Mississippi Outlaws and the Detectives: Don Pedro and the Detectives; Poisoner and the DetectivesPinkerton, Allan
History
Mississippi Outlaws and the Detectives: Don Pedro and the Detectives; Poisoner and the Detectives
Pinkerton, Allan
Detective and mystery stories; Detectives
known why he had used his brother's name, but it was supposed that
Hillary had taken his name to enable him to prove an _alibi_ in case he
should be arrested.
Cottrell's party first secured the prisoners with ropes, and then
assisted Jim Durham to extinguish the fire on the roof; the latter was
quite rotten, and it had burned so slowly that very little damage had
been done. The prisoners were thoroughly searched, but nothing of any
consequence was found upon them, the total of their funds being less
than three dollars. A prolonged search through the house revealed
nothing of importance, except the fact that it was quite an arsenal for
arms, there being found six navy revolvers, two double-barreled
shot-guns, and a Spencer repeating rifle. The siege had lasted nearly
three hours, and, another hour having been spent in searching the house
and saddling their animals, it was nearly dark by the time they started
for Verona. Farrington and Barton were carefully tied upon the horse and
mule respectively, and, after thanking the neighboring farmers for their
assistance, Cottrell took the road back, accompanied by the eleven men
who belonged in and about Verona. The greatest care was taken that the
prisoners should have no opportunity for escape, and they were informed
that any attempt to get away would be the signal for riddling them with
bullets.
While riding along, Cottrell learned from Barton that the party had been
very lucky in finding the two men in the house, since their usual custom
had been to spend the days in the woods, coming in only at night to
sleep. On this occasion, however, the weather was so cold that they were
spending the day indoors.
When asked why they had not surrendered before, they both made the same
reply, namely: that they believed the posse of citizens intended either
to shoot them immediately, or to hang them after a trial by lynch law.
On arriving in Verona early in the evening, the prisoners were securely
tied up with ropes, and Cottrell alternated during the night with
Marriott in watching them. A blacksmith was also called up, and shortly
after midnight he completed two pair of leg shackles, with which they
were fastened together. My men were greatly fatigued, having ridden a
large number of miles every day for a week, and the excitement of the
affair added, of course, to their prostration, but they resolutely paced
the floor in alternate four-hour watches, determined that no possible
loophole for escape should again be afforded to such daring villains as
these two.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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