unish him
as they saw fit. They pursued him for about forty miles, and it was
fortunate for the fugitive that they did not overtake him, because had
they caught him after two p. m., I think they would have been in a
condition of mind that would have resulted in his summary execution.

Of course, we thought no more about it, as matters of that kind were of
frequent occurrence; but that was not the last of it. It turned out that
the jumper was a Mason of high degree, and when he got to St. Paul he
made a most pitiable complaint, charging me with destroying his home,
and with attempting to murder him. I was a small Mason, and was cited
before the lodge to defend myself. I simply denied the jurisdiction, and
did not appear. I was tried, and triumphantly acquitted.

On another occasion a claim was jumped in Le Sueur, just between upper
and lower town, and the jumper had a great many friends who rallied to
his defense. The associations of all three counties were called out, and
when we appeared at Le Sueur, we found about seventy-five Irishmen, all
well armed, camped on the contested claim ready to defend it to the
death. We camped at a short distance, and negotiations were opened
between the hostile armies, which finally resulted in some sort of a
compromise, satisfactory to the contesting parties, one of whom (the
original claimant) was K. K. Peck, who was left in possession of the
disputed territory. Mr. Peck laid his claim out into lots, and gave each
one of the members of the association that had come to his rescue a deed
for a lot, which we called a "land warrant," on account of services in
the Peck war; but before we could realize on our warrants, the
government surveys located a school section on the battle-field, and
destroyed all our hopes.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Minnesota and Tales of
the Frontier, by Charles E. Flandrau

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