Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/46

 sixty-five miles without sleep or rest. He soon produced a small, wiry young man who was an experienced horseman and as tireless as a cowboy. His name was Williams. A fast horse was procured, while Williams equipped himself for a ride for life. Credentials were hastily prepared, to be presented by our messenger to the agents of the “underground railroad” on the route, to enable him to procure fresh horses at each point without delay. A note was written to a trusted friend at Springdale, of which the following is a copy:

“, January 23, 1860.

“: There is an application for young Coppoc from the Governor of Virginia, and the Governor here will be compelled to surrender him. If he is in your neighborhood tell him to make his escape from the United States.

“.”

It was not prudent to sign a name to a note, but it bore its stamp of genuineness in the well-known handwriting of Senator Cattell, with which Painter was familiar. In less than two hours from the time we left the Executive rooms, the sharp, rapid strokes of the shoes of a fast horse on the frozen ground resounded on the old stage road out by the “Prairie Queen” and on to Four Mile Ridge. The rider was enveloped in a huge buffalo over coat and fur cap, while a small leather saddle valise carried his baggage and refreshments to fortify against a piercing east wind, which he faced. His instructions were to reach Springdale as soon as horse flesh and human endurance could make it and then rest, sleep and return at his leisure.

We confidently expected that Mr. Camp, the Virginian, would take the first stage east, which traveled day and night with frequent change of horses and arrest Coppoc before his friends could be rallied. We knew there was a drilled band of seventy-five determined young men in and about Springdale who were well armed and had declared