New Hampshire Statesman

Barn, Steuben Co. N. Y.
Aug. 21, 1823.

A VILLAIN CAUGHT.

Ira Sargent, the stage driver between this place and Geneva, who some time since absconded with an unsealed letter enclosing $710, belonging to Gen. Cruger, directed to James Rees, Esq. Cashier of the Bank of Geneva, has recently been apprehended at Orwell, in Vermont, and $522 of the money recovered. Capt. Daniel Farrington, of Brandon, Vermont, hearing that Sargent was in Orwell, went with an officer in pursuit of him. He found that Sargent had concealed himself in a small log house, a mile from any road, surrounded by woods. He immediately selected twelve men. Sargent was prepared to give battle. He had furnished himself with two guns, four pistols, an axe, a scythe, with cloth wound round the heel, a pitchfork, four cudgels, and a large pile of stones, with two men, and his wife to aid him. They secured the door, and bid defiance to the besiegers. Sargent said that he had made his peace with God, and would lose his life before he would be taken. After resisting for some time, he surrendered. Much credit is due to Capt. Farrington and his neighbors, for their zeal and vigilance in apprehending the villain.