TON, OHIO, BROKE--HOW I MADE A RAISE--DISGUISING
MY HORSE WITH A COAT OF PAINT--CAPTURED AT TOLEDO--SELLING MY
HORSE--ARRIVED HOME BROKE.

Three days later I borrowed a saddle and started on horseback toward the
west, leaving Frank to dispose of the buggy and harness.

I returned to Elmore the second night out, about nine o'clock. After
putting my horse out, called at the hotel to visit my wife and see the
boy.

The next day, while we were sitting in our room, the landlord, Mr.
Hineline, came up, saying that a detective was down in the office, or at
least a man claiming to be one, making all sort of inquiries about us.

I instructed the landlord, who was a sharp, shrewd little gentleman, how
to act and what to say, and instructed my wife to enclose a letter in
an envelope, and, after addressing it "J. P. Johnston, Mt. Vernon, O. If
not called for in 5 days forward to Columbus; if not called for in 5
days forward to Dayton," she slipped down to the office and asked the
landlord to please mail it for her. He carelessly laid it down on the
desk near the detective, who lost no time in jotting down the full
directions.

The last we saw of him he had bought a ticket and was taking the first
train for Mt. Vernon.

In a couple of days I started towards the west.

I came very near making two or three horse-trades, and no doubt would
have succeeded, if I hadn't felt every minute that some one was going to
swoop down upon me, and capture me and my horse.

I didn't feel as if I ought to stop a minute anywhere. I could look
ahead to certain places where I thought no detective on earth could
discover me till I could make a deal; but when I would reach there I
invariably felt the same as at all other places, and was constantly on
the alert watching the corners, which alone was enough for any one man
to busy himself at.

I arrived the following Sunday at Grand Rapids, Ohio, a small town on
the Maumee River, and also on a canal. I put my horse up, and took
dinner at the hotel; after which a very hard-looking character, claiming
to have lost all his money gambling with his chums, the river men,
stepped up to me in the barn and asked if I would give him money to pay
for his dinner.

"Certainly," I said, handing him twenty-five cents, saying, as I did so,
"I'll give you half of all I possess." He thanked me, and said:

"Say, you're a gentleman, and I'll give you a pointer: There's an
officer here after you."

That was all