Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1894 — AN EXPERIENCE. [ARTICLE]

AN EXPERIENCE.

Detroit Free Press. “Had a funnj* experience once,” said tlie man witb -a jerky voice, “not so blamed funny, either, when you come to think of it. Was out west in them days, looking for the fortune that never got there; had lots of luck though; bad luck; walkin’ one time from nowhere trying to get somewhere before it rained; met a man on a hoss; good hoss, too; I’m a judge; asked me if 1 wouldn’t Take him to his owner four miles down the road; glad enough to do it, I was; had walked 37 i miles between meals and was feelin’ wobbly on my pins anyway; always liked to ride a hoss, anyway, got up when he got down and hadn’t more than straddled him than I begun to feel like a gent. Two miles down the road I met up with a party. ‘ 1 ‘H— —, ’ says. they, ‘here’s our hoss.’ “ ‘The man I got him from,’ says I, ‘told me to deliver him four miies down the road; ain’t used to riding here lately, thought I'd come only about half way?’ “ ‘Wow,’ says they with & ..yell, and begun to drag me off. Thought I stole him; said so, too. in a mighty disagreeable tone of voice. “ 'We hang hoss thieves in these parts,’ says they, gettin’ out a rope; thought they was goin’ to halter the hoss and go after the man that lent him to me. “ ‘You’ll have to hurry or he’ll get away,’ says I, thinking of the other feller. ——‘Will he?” says they, with a yell, and with that they slung the rope over my head. “Hold on.” says I. “I ain't —” “You bet we will,” says they, and began to haul her taut. That scared me in seven places and I begun to beg. I told ’em how it happened and they held an ante-mortem inquest on me, as they called it. and, brought in a verdict to give me the benefit of the doubt; didn't know exactly what that was, but I didn’t have to wait long to find out. They .said tfiey’d leave it to me, so they took me off on a side road; didn’t like the looks of things, but I had to go; they tied my hands behind me, put the rope around my neck, stood me on a stump, throvved the loose end of the rope over a limb, made it just tight enough to be uncomfortable, told me if I didn’t like it that way I could step off the stump, and they rode away. The jerky voice seemed to have a choke in it. “Reckon I was in the worst fix I'd been in since I came West,” it went on; “cussed horseback v rtdin’ and wished to thunder I’d walked; wondered what kind of a man it was anyway that would put me up a stutup like that, and begun to get tired in the legs; feet sore from walkin’ and standin’ wasn’t agreeable; tried to git my-hands loose and like to fell off the stump; didn’t try any more; wasn't in no hurry to start the funeral; looked down off the stump and thought it was a mile to the ground; guess it wasn't so far as that; tried to gnaw the rope off, but couldn’t reach, not being a giraffe; gittin’ tireder all the time; begun to think of mother, home and friends and sav my prayers; tireder and tireder and don’t know what happened next; come to after while and saw the man that had lent me the blamed hoss rubbin’ my hands and giftin’ up a circulation. “ ‘Just got here in time.’ says he, keepin’ on rubbin’ and givin' me a drink of liquor between rubs. When I come plumb to, lie told me how he had been sneakin’ ’round through the woods and come across me just, as I sorter collapsed and slid off the stump, and havin’ no hard feelings, he had come to mv help right off. “ ‘lt would have been dirt mean if you hadn’t,’ says T, \seein’ you got me into it,’ and he laughed and begged my pardon; he was a mighty polite man; laid low till after dark and I headed for home; he staid; he said he'd git even with that crowd for treating a friendgff his that way if he had to steal ah the hosses in the country, afid I hoped to thunder he would.” After which narration the jerky voioe rested.