An Adventure in Texas.

Woodville Examiner, Volume 3, Issue 284, 17 September 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

An Adventure in Texas.

I acted as sheriff in California during her moat lawless period, and had occasion to bring some hard characters to justice. A numoer of them were hung, and others escaped unhung, carrying with them a vivid memory of my features, and swearing death to me at sight. I eventually resigned my commission, and remained in the State three years after, but never was shot at sight, which you doubtless realise, unless you think my ghost is writing this sketch. Alter leaving California I went into Texas, and there became a rover. 1 had some pretty hard knocks there, and once came near death at the hands of some horse-thieves that I had run down with a party who had suffered from their depredations as well as myself, As it was, 1 did not get off my bed for six weeks, and then 1 was more like a spectre, than a man of flesh and bones. In the melee I was shot in the thigh, the bullet leaving a tearing wound, and stabbed in the right breast. At one time I was given over, but my temperate habits now told favorably for me, and kept the skeleton away. We broke up the band, however, and that was some satisfaction. I had scarcely regained my wonted vigour, when I met with an adventure that is worth relating, and so I have selected it from all the others to relate. I had been off to the western part of the State on business, and was returning home in the saddle, when I reached a stream that was crossed by means of a ferry. The boat was on the opposite side, and by the faint light of the moon, which was behind the clouds, I distinguished the signal-trum-pet hanging on the broken branch of an oak. This 1 blew with a will, and, hearing the answer of the ferryman, I led my horse to the brink of the river, and waited with some impatience the moment when I should see the silent ferry-boat move from the opposite shore. I shouted at last—- “ Come, hurry up 1 I’m behind time BOW I" "To the deuce with your time I” was the response, in a deep and powerful voice, 1 saw at once that any show of impatience on my part would only make matters worse; so 1 held my tongue, and kicked the sand about till I had a hole at my feet deep enough to bury a good-sized boy in. At last the boat moved into the stream, and 1 could hear the mutterings of the ferryman, which souuded like those of a sullen bull. Ere long the barge grated on the sand, and after getting my horse in as best 1 could I followed, and settled down on an empty powder-keg, which was the only seat 1 could hud. As seen in the dim light, the countenance of the ferryman was not prepossessing. The nose appeared to be broken, and one eye gone. Then tbe jaws were heavy, and a grizzly moustache, which he was constantly biting, lent a moat determined expression to tbe lace. He was a thick-set fellow, and seemed to bear the traits of a bard customer. When I stepped, or scrambled, into the boat, I noticed that he eyed me rather sharply; and if the moonlight had been clearer, I think it possible that 1 might have seen something in that eye different from friendship. I ventured one or two off-hand remarks, to draw out the moody ferryman, but received only grunts in answer; so 1 gave up the idea of being sociable, and turned my attention to the river, or gave myself up to contemplation. Once or twice I turned to my sullen companion, and each time caught that one deep, penetrating eye fixed on me. The first time I paid no attention to it, simply regarding 'the man as a rough character, inclined to suspicion, and naturally scrutinising his passengers for want of other matters of interest to engage bis attention. But the second time 1 was startled by an expression which seemed as if all the evil a mortal was capable of was concentrated in that single orb. I cannot describe it. I sat gazing into his sinister eye as if under the influence of serpentine fascination. Suddenly 1 felt a shudder, as of horror, and at the same instant the moon broke from the clouds and poured light down upon tho ferryman’s face. While in the swamps at the Sonth 1 stumbled on an enormous moccasin, coiled up directly under me. Leaping back with a cry of horror, I escaped his fangs, but the eyes I can never forget. Their evil light shot into my brain as a ballet penetrates into the body. When the moonlight fell on the face of the ferryman, I experienced the same sensation which took possession of me there in the swamp. But this was not all. The revelation of his countenance warned me that there was to be work between us before we reached the shore. It was the face of Dick Thurder, whom 1 arrested in California, and whose father was hung for murder committed under such aggravating circumstances that we strung him up before there could be auy possibility of escape. Dick broke jail—not a difficult performance in those days—and swore to shoot me at sight whenever he might chance to meet ms. Here he was at last, and there was I. Had I been the ferryman and he the passenger, I think my first sensation would have been different; but, as it was, he was at home in the barge, and assumed the appearance of the aggressor. I was not expecting to meet this desperado in just such a place and under just such circumstances, and was taken entirely off my guard. My opinion was that he failed to recognise me at first, thinking, perhaps, that 1 was still acting as sheriff in California ; but now I felt he knew whom he had on board, and that he would attempt to carry out his threat I had no donbt. Now, here is the way I was situated. My revolver was in my breastcoat-pocket, and it would require time to get it ready for service. A moment under such circumstances is an hour, and 1 saw that any precipitate motion on my part, revealing to him my discovery and my intention, would draw his fire before I oould even unbutton my coat; for I well knew that he had a revolver ready at band, as such characters always have, either to shoot a victim or resist an arrest. I say that I shuddered when the face was revealed by the moonlight. This did not last long, and I thought beat to show no feeling, but to appear to be perfectly unconcerned. So I turned my eyes down the river, and remarked carelessly—- “ A fine sight, stranger. S’pose you’ve been in these parts long enough to know all Ihe nooks and corners ?” “Yes, and all the contemptible scoundrels that cross here, too.” This was hitting pretty close, but I remained imperturbable, “ Ah! So you nab a few of ’em now aud then !” I turned sharply on him when I said this, and, as I did so, 1 managed to unbutton my coat with tho left hand, which was on the “ off side.” “ You infernal neck-puller ! d’ye think to fool me again ? I’ve got ye ! You know me, and you’ll know something more before you can say your prayers !” I looked him calmly in the eye, which blazed fiercely from the moon's shadow. Those who have had to deal with such characters know that their passions betray

them into a species of madness, and the only way to get time is to treat them as |you would a madman. Assume an appearance of unconcern, look them steadily in the eye, and calculate what you have got to do to save yourself. This was my policy at this time, or I should not be here to tell you of the whole affair. I quickly resolved to throw that shot, and so distract him from his present purpose by engaging him on other grounds till I could operate. “You are a coward to kill a woman,” said 1, with a voice of sarcasm; and I gazed at him as if the last thought in my. mind was of danger to myself. You should have seen his eye then 1 It seemed fairly bursting from his head, and he was now growing blind with fury. “ You confounded body-snatcher 1” he yelled. “ I’ll show you that I can kill two women.” He glared at me with that one orb charged with the spirit of murder, and dropping the rope which was stretched from shore to shore, and by which he was pulling the barge, he thrust his hand within his flannel shirt. “ Now, seize him /” cried I, as if addressing some one behind him. Lost in his passion, he fell into the trap, and turned his head for an instant, as if to defend himself from one of my men. He saw the trick at once, but it was too late. My pistol threw ofl the gleam of the moonlight—a flash and report, and the body of the ferryman and desperado pitched headlong into the river. The current carried it out of sight, and I pulled the boat ashore and continued my journey.