He handed the message to Booke. The latter, who owned the best hotel in Parker’s, in close proximity to Hogan’s house, turned a little pale at the announcement. Ben, however, received it with his usual coolness, and simply sent back a telegram telling them to save his piano, and let the rest go. He lost no time, of course, in getting back to Parker’s. On reaching the town, he found that his house had been saved by the promptness of the citizens, who had turned out en masse to extinguish the fire.
Although Ben had no positive proof, he was fully convinced in his own mind that his place had been set on fire by some of the men who had long been hostile to him. One of these, Casey by name, he met in the street, and accused him point blank of firing his house. Casey undertook to turn off the matter with a laugh.
“You can laugh,” said Ben, shaking his finger in the man’s face, “but there’s a good deal of strain about that laugh. You and your gang fired the house, and you know about it!”
Again Casey laughed and tried to deny the accusation.
It may be mentioned that some time afterward, when Ben was living in Petrolia, this same Casey became one of his staunchest friends, and just two weeks before he was burned to death on the Allegheny river, he made a clean confession, telling Hogan that it was he indeed who had fired the house.
Shortly after the above occurrence, a new constable was elected in the town of Parker’s—he had been a blacksmith originally—and through the instrumentality of this official, indictments were found against Hogan for selling liquor without a license. Ben immediately called upon his old friend, the Judge, accompanied by Joe Smith, as bail. He told the judge that before the election of the new constable, he had paid the District Attorney one hundred dollars to prevent any suits against him. He further said that he was willing to stand a trial, but that he should insist upon pleading his own case.
“What do you want to do that for?” asked the judge.
“Because,” answered Ben, “I mean to show up some things that will astonish the natives. I mean to prove that there is a corrupt ring in the courts of this county, formed for the purpose of bleeding everybody it can. I shall not have to go outside of the court to get all the witnesses I want. And if the case is ever tried, there will be a good many other fingers burned, besides mine!”
Under the circumstances, the Judge thought it advisable that the suit should not be pressed. He placed Ben under five hundred dollars bonds, Joe Smith becoming the surety. The case was never called, and Ben soon after removed from Parker’s.
