The Prairie Detective: Secret Service Series No. 24 — page 9: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE PRAIRIE DETECTIVE. 7 upon some camp of hunters, murder them all in cold blood, and then ride off like the wind, helping them- selves to such of the stores as they chose. Then they would take a long march across the country by circuitous routes which would not lead them into sections where they would be likely to be met and known. In a month or two, after traveling almost incessantly toward some given point, ‘‘The Bloodsuckers’’ would dash down with whoops and yells upon some defenseless settlement, slaying and robbing. | It may be readily imagined that such a condition of affairs kept the whole country in a fever. No part of the West seemed free from these awful atrocities, and no hunter was sure from day to day that his cabin would not be burned before another dawn, and his loved ones murdered in cold blood be- fore his eyes. The marauders, who thus inspired fear and hatred, were as mysterious as they were sanguinary. No one knew whence they came, whither they went, nor who they were. Many expeditions had started upon their trail, but all had ended alike in defeat and discomfiture. “The Bloodsuckers”? never allowed grass to grow under their feet. Having sacked a settlement, they traveled away so rapidly that the swiftest pursuers were soon left behind. One party alone succeeded in overtaking them. In the battle which ensued every man was killed save one. He was left for dead upon the field, but revived afterward, and took a great oath of revenge. His name was Ryan, and he was commonly called ‘“Posey,’’ though why I am at a loss to understand. We shall see more of Posey Ryan presently. Comicbooks (Efe)