"
The reporter had told Mr. Miller that he would pay one hundred
dollars for carrying the dispatch, and in case he was first to the
office, he would also pay one hundred dollars more in addition to
that. From there to Jacksonville it was one hundred miles and a
wagon road all the way, while to Ashland it was but eighty miles,
of which sixty miles was only a trail. This I had passed once in
company with J. N. T. Miller. I was introduced to the reporter by
Col. Miller, with whom I soon made arrangements to carry his
dispatches. He asked me how long it would take me to ride to
Ashland. I told him I thought it would take about eight hours with
my three horses. He said if I went to Ashland I would have no
competition on the trail as the other riders were both going to
Jacksonville.
The day before the hanging was to take place I hired a young man
to take two of my horses and go out on the trail, instructing him
to leave one of them picketed out at Cold Springs, and the other
one to take to Bald Mountain, which was thirty miles from Ashland.
At this place I wanted Black Bess, and he was to stay there with
her until I came and to return, get my other horse, and meet me at
Jacksonville.
When the time arrived for the hanging and the prisoners were led
to the scaffold, each dispatch carrier was mounted and standing on
the outer edge of the crowd, ready at the moment he received the
dispatch to be off at once.
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