“I’ll tell you! If these Mollies hear that you, their intended victim, cannot recall their appearance—in fact, would not know them if they were to come again before you—they will be emboldened to remain in the neighborhood. In the meantime, I can be on the lookout, and you may rest assured, if I once get my hands on them, they’ll be put in a safe place, where you can come and identify them! I have your description of the parties, and do not think I will be long in running them down! Do I have your word?” “Yes, Captain! I’ll promise to be straight out in the business, if you think it’ll help in bringing the crowd to jail! I do hope to see the day when the scoundrels will suffer for the deed!” “They will be arrested, you may be sure, when found!” Once more impressing upon Thomas’ mind the necessity for silence and caution, Linden left the house, and, the same day, returned to Shenandoah. While Thomas was a desperado, had the reputation of an amateur pugilist and a rough customer, all this did not palliate the crime of his enemies. I was very anxious to have them captured, and work was at once commenced upon that portion of the business. Wm. M. Thomas was of Welsh descent, and his real name was Willmad Frank, but he was generally known as Wm. M. Thomas—or “Bully Bill.” Why people persisted in calling him by the latter coarse title, he told Linden, he had no knowledge. He did not particularly delight in the _alias_, yet it was quite appropriate, in slang parlance, being founded upon his daring and reckless personal character. His father’s name was Frank. That should have been his own, but he was everywhere denominated Thomas. When the Mollies heard that Bill was not dead, after all the powder and ball that had been wasted upon him, they were enraged. It was not policy for them to emit their wrathful feelings on the public streets and in the presence of strangers, but in their own secret circle they were loud in denunciations of Hurley, Gibbons, Doyle, and Morris, as foolish bunglers, who did not have the nerve to face “Bully Bill!” The four worthies received little sympathy from those who knew their part in the tragedy, and those who did not were as likely to speak their feelings to their very faces as in the presence of others. Gibbons had gone. Morris, Doyle, and Hurley were at work. The general public merely read the published accounts of the attempted murder in the newspapers, and gave little thought to solving the riddle as to who had wrought the deed, or wherefore it had been done. It was charged upon the Mollie Maguires, however, as it was known that Thomas had made himself peculiarly obnoxious to that class, and it was supposed his end would one day come through use of their pistols. At present Wm. M. Thomas survived and swore eternal vengeance.