would much rather carry on
the fight on Northern soil than in the South.

I found Messrs. Watts, Judd & Jackson, the company's lawyers, were
excellent men, clear-headed and accommodating. They gladly furnished me
with what little information they possessed.

_CHAPTER IV._

Before I left Montgomery on my return to the North, I became acquainted
with the local detective, McGibony, without letting him know who I was.
In accordance with a plan which I always carry out, of watching the
actions of those around me, I kept my eye on him, and found that he was
quite "thick" with Maroney. He boarded at the Exchange, drank with
Maroney in saloons, and even passed with him into the card-room at
Patterson's.

At this time McGibony had in his charge a distinguished prisoner, being
no less a personage than the old planter whom Johnson H. Hooper so
graphically described as "Simon Suggs;" by which name I will continue to
call him.

Suggs had been arrested for the commission of a series of misdemeanors,
but, as he was a great favorite, he was allowed the freedom of the city,
and was joyfully welcomed at the hotels and saloons.

Simon was about fifty-six years old, the dryest kind of a wit, and
extremely fond of his bitters. He lived about forty miles out from
Montgomery, on the Coosa river, but about a week prior to the time I saw
him, had come to Montgomery to see his friends. Simon's morality was not
of the highest order, and the first place he visited was Patterson's
saloon. Here he met a few congenial spirits, took several drinks with
them, and then, being "flush,"--a very unusual thing for him--he
proceeded to "buck the tiger." Like too many others, he bucked too long,
and soon found himself penniless. Not to be outdone, however, he rushed
out and borrowed one hundred dollars from a friend, promising to return
it the first thing in the morning. With this money he returned to the
unequal contest, but before long was again strapped.

In the morning, as he was walking along the street, in a very
penitential mood, he was accosted by his friend, who demanded of him the
one hundred dollars he had borrowed. Simon put on a very important air,
and in a tone of confidence which he was far from feeling, assured him
he should have the money before he left town.

As Simon strolled along, puzzling his brain as to how he could raise the
necessary funds to pay off his friend, he saw the tall, ungainly form of
a backwoods planter s