The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1938-08-12
y ea # ;si
by Captain
G. Elliott Nightingale
Copyright, wNU
BATTLE AT McDONALDS
A t.Sp FARM

a few thrills by staging a cross
country crime wage, and how these
conceited young punks finished up
as riddled corpses inside OF two
weeks, makes one of the best police
stories in years. They had had
such long and uninterrupted ca
reer in their old home town that
they thought that criminal freedom
was plentiful everywhere else.
Equipped with pistols and ammuni-
ton, several bottles of hair oil, a
few shirts, and a fine big shiny
automobile that had powerful en-
CINE under its hood, the squad set
out for the Dominion. Sneaking into
Saskatchewan unobserved, the first
act was to get the right sort Of Ii
cense plates. This done, and trav-
cling mostly at night, they headed
northward and were soon in the
heart of the prairie country.
Here their projected crime wave
was held up bit, for they took in
too much alkali water and were
quite i'll for several days. Two Of
them almost died, it was later
learned. However, a day or so later
they were in the west central part
of the province and had "holed up"
to get their bearings and to see
what could be done Whereabouts in
the way of pulling a profitable job.
They finally discovered something
that looked promising and sat down
to do bit Of planning.
Meanwhile, lone member Of the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police was
fighting his way along a slippery
buffalo trail in an old crate Of a
car that happened to be one of the
three in the whole region. And, as
he side-slipped and lurched along,
he saw the dim lights of oil lamps
burning in the homestead cabins of
the Smiths, the Joneses, and the
Browns.
Further on bit he would pass the
Macdonald homestead in which was
kept the only safe and strong box
In all the vast prairie territory. Hec-
tor Macdonald, which isn't his real
name, of course, was a polished,
cultured gentleman in whom scores
Of outlying settlers placed full and
complete trust to the extent that
they deposited their valuables, with
out charge, in the great big old
fashioned safe. And, as the lone
Man of the Mounted passed, he no
ticed the Macdonald home in total
darkness and decided to investigate.
Moving cautiously over to the
homesteader's cottage, he peeked
into a window to discover four men
lowering over and about the great
big safe. Two were standing up
right, holding flashlights, and the
other two were busy with the knob
and dial. AS the Mounted Police
man backed away from the window,
however, one of the two flashlight-
holders spotted him and at once
fired bullet at his head. Being an
old timer, he had a bag of tricks
ready at hand, so he crumpled up,
dropped to the ground, and lay still.
Out came the safecrackers, and
moment later they were standing
around the body Of the dead Mount
lie. That is, three of them were, for
their expert was still working on
the safe.
"Well, OATS one of 'em outa der
way, by cripes," said one.
yeah :. Well rub 'em out
Like dis as we 60 along" said an
other. ''No we won't do nuttin' of
der kind" spoke the third. well
do no KILN less'n we hev ter. They
hang fer a KILN up here. faint
like OF Chi, an there amt no tSnor-
ky up here ter help y'out of a JAM"
Meanwhile the lad inside worked
feverishly but successfully on the
safe, and the three began discuss
ing ways and means of hiding the
policeman's body. And then when
the crooks were absolutely off guard
the lone Man of the Mounted moved
ever 50 carefully Until his gun hand
was In the clear. In that split-sec-
ond,, the crooks saw him moving,
and lpulled their guns. Two Of
them fired point blank, but the Man
of the Mounted was faster, in spite
of the fact that he was the last to
draw. He. fired three times, and
hit. each one of the three in the
forehead. The safecracker inside,
knowing that their plans had gone
haywire, lit out through the east
door and disappeared into the Sas-
katcheWan gloom.
Leaving the dead where they lay,
the lone Man of the Mounted set
out after the fourth, and after hours
of searching, finally gave it up. A
few days later, the safe-cracker,
cornered by another Man of the
Mounted, tried to shoot his way out,
and lost. The Man of the Mounted
fired once, while the safe-cracker
fired four times, and died. No one
can say they didn't get a break, =
for the Men of the Mounted draw
their weapons only after the crimi-
nal has drawn his. At any rate,
these poor, misguided lads had been
on Canadian soil less than a fort.
might and were now dead.