A Robber, how Foiled.-There is an old wood dwelling near the railroad, half a mile to the westward of the Fort Plain depot, which was erected before the Revolution, and at a period when the river road ran below it. It was owned and occupied by John Walrath directly after the war, and had been during that period. I elsewhere relate an event which transpired there at the close of the war-say in 1784 or 1785-when an Indian lost his life. Between the years 1795 and 1800, as believed, the following circumstance transpired there : Walrath was keeping tavern, and had a river ferry and a blacksmith shop. Many people from New England were then journeying to and from Western New York on horseback, and one of that number stayed at this inn over night. This class of tourists were usually more or less armed; and the gentleman in question had a pistol, which, on retiring for the night, he left in care of the landlord, who, for safety, placed it in the bar.
In the morning, as the traveler was to resume his journey, and his horse was brought from the stable, it was found to be very lame; and on being taken into the blacksmith shop, one Reynolds, the Vulcan of the period, soon found the cause of lameness. One account says a small wire had been twisted around the fetlock; but the general belief is, that a nail was so driven under the shoe as to make the horse quite lame. The suspicion of the smith who relieved the horse was aroused, and he asked the stranger if he was armed. He replied that he had a loaded pistol. Said Reynolds, perhaps you had better examine it. He did so, to find that the charge of powder had been drawn, and a charge of ashes substituted for it. After carefully putting the weapon in order for duty, he resumed his journey westward; but had scarcely proceeded a mile, when a masked footman sprang from the hazelnut bushes that thickly skirted the road, seized the bridle-rein, and demanded his money. The tourist now divined why his horse had been lamed and his pistol had been tampered with, and drawing and cocking it, he exclaimed: Hands off; you rascal, or I will shoot you! Said the robber, still demanding his money, I am not afraid of your pistol! In the next instant it was discharged, and the robber relaxed his hold upon the horse and vacated the road, having received a very delicate wound. The Yankee resumed his journey, and was not again molested.
The assassin was cared for by friends, and, although laid up for some time, he was cured of his wound, which the multitude supposed he had received by falling upon a hay-fork in the barn. He certainly had received a life-lesson that sent him into a path of rectitude, and he became a useful citizen.-Facts from George Wagner, Livingston Spraker, and others.
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