e mob, as I informed them
that I did not wish to evade the law, but wanted to reach Modesto
when I could do so with safety. I did not look upon Meany as an
officer, as he, to my knowledge, mixed with the mob, and deputized
some of the ring leaders as his posse. I have his own word for this,
because he told me, while returning with me to Modesto from my
examination at Merced, that there was not a half-dozen men out but
what he had deputized. I laid hid in my new retreat, which was in a
barn, some four or five miles from Cressy Station. This barn was
filled with hay, and I burrowed a hole, got into it, covered it up,
and lay hid all day, venturing forth at night only, to stretch my
aching limbs and to get water.

While hid in this barn, I suffered from cold, hunger and thirst.

While hid here, the mob was hunting for me everywhere, and whenever
the cowardly crew came to a thicket of willows that they feared to
inspect closely or in which they thought I might be hid, they fired
into the same. The firing was distinctly seen and heard by myself at
one particular point on the Merced river. In the corral of the barn in
which I lay hid there were a dozen or so of fine horses, out of which
I could have taken my pick, had I desired to effect my escape, but
that was far from my intention. I was determined not to flee if I
could possibly reach Modesto in safety. Had I have had no opportunity
to have done so, as a last resort I would have armed myself, mounted a
good horse, and leading another, struck a bee line for Mexico. Knowing
the country so well, and for other reasons which I will not mention
here, I could have reached that country without fear of arrest; and
after stopping there six months or a year, I would have returned and
stood my trial.

Luckily, I had an opportunity to reach Modesto, but not without
incurring a great risk from the mob, whom I had to dodge on every hand
in order to reach Cressy Station, where, under the protection of five
friends, I took passage to Modesto on Saturday morning. Arriving there
at seven o'clock, I immediately went to the Ross House, eat my
breakfast, and then sent a messenger in quest of the sheriff. He being
out of town, his deputy, Chas. Aull, came into the parlor. I was
introduced, to him, and gave myself into his custody. That night the
sheriff called out a large number of men to prevent a set of
scoundrels from Merced from mobbing me.

I have written this simple, uncolored, true s