The River's Final Verdict

Charles Bolt visited his land claim near Prosser Monday and found that his house had been entered and blankets and other articles stolen. Securing the services of a constable, the two visited the suspect's camp, where the missing property was found in the possession of a young man who had recently hired out as a herder. The arrest was made without trouble and the party started for Prosser in a spring wagon. While crossing the bridge that spans the Yakima, the prisoner suddenly leaped from the hack and made lively tracks down the river bank. The constable commanded the fugitive to halt and threatened to shoot in case of his failure to do so, at which the thief turned around and throwing his coat back from his breast told them to go ahead with the shooting. This permission not being taken advantage of, he jumped into the river and waded towards the middle of the stream against the repeated warnings that he would be drowned. His only reply was curses, and reaching deep water he floated a minute and then bobbing up and down the regulation number of times went under for the last time. No one knows the dead man's name, and the supposition is that he had some crime to answer for greater than the stealing of the blankets and that he preferred to take the desperate chances against death rather than face the law.