Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-05

elers has not at all been ntens1neo Dy IN
creased velocity A runaway team Of mustangs
hitched to a blackboard will give the driver
much more intense sense of motion than will
the fastest moving Limousine. A powerful horse
racing down q trail, stones and fire glancing
from mis- hoofs, his mouth tugging against the
bits, his heart drumming against the riders
legs the play of his muscles and the fact OF
his vitality all passing into the riders body
will give to the rider sense OF motion far
keener than that conveyed to its pilot by an
arplane cutting through the clouds at the rate
of 100 miles an hour.
ONLY q few men alive now TO tell the
~ story Of the ride made by John Booth in
Texas so years ago. It has, suppose, never
been mentioned in print, but once 1t was the
talk Of the COW camps and ranch homes from
the NueceS to the Trinity.
Along in 1858 two men with their families,
one named Booth and the other named Cedric,
were neighboring On the Trinity River in East
Texas. Each had little patch of corn fenced
in with brush One day some cattle belonging
to Booth broke into Gedries patch and ate up
most Of 1t. Cedric saw them and killed two or
three. Booth protested and Cedric did with
him as he had done with the COWS.
Now the dead ranchman had a boy, John, IL
years old, and John shook his fist in the face
OF his fathers slayer and said Cedric, when
I am big will kill you for killing my pap"
Then the widow Booth moved 800 miles west
to the Nueces River-"the dead line Of sheriffs,"
as 1t used to be called. The Civil War came
on and John enlisted. When the Confederates
stopped flghting he was 19 years old and had
been a man for four years
He returned to the Nueces and made open
boasts that he was now big enough" to kill
Cedric He made the boasts so that they would
reach Cedric and keep him uneasy with the
vigilance Of the hunted. When Fall brought
cool weather he quietly arranged a string Of
horses so to have / every 80 or 40 miles
between the Nueces and the Trinity. 1t was
his private pony express. He had friends.
One evening he rode up to the house of
neighboring ranchman. After supper he asked
the rancher the date of the month, the day OF
the week, and even the hour by the clock. In
such out-of-the-way places such questions were
not unusual.
Would you swear in court that was at your
ranch on the date and at the hour you have
given me?" asked Booth.
"Of course would" replied the rancher.
Then write the time of my visit down in
the Bible"
The great family Bible was brought out and
on one Of those pages provided for vital sta
tistics the facts were slowly written, the wit
nesses signing their names. 1t was october 20,
Z O'Clock (sun tin1e) 1865.
John Booth said good night, mounted his
horse and was lost in the darkness.
According to evidence later brought out,
started to ride away from his ranch shack
in the Trinity Valley his wife came running
out with shotgun in her hand.
Here" she called, you getting too care
less. You know that John Booth is going to
try to kill you sooner or later"
oh" replied Cedric, Il have had SO many
messages from him that am getting to be-
lieve he is nothing but bluff. Besides slap
ping his hip, I'm purity well heeled with this
here old hogeg."
h IEVERTHELESS, he took the shotgun and
! rode OFF. Twenty-four hours later rider
less horse hung his head against the gate
opening into the Cedric horse lot. AS In the
old border ballad. recited by David Crockett
on another occasion,
ITO hame came the saddle all bluidy to see,
And hame came the steed, but hame never
came he"
It was about an hour by sun on the morning
of October Is when John Booth walked his
horse up to the ranch where his last visit had
been recorded in the family Bible. Right under
the record was added, at his request, the hour
of his return.
Some weeks passed and then one day the
rangers appeared at the Booth ranch with
warrant Of arrest for John. He peaceably SUBJ
mitted. In the session Of District Court that
followed he was charged with having killed
Cedric. A jury was impaneled to try him;
witnesses were summoned The State proved
that John Booth had threatened to kill Cedric;
it proved that Cedric had been killed. The de-
Tense proved that John Booth had been on the
Nueces 800 miles away two days before Cedric
met his death and that he had again been seen
on the Nueces hardly more than two days later
The alibi incontrovertible. The jury to
a man said that no human being could have
ridden 500 miles, killed a man, and then have
ridden back 800 miles IN the four days and
five nights that Booth had not accounted for
Booth was freed and many times afterward he