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TH* SUNNY SOUTH. ATLANTA. GEORGIA, OCTOBER 28 1893
A CASE BEFORE JUDGE LYNCH
A True Story.
For The Sunny South.
T WAS a sultry day in
July.the air was hot, and
as I breathed it, it came
to me steaming as if from
a blast-furnace. Th
sun’s rays were as warm
as if they were focused
upon me through a sun
glass, and my road was
almost sbadelese, run
ning nearly parallel with
the track that had been
surveyed for the North
ern Pacific Railroad,then
being constructed
through a wild and almost roadless coun
try.
I had spent many months in this wilder
ness in my official connection with the
Northern Pacific Railroad, ana frequently
found it not only safer but more comforta
ble to camp near some mining settlement
as those hardy and rough pioneers knew
well the country, and were sure to locate
near a good supply of water, while their
camp stores furnished me with a few arti
cles of comfort and diet that kept me ir
touch at least with the far-cft civilization
I had left behind me. *
I was glad to see the sun smiling toward
a heavy bank of stormy purplish clouds in
the west, for it told me of rest ahead of
me, although I had still ten miles to make
before I could reach a new camp known as
"Hangman’s Gulch,” where I determined,
when my team and campequipage arrived,
to spend several days.
My faithful horse. Roger, was weary, for
he had been carrying my avoirdupois of
two hundred pounds since early dawn,
and I was not less fagged, for I had now
reached an age when miles of horseback
exercise were not as agreeable to me as
the Pullman cars that were so soon to
speed along in the wake of our corps of
engineers and laborers.
1 anxiously looked ahead, (for I could
see for miles around me a sea of land),
hoping to catch sight of some habitation
where I might find shelter from the com
ing storm, lor 1 bad little hope of beiDg
able to reach "H irgman’s Gulch” before
the dark stormy clouds that hung over the
west, sending out vivid hashes of light
ning and deep undertones of thunder,
should burst in all its fury upon me.
Roger seemed nervous and.unusually ex
cited as the storm approached, and of his
own volition quickened his speed to a
brisk canter. From this I knew there was
danger in the cloud, and I might expect to
meet a howling tempest,for dumb animals
have never-failing instinct, and to watch
them as a storm approaches gives one at
least a note of warning.
I shall never forget the first
crash of thunder and the sheet of
flame that brnst suddenly from the cloud,
as if it had been rent into shreds, and had
set everything around it ablaze. Roger,
ever more reverential than his master,
pome down upon his knees, remaining in
that position, crouching close to the
ground, and uttering a low, continuous,
pitiful whinny—evidently his helpless ap-
to God and man for help.
The poor brute’s terror and the sublime
ly awful grandeur of the warring ele
ments, were a new experience to me, and
so .interested me, that I drew around me
my old storm coat, and took the deluge of
water that came pouring over me with
as little heed of its drenching power as if
I bad been taking a sun bath.
The peals of thunder were terrific, the
earth seeming to tremble with each shock,
and I watched with awe the grandest dis
play of electric power wielded by the Di
vine hand I ever expect tc see, until the
Heavens shall roll up as a scroll, and the
elemen s melt with the heat of the last
conflagration. There in the wilderness,
with no human being to turn to for com
panionship, I stand lace to face with God,
and saw His majestic hand wield the
tbnnderbolta of Heaven.
With each thunder crash came brilliant
streams of fire, that flashed and sparkled,
and striking the earth here and there, sent
in every direction glowing balls ef flame
Wbat if one of those electric volts should
strike near where I was lyirg close beside
Roger? It meant little else than annihila
tion, and i earnestly asked the God of the
storm for His protection in my extremity
I took no note of time, for since tne Heav
ens had been overcast with clouds it had
grown very dark and everything had a
twilight look.
Did I fall asleep? I do not know, but I
was at least shocked by the presence of so
mnch electricity, and was unconscious cer
tainly for more than an hour
When I again became coLBcious .of my
surroundings, I was lying fiat on my back
with my faoa turned upward, and while
the fury of the storm had abated, my face
was being thoroughly washed by a drench
ing rain, and I doubt not that this tree ap
plication of water had much to do with
my resuscitation.
It was useless to continue lying there in
tha wet prairie grass now, and hading
that I was uninjured in any way, I aro.-e
and spoke to Roger in a cheery way that
be well understood.
"Up old fellow I we have had a narrow
shave, but are all right, up and away!”
At the sound of my voice the horse
sprang up with a bound, giving a neigh,
Which expressed as plainly as a man would
in words bis delight that the danger had
passed, and his pleasure in obeying my
call.
Mounting I was soon cantering through
the driving rain at a brisk pact-—on—on
toward Hangman’s Gulch, with every
prospect of reaching there before dark.
The road grew rougher as the grade as-
oended toward a more broken country,
and so secluded was the settlement I was
l® search of, as it nestled in a deep gorge
tight of the main thoroughfare, I
J 1 ?^® it by, had not my at-
“ ““ ~ ' ‘ that direction by
strange and startling
soonds. Reining
we were soon de-
22S£ng«toepTpSK’mS turn in .
JSS?id ESdSTU acitad crowd of
men .’urging to »??»_“■£3L , S?ES%*
The
i,U nuu uwBB ~ — * t,
some object; could now begin to hearjthe
tsntion been called in
shoots and oatbs as I drew nearer
whole camp seemed to be in an uproar,
and I sat upon my horse within forty feet
of the angry mass of humanity for at least
fifteen minutes before any one took notice
of my arrival or addressed a word to me.
Indeed, I spoke first, as soon as I could
catch a favorable moment, for the crowd
■earned to be all talking at once, and
when there was a lull I called out in a
loud tone, my voice being deep and
‘‘Say, boys, for God’s sake tell me what s
the matter here? You all seem to be
mad.” .
•‘An’ whar did you come from—out er
the clouds?” questioned a tall, grim-vis-
aged man, who seemed to be the leader.
"No, my friend, not out of the clouds,
but from right under them,” I answered.
"I was caught in this storm out on the
prairie.” _ . ,
‘•You was? and what wus you doin’
thar? Folks don’t ride the prary by their
selves for nothin’.”
No: I rode ahead of my teams to select
a place to camp.”
"Oh, you’s lookin’ out to locate claims,
is you ? Most all round hqjft is staked
out, I can tell ye, or my name’s not Caleb
Diggs.”
You guessed wrong, my friend,” I re
plied. "I’m not in the mining business,
but take a good deal of interest in you fel
lows that are. I am helping to build a
railroad through this wila country. But
you haven’t told me what all this excite
ment is about.”
Ob, there’s no excitement in particu
lar, stranger. We have caught a thief in
our camp an* we are goyin’ ter hang him
soon as the rain holds up. We want ter
send him ter hell dry, so he’ll barn well.”
Are you goin’ to give him a trial?” I
asked.
"Yes we’ll do that too, but in moster
cases in ‘Hangmans Guloh’ when we fiads
a man has got our dust. We jest hang
him, and try him arter-wards.”
"Well that looks hard on a fellow is it
shonld turn out that he was innocent.
Which is the prisoner? and what is his
name 9 I questioned.
The crowd divided a little, and I rode
into their midst, and there saw a tall,
gaunt, starved out looking man with a
long, shaggy red beard, and eyes like two
burning coals of fire, nis only clothing a
pair of Corduroy pants, and a ragged red
flannel shirt. He was a perfect picture of
desperation.
You axed his name” said Diggs
"God only knows, we never did, he drifted
here, says he come from Texas, so we call
him "Texas Kangaroo” most-wise wecalls
him Tex.”
"Now stranger, we has been missin’ our
"Dust” for some time. The law of this
camp is, ‘‘hangiu’ fer stealin’,” an’ this
ain’t the fust feller we hev strung up, and
it wont be the last ef they are.cotch ”
I saw that I had to deal with a lot of
desperate men who were not prepared to
list* n to reason and argument, so my first
thought was like an inspiration. I must
know and talk with the man who
would set as Judge in the case And I
must be allowed an interview with the
prisoner.
I slowly dismounted, putting my reins
behind my stirrup leathers, left Roger
standing, while I pressed still farther into
the crowd.
" Where is your Judge ? I asked. I must
see him.” "Ah 1 it’s the jedge it is yer
wants” answered Diggs. "Well SO oa
Box ley is onr Squire, an’ he will put tne
law on ter him short and quick, and don’t
yer forget it. Tuen calling iu a loud tone,
“Solon Boxley” yer are wanted.”
He was answered by a short stout man
who wore a gray shirt and trowsers, a red
handkerchief was loosely tied about his
neck, his ample stomach being belted by
a girdle of weboing and in canvass pockets
he carried a pair pf Colt’s Navies.
I caught his eye as he approaohed me,
and looked in vain for any soft or sym
pathetic expression there. He gave me a
look of stolid indifference lrom * eyes as
hard and cold aa steel. They may have
been softer once, bat contact with hard
and cruel men, must have frozen his sym
pathies, if he ever had any.
"You want me? ’ he asked.
"Yes,” I wish to talk with you a few
moments.” "Alone,” I replied.
"Well, come into old Grizzle’s bar-room
here, we can keep dry thar, take some
thing to drink, and you can then say yer
say.” And our modern Solon led the way
to the bar-room.
Had I refused the drink I should have
made an enemy of Solon Boxley, and
tninking that alter my drenching in the
storm a nip of something warm would do
me no harm. I accepted and drank what
was set before me. Solon took about four
fingers of whisky without one drop of
water, and I delayed approaching the sub
ject we were to discuss—that I might
watch the effect of his first drink.
I was very particular to address him al
ways as Judge, and he seemed pleased at
the title and gradually begun to thaw—
j ast a little bit at first—but two more
drinks like the first he had taken, render
ed him more genial than I had ever hoped
to see him, and I was ready to search him
for any hiaden sympathy for poor fallen
humanity that might be in him.
Handing him a good cigar and lighting
another myself, I said:
"Well Judge, yon seem to have caught
a hard one in the Texas Kangaroo, but I
am from Texas myself, and cannot help a
fueling of sympathy for the poor devil.
He se< ms deserted of Go • and man, and
such fellows get little help or sympathy in
this world- Are yon quite sure he is
guilty ?”
"Weil stranger, I hainthear’ed the fac’s
in the case yet, but ’pear&ncea is mighty
agin him He has a villainous face on Mm
aud Diggs thinks he have the fac’s on him
—we shall see.”
"Even were the facts against him Judge,
are i here no doubts that shonld go m nis
favor?”
"How can yon be snre that gold-dust
found in his possession belongs to an-
oti'nr ?’*
“Do you know your horse] thar stran
ger? *
"Yes,” I replied.
And would you know
a thousand horses?”
"Oh, yes.”
"Well, there’s something about
a | nim. Twelve men were sworn in as
jurors, aud two witnesses stood ready to
testify.
. _ Dust I The first witness was Caleb Diggs, as he
that’s just as knowable—every man knows had in his keeping the gold said to have
his own, and the law on stealin’ Dust— been stolen. I had drawn from a secret
is Death.” pocket, the specimens brought with me
I had collected some specimens of gold, and held them in my closed palm, ready
and had in my possession some rich dust, to use in Galbraith’s bphalf at the right
securely contained in quills plucked from moment. Diggs held in his hand a num-
a large buzzard I had killed only a few ber of quills containing gold articles and
days before—and making a mental note, I dust, all he claimed to have been stolen
determined when the evidence was taken from him, and his partner. Requesting
to make the witnesses select the dust said him to bear iu mind the solemnity of his
to have been stolen from other gold in oath, and importance of his testimony, I
possession of the prisoner, but changing | asked;
fur.
■at
my mind I thought it best that be should
have the benefit of several of my quills,
and I wonld make the opportunity to use
them. ContinuiBg the conversation, I
asked:
"Do yon always hang? Never recom
mend the prisoner to mercy ? Remember
Jadge, it is a solemn thing to string a
poor fellow up by the neck until he is
dead.”
"It may not look so solemn to you to
hang somebody else, but put yourself in
his place. Suppose you were to he hung,
when you knew you were innocent, but
appearanoea were against yon. wouldn’t
you think your case a hard one ?”
"I guess I would,” he answered, and
partly from his three drinks, the other
part, from some secret chord I had touch
ed iu him, I saw a mist gathering about
those steely eyes, and his face lookad very
sad and grave. I determined to leave him
just here, so presenting him with another
cigar I said:
"Well Judge, time is precious, I know
you will give the poor Texan a fair trial,
so I’ll not detain yon longer, wonld you
kindly have the prisoner brought iu here,
I will be responsible for him ?”
"Yes, stranger, he shall have all in his
favour as can be said, and yon shall be his
lawyer. I’ll fetch him here in a min
nit”
He kept bis word, returning promptly
with the prisoner, and leaviDg him alone
with me in the rear end of the bar-room.
Upon close inspection I found that the
prisoner’s face was not altogether bad,
there was deep farrows across his brow
and he had a wrinkle between the eyes
that gave the appearance of an ever pres
ent scowl, bat his mouth was so answer
able to hi* emotions, that a smile would
change his whole countenance.
As he approached me he looked as if he
would never smile again, and a sadder or
more miserable expression I never saw on
a human face.
‘ Are yon a Texan?” I asked.
"What’s that to you?” was his savage
reply.
’ Only this my friend, I too am a Texan,
you are in trouble, and I would gladly
serve you if you will let me,” I answered
I saw his face twitching with emotion,
then he sat for several moments bowed
down, and with his huge, rough bands en
deavoured to hide that face from my gazs
could see great tear-drops trickling
through his fiogers, and his breath carnet
quick and hard.
At last striving to command his feelings
he said with a sob:
"I’ve got no friends and it might be
about as well to let ’em hang me, 1 wonld
have at least a new kind ’er misery in
tother world.”
"I am determined that they shall not
hang yon or any other Tex »n on so dis
graceful a charge as stealing if I can save
yon, bat you must make a clean breast of
it as to your past life. Give me your
name, family history, the part of Texas in
which you lived, and state whether you
have a wife and chi’dren at your old
home.”
As I meutiened wife, children, home,
tears began to flow afresh, and the poor
fellow could not venture to speak for quite
a while.
"Well, stranger, (shall I call you friend,
for tryin’ to save my neck from the noose?)
I will tell yon my story; ’tis easy told. 1
was a decent man once, and had a prayin’
mother. My name used to be Jasper Gal
braith, and I had good raisin’ for a border
boy. My folks lived a short ways from
San Antonio, and I growed up among as
wild a set as ever you see. Horse racin’,
gamolin’, drinkin’ and fightin’ was our
daily blsness, and Snnday was just like
amy other day. I married the sweetest
woman in all the country, and had four
fights about her before I got her. But for
whisky I shonld have been happy and
prosperous now, but drink started me to
the bad. £ got worse and worse; spent
the little I had inherited in liquor and
cards, and then I wae not brave enough to
witnees and fight agin the desolation I
had brought upon my wife and four little
children. I deserted them, stranger, and
I don’t deserve either friendship nor sym
pathy. I have not seen or heard from them
in five years. Foot Mollie! poor Molliel”
and the wretched men sobbed like a child
Just then the crowd began to gather
abont the door and inside the bar-room,
and they were all eager for the hanging.
"Bring him oat! He has been spared
long enough. No nonsense, Boxley!
Hmg him! Hang him!” cried the angry
mob
"You 8wear positively that the gold you
now hold in your hand, was stolen by the
prisoner. Will you let me examine the
stolon property ?”
"Yes you kin do that,” was his reply as
he passed up the quills. At a glance ]
saw that I could readily match no less
than six of them, and that I would
be quite impossible to tell my substitutes
from those he had handed me. It took
but a moment for me to make the ex
change, and handing back the dust I re
quested Diggs to look again at the quills,
aud identify his stolen property.
Looking very hard first at what he held
in his hand, and then at me, he answered
"I told ye once, why should I tell ye
agin. Every one er them qnills was sto
len from Pard an me by Tex ”
You are quite sure now, look again?”
I asked. Diggs here consulted with his
his partner and both agreed that this was
the identical property stolen. I saw at
once that my case might be warm, and that
I should probably save Galbraith, but it
would take something more than strategy.
I therefore determined to press upon the
crowd the great importance of a doubt,
when life and death were involved, and to
urge that no man should ever be hung on
purely circumstantial evidence. Opening
my hand I now called attention to six
quills of gold. They were to illustrate
tne point I was enforcing. Trying to catch
the eye of each juror, I determined to
make a brief story of each. So I stood
scanning them in turn, with as keen a
glance as I knew how to give, this I had
made a study in my practice, holding the
quills up for their inspection.
This silent look was worth much, for
there was a breathless stillness all over
the room, and I knew I should have the
attention of every man present as 1 made
the little appeal that should have its effect
for weal or woe, upon the fate of Gal
braith. At the moment their attention
was most tense. I began:
"My friends, I call you all friends, for
so far as I know I have not an enemy in
all the mining camps of the west, bat can
coant among you fellows scores of true
men well worthy to be called my friends
only two hours ago, out on the prairie,
stood fac j to face with Death, and little
thought at one time that I should ever
live through the storm. It was a solemn
moment iu my life, but I confess to you
here and now, I am even more seriously
impressed by the shadow of Death that
hangs over a poor fellow mortal who has
entrusted his defence before this assemb
lage of letlow miners, to me, a stranger.
Will yon listen to me, and banish all
prejudice and passion from your minds
and hearts?”
Cries of "yesl yes I go ahead 1” from
some, while there wae an undertone of
discontent, and others said: "He must
haDgl No new laws at "Hangman’s
Gmch.”
"Well friend, I have no "new law” for
you, but a law as old as civilization—tis
the Goldon Rale, and when any of us are
hard press ed, how gladly do we seek re
fuge behind it. "Do nnto others as you
would have them do unto you.”
"Now you all believe in fair play, give
this poor fellow a chance for his life Far
away in Texas he has a wife and four
children who have long looked for the re
turn of the husband and father. He
pledges me if he is released, he will take
the little store of gold he has accumula
ted and return to the wife who so fondly
loved him years ago and remain her sup
port and protector until life shall end.
Are there no Husbands here ? Are there
no fathers ? In the midst of the rude life
incident—to your straggle to win gola—do
not your hearts go out to the far away
spot you call home? and is there not a
longing to turn your faces homeward?
Oh I the sweet kiss of welcome that will
be yours—as the wife—through blinding
tears embraces you, and the children greet
you, would you today refuse to a poor
fellow mortal the joy you covet and ex
pect to experience ? Bat I do not ask you
to release the prisoner only in pity—but
from my heart I believe him to he inno
cent of the serious c barge you bring
against him ”
"I h tld m my hand six quills containing
gold. They were a part of the gold alleged
palaces though
)’s no place like
"Home, sweet home.
I saw tears flowine down
rowed cheeks, and a moment
down a young fellow who had li.tl
very intently, showing much emoting* 1
gan singing in a strong, rich voice- ‘
"Mid pleasures and
may roam, * * UUU K Q
Be it ever so humble, there
home.”
«,J^ eeff | CtWa8 el< “ ct rical. strong
wept, and everyone in the room who n
voice joined iu the refrain. The jure *
as one man and left their seats , J and Si
Judge dismissed the case. a “•
Jasper Galbraith was speedily surrom^
ed by the crowd that had only a .hnt
time before been thirsting for his Mood
and each man gave him a hearty shake of
the hand, nor was this the only way in
which they remembered him ' y u
The next morning the whole camp t Urn
ed out to bid him goodhye, and Solon
Baxley placed in his band a handsom!
sum of gold dust, as a gift to his wt °Z
children, from the miners of Hangman’.
G w h \ vo Lauristor Colli,
Winston, N. C.
Education ot Builneu Men In Euro,,,.
We are in receipt of a volume which
all persona interested in business edu
cation would do well to read, it j s
entitled "Report to the American
Bankers Association, through its Com
mittee on Schools of Finance and
Economy, by Edmund J. James, !’. H
D., Professor in tne Wharton Schooi
of Finance and Economy, University
of Pennsylvania.” American Bank
ers Association, New York.
Guilty or not Guilty?
great
to have been stolen by the prisoner from
Diggs and his partner'. I had in my pos
session when I came into this room six
quills which I substituted for these, and
neither Diggs nor his partner discovered
the substitution, although I gave them a
chance to do so.”
"I have done this, not to practice a de
ception upon you, my friends, but to illus-
"You hear them fellows clammerin’ for trate the fact that the evidence of your on-
my life’s blood, stranger?” said Gaibraith ly witness in this case is worthless, and
"You had as well try to keep me from the that my prisoner should be released.”
j «ws ol a pack er starved wolves. They "You are all true men—you desire to do
nain’t hung anybody here for several that which is just. Remember your old
wseks and they r hent_ on hansin’ me, al- | homos, and let any tender chord that is
though, before God, I am as innocent er
stealin' as a baby.”
There was no further time to spare, so I
quickly said:
"Galbraith, I will try to save you, but
promise me now that if I do, you will re-
tnrn at once to Texas and search for your
wife and children until you find them, and
when you do find them, that you will
stand by them a faithful, loving husband
and father until death. Remember, your
promise to do this, is all the reward I
ask.”
"1 solemnly promise all ycu ask,” he
said, “and will keep it, so help me God.”
We then passed ont into the crowd, and
Galbraith was taken in charge by a rough
looking fellow who was acting as consta
ble, and he led the way up a pair of steps
to a hall over the difinking-saloon, where
all public meetings were held.
We were followed by the crowd, and the
room was soon filled with a motly as
semblage of rough miners, terribly in
earnest in demanding the life of the pris
oner. Solon Boxely took his seat, on a
I bench with a little pine table in front of
now touching your hearts continue to vi
brate, in unison with that grand old
song-
“Inthe case of Doctor Graven suicide
may certainly be said to ba confession.”
This paragraph at the head of the edito
rial columa of a metropolitan journal
probably voices the opinion of
many intelligent persons.
While not denying that this theory is cor
rect, it might not be amiss to analyze the
motives that actuates suicides, and discov
er, if we may, if there are not times and
occasions when, beset with unseen fj-s,
surrounded by adverse and exasperating
circumstances, without hope of having
one's condition bettered, and pissibiy
without means to employ the costly and
complicated machinery of the law, one
mignt willingly lie down and die as tne
eas:e<t way out of the trouble.
It would be a good thing for hmnanity
in general, and a certain class of suspects
in especial, if the theory that suiciae is an
evidence of crime were forever put out of
the criminal annals of this country. It is
one of the most misleading-notions, and as
an argument is, in fact, no argument at
all.
Without expressing an opinion either
way on the case in point, it may be said
that the world is full of people who have
neither the physical, mental nor moral
streagth to stand out against the idea that
they are guilty of a grave crime. The fact
that they are suspected unnerves them;
the fea. that they will do something to
make it appear that they are guilty en
tirely upsets their mental equilioriam.and
under tne awful ordeal ot expert cross
questioning they are m ide to say and ad
mit things utterly at variance with the
true state of things.
One of the most skillful of lawyers re
cently remarked that he thought it qaite
possible to take any average business-man
of good intelligence and clear perceptions
and practically make him admit any crime
that any one saw fit to accuse him of. So
skillfully is cross-questioning manipnla-
ted, and so confusing are the interrogato
ries as they are poured in one afc*-r
another, so adroit is the management of
the prosecution,that it is almost out of the
question to avoid being caught in the can-
mngly devised trap that is set for unwary
feet.
And as a matter of fact, an innocent
person is tenfold more likely to be drawn
into this trap than a guuty one. There
have less acquaintance with the intricacies
of crime, less ability to guard, less alert
ness and keenness, for these always in
crease as the criminal grows more and
more hardened, and mucu less resisting
power because this power has never been
brought into play.
The history of criminal j irisprudence is
fall of unsolved mysteries, and to these
the ordinary legal mind seems never to
have found a key. Tne law takes it for
granted that a man is innocent until he is
proven guilty, but almost all criminal
cases are conducted on precisely the op
posite principle. The suspect is treated
as though he were absolutely convicted.
Everything about the court, the trial, the
circumstances is managed on the theory
that the individual has surely committed
the crime, and instead of following out
tne spirit of the law and proving the guilt,
the burden rests upon the counsel to prove
the man innocent
It is q lite time some steps were taken
to set i.ni* matter rig at. Either change
the law and suppose tne person to have
done the deed or carry out the legitimate
results of the presupposition of innocence.
New Y ork Ledger.
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report
ABSOLUTELY PURE