It was commonly believed that there was an unearthly connection between the mind of the horse and the mind of the dead master so that the moment the latter passed away the rebellious soul of the stallion arose in struggle for l freedom,
 i And the horse gained the more l significance when the town came to know more about the identity of this Lee Haines. They had found i him dead in a little shack among : the trees laid out with his eyes closed, his weary face composed, and his hands folded calmly upon hs breast Someone had been with him when he passed away, Who could it have been? No one could guess. And that was another added clement of the mystery.
 ! But that was not all. When they examined his effects, 1t was found that he carried a wallet, on the in- , side of which were the half ob- 1 liberated initials of a farmer who had been one of his victims in a celebrated train robbery three years , before, who had resisted being i pmndered and who had been killed. i r started people on new train of | thought.
 | The authorities sent out a fiooG Of telegrams and very soon they began 10 learn startling things --~ i that this man was no other than l the same Lee Haines who had, seventeen or eighteen years before, 1 ridden in the outlaw gang of Jim Stint; end they gathered additional fr aHArt that hF was enc of 4 famous band which, for a number of years, had been operating up and down the noun tains.
 People concluded Harry Gloster must have been an ally or even a member Of IIaincs' gang. That was why Haines had thrown himself away in the effort to rescue the younger man. What other explana- ton could there have been?
 So that. in the days following the death Of Haines, his name began to acquire greater and greater signi- ticance.
 And some Of the significance of Haines himself was passed on to his very horS".
 When the Captain came plungins Into the corral. looking so mighty and so swift and terrible that the strong ropes which held him aP- peared no more than intangible spider threads another picture darted into the minds Of those whc beheld the sight They saw Let Haines. outlaw and gunman. rag ing through a battle.
 only 10 Joan it suggested some thing else. She had come among