The Free State men kept their
horses hidden in the brush, and often hid there themselves. Every time
any of the neighbors saw several horsemen riding over the prairie,
they thought it was the Border Ruffians.
One day Caleb May saw quite a company of men riding toward his place.
He and his son and hired man stationed themselves under the bank,
where both the house and the ford would be within range of their guns.
Mrs. May was to talk to the horsemen as they rode past the house, and,
if they were Border Ruffians, she was to shut the door, as a signal to
the husband to be ready for attack. When they rode up, however,
they proved to be Mr. Speck, and about twenty other neighbors from the
lower neighborhood, who had brought their horses up to Mr. May's to
guard them from the Ruffians, who stood in great fear of Caleb May.
When the Ruffians returned to Missouri, after one of their raids, some
of them told in De Kalb, where Mr. May lived before coming to Kansas,
that they had killed him.
Pages:
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400