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_ V
VOL. XIX-
IN DISASTER VALLEY.
BY WALLACE P. REED.
Jack Blount gave his horse to one of his
herders at the gate, and walked slowly up to
th* big, rambling log house which had been
bij home for five long, weary years.
It was an out of the way place for a ranch,
but Blount had taken a fancy to it, and his
pretty wife had cheerfully given up the
pleasures and comforts of town life to go with
»djn into the most desolate part of Nevada.
Myra Blount stood on the piazza watching
well-known figure coming up from the
koad. It was twilight, but she could distinct
ly see her husband's features, and at a distance
pf fifty yards it was easy for her to see that
something bad gone wrong. The shambling
•lep and the bowed head told the whole story.
‘.We have lost the case,” she said to herself.
Then, as her husband came up the steps, she
Went forward and kissed him.
"Bad news, I am afraid,” she said.
"Yes,” said Jack hoarsely. “We have lost,
and wo are ruined.”
‘pie little woman felt a choking sensation in
her throat, and she could not say a word.
. “Utterly ruined,” Jack continued. “I was
Swindled by a bogus title, and the claimant
made out a clear case. It did not take the
jury five minutes to give a verdict.”
"Then we must move?”
"Yes, and in a very few days. The judg
ment swallowed up everything, land, stock,
Improvements and all. And even then I will
not be out of debt.”
“Why, Jack, are we to be loft hero in the
Wilderness, stripped of everything?”
"Yes, we are penniless.”
The young wife gave a great sob, and leaned
her head on Jack’s shoulder.
*“Don’t mind my tears,” she said, “they are
tor you.’’
Her husband patted her on the head, but he
could not. force a smile.
"An old miner stopped here a little while
ago,” said Myra. “He was tired and sick, and
I showed him to onr spare room and told him
that he could stay until he was strong enough
to travel.”
“What kind of a fellow is he?” asked Jack
Indifferently.
“He is very old and feeble. He said that he
was on his way east from the mines, and that
ire had a large quantity of gold dust, some nug -
gets, and some diamonds that he had bought
In San Francisco. Ho was very talkative.”
“I wish I had his treasure,” muttered Jack
gloomily.
A fiery gleam flashed into Myra’s blue eyes,
and then she compressed her white lips
closely.
“Diamonds,” said Jack, “he bought them,
no doubt, because they are easier to carry than
the gold. Well, I wish him joy.”
‘ “Supper is ready, Jack.”
“Not any for me. lam sick at heart, and I
am going to bed to sleep off my trouble, if I
can. You may sit up as long as you like.”
Blount left his wife on the piazza and went
straightway to bed.
"This is more than I can bear,” murmured
Myra, when she was left alone. And, just to
ihinkofit! There is a fortune under this
roof, and it could be ours!”
The woman fat down on the steps, and
looked vacantly into the gathering darkness.
Gradually all the noise and bustle of the
herders and the cattle in the distance died
away, and the stillness of death brooded over
the ranch.
It was after midnight, and still Myra re
mained on the piazza struggling with the
greatest temptation of her life.
It was nearly morning when Jack Blount
Was awakened by a nervous touch.
Opening his eyes, he saw his wife standing
Over him with a candle in her hand.
“What is the matter, Myra?” he exclaimed,
«‘Why do you look so white?”
“The old miner,” she gasped.
“Any trouble?” asked Jack.
“He’s dead!” she whispered.
"Dead! Great God, this is very sudden.
How did you find it out? I will go to his
loom and see.”
Blount rushed off to the old man’s room.
In live minutes he returned with a strange
expression on his face.
“Myra,” he said, “I do not understand this.
■Whore is the old man’s treasure? Did he
teally have any or has he been robbed?”
"Hete!” cried his wife, triumphantly. “I
brought it out of the room with me,” and she
banded her husband a heavy buckskin belt.
“But, this does not look well on our part.
Everything in the room should have been left
undisturbed until we could send off for wit
nesses to assist us in searching for this man’s
effects.”
“Oil, Jack! Surely, now, the money and
diamonds belong to us?”
Blount looked down at the woman with a
Stern expression, and his whole face was
transformed.
“There is another thing,” he continued, “I
saw the marks of fingers on the dead man’s
throat. Myra, he was strangled in his sleep.”
The woman's lips moved, bnt she could not
•peak, and her eyes sought the floor.
"Myra, how did you discover his death ?”
"I heard a noise in his room, and stopped to
the do .r to see what was the matter.”
“How is it that you are fnlly dressed? You
have not been in bed at all tonight.”
Myra sank into a chair and sobbed.
Blount left the room, and took another look
fit the dead miner.
When he returned his face was whiter than
bis wile’s. He held in hu hand a breastpin.
“I found tiiis by’ the dead man’s side,” he
•aid. "Now will you explain all this?”
“Jack! Jack!” shrieked the distracted
Woman. “It was all for your sake. I heard
you wish for his gold. And he was so old and
ugly,an 11 knew his fortune would save you
from ruin. I swear to you—.”
“Enough!” shouted Blount, “come with me.
X know my duty.”
Myra looked at him, but she saw no pity in
his face. Without a word she followed him
but into the moonlight.
“Fol ->-.v mo!”
In obedience to the stern command, the
trend I g wife followed her husband’s lead.
Th",' walked beyond the borders of the
tanch, through the woods and over the hills.
An l.u rpa e l by, and .-'<ll there was no halt.
The gray light of morning spread over the
•cene, but the silent march continued.
“Mercv! You are taking me to Disaster
Valley!” cried Myra.
They stood on the brow of a rang# of hills
•loping down into a valley.
The valley was known far and wide 03 the
Valley of Death and as Disaster Valley.
Down in its depths noxious gases were con
stantly rising, and every living thing that ou
ierod tl,e place sickened and died.
Kot a tree or shrub or of grass eould
be seen. There were no animals and no in
sects—nothing but arid sand, blackened rocks
and the skeletons of the victims who had
perished there.
“Jack, why did you bring me here?”
“Murderess! hissed her husband. “The
penalty of your crime is death. I cannot de
liver you up to justice, but I cannot let yon
live. All my love has turned to loathing. I
have brought you here to compel you to go
dotvn into the valley.”
Myra was very quiet. She looked fixedly at
her husband.
“You do not think that I am fit to live,” she
said.
“No, yon have dishonored us both by the
foullest crime ever committed in this peaceful
region. You must die.”
“Oil, Jack! The treasure? You will keep
it, dear?”
"Never!” he thundered. “If it is not claimed
by somebody it will bo thrown into tho river.
The accursed stuff would burn my hands.
"When 1 return to the ranch my men shall
bury the old man. I will tell them that he died
suddenly, and they will never know yourguilt.
Now go!”
And he pointed downward.
“Goodbye, Jack!”
It sounded like a wail of anguish.
Slowly the woman began to descend. Once
or twice she stopped and looked back, but
when she saw her husband's face she turned
and hurried onward.
She reached the valley, and paused.
The watcher on the hillside saw her waver
and fall. Then shestruggled up and proceeded
a few steps.
She was walking blindly. She held her
hands to her head, and staggered.
It was not until she had fallen down on tho
sand, and had remained there motionless for
half an hour that Jack Blount left his post,
and faced towards the ranch.
“It is justice!” he whispered as ho stumbled
on through the woods.
But was it justice? .
A REMARKABIE CASE.
Death of a London Clerk from a Penholder
in His Brain.
From tho London Times.
On Friday Mr. Wynne E. Baxter, the coro
ner for tho eastern division of Middlesex, held
an inquiry at the London hospital, White
chapel, respecting the death of Moses Raphael,
aged 32, a commercial traveler, lately residing
at 100 St. Paul’s road, Bromley-by-Bow, who
died on the previous day in the above hospital.
Moses Davis, of the Stanley house, Bow, iden
tified the body as that of his brother-in-law.
The deceased has been in witness’ employ for
a number of years.
About six weeks ago ho complained of pains
in his head, and also of shivers. Dr. Fordham
was called in to see him, and gave an opinion
that deceased was suffering from bronchitis.
Mh adored spirits to be applied to thejwad,
whjfcl: was done, but th, pci-, still cogunueu,
amCeventually it was decided to remove him
to the hospital. Until the last few weeks tho
deceased had been in apparently good health.
He was- .« wonderful t..'-. in worker, ami had
kept a set of books most accurately.
Henry Muir Doyle, house surgeon
attached to the London hospital, stated that
he received the deceased on his admission, He
appeared drowsy, and complained of a pain in
his head. He continued in that state until the
10th instant, but appeared quite clear-headed
and rational. On the 10th symptoms of appo
plexy appeared, and the deceased expired at
12 o’clock the same night. Witness said that
since the death ho had made a most searching
examination of tho head and brain. On open
ing the former he discovered an abscess in the
brain. It was about the size of a turkey’s egg
and had evidently been there sometime, bn
removing the abscess from tho base of tlio
brain a penholder and nib were found pro
truding from the top of the right orbital plate.
The pen was exceedingly sharp, and together
with the holder measured nearly 3 inches.
This had produced the abscess, and the abscess
had produced death. The holder and nib were
of the ordinary kind generally used in schools,
and they must have entered the brain byway
of the right eye or through tho right part of
the nose. There was no evidence to show how
long they had been in the brain, but it was
probable that they had been in there for a con
siderable time, as the bone had grown over
them, and it was with difficulty that they were
separated. He had examined the eye. but had
failed to detect any injury. It was, however,
quite possible for such a thing to enter bcneatli
the lid of the open eye, and the wound to heal
up, showing no sign of the entry. Tho widow
of the deceased man was called in, and said
that her husband never mentioned to her any
thing about being hurt by a pen. The coroner
said that the case was the most extraordinary
that had ever come before him. The jury found
that the deceased had died from an abscess on
the brain, caused by a foreign substance, but
how the substance got into the brain there was
no evidence to show.
A QUEER MARRIAGE.
The Strange Story of fine ■ of Napoleon's
Historians.
Among tho many curious stories of the late
Marco St. Hilaire, the faithful historian and
adherent of tho First Napoleon, who was so
cavalierly treated by the Third, I know of
none, says a Paris correspondent, so extraor
dinary as that of his marriage. He was a hus
band, but not even for a night.
He had asked and obtained tho hand of a
still young and pretty woman, tiie widow of a
general. Hardly had the ceremony ended than
Marco became gloomy and despondent. Tho
next morning, having passed tho night alone,
he sent his wife a letter, in which he said that
ho had married in a moment of “abstraction,”
that he was utterly unfitted for married life,
and that he begged her to excuse him, as be
did not feel that he could make her happy.
He therefore gave her l ack her liberty, and
considered himself equally free.
Ono can imagine the surprise of tho bride.
However, she took the matter philosophically
and returned to Rennes, where she was resid
ing when she met this peculiar bridegroom.
What seems still more remarkable is the fact
that, even after this, the couple remained good
friends and wrote each other the most amicable
of letters,
“What a queer adventure,” this equally
queer husband was wont naively to remark.
"I’ve never yet been able to find out why I got
married when all tho time I wanted to remain
single.”
One day he asked a young man who had just
come from Rennes how Ins wife was getting
on. "What does she say when she refers to
mo?”
"She always speaks of you in the kindest
way.”
"Worthy woman! Well, if I ever take tho
notion to marry again sbo will certainly be tho
one I shall select and no other.”
—— -
Senator Harrison 11. Riddleberger is tall,
straight and m,t bad looking; he h#»a long, thin
face, a high, full forehead, and his brown hair,
which l« thinning rnpldjy at the crown, Is eomW
well back, lie reltu.*, It la said, Invitations lo rtate
dinners st the white lio-jse, an 1 once declined to go
to a dinner party at Senator Palmer's because he
bad no dress coat and w as too poor to I uy one.
If tho door croaks and you can’t get oil, and
can get a soft lead pencil, rub the point into all the
crevi'-es of ttte hinges and the creaking will < mm.
Even If you can get oil, the black lead Is i eater.
ATLANTA. GA., TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21? 1888.
EVIDENCE.
A Legal Incident of tho Rio Grande.
BY H. S. CANFIELD.
For the Constitution.
The prisoner at tho bar was an old man with
wrinkled skin and tanned, leathery hands, lie
sat in his low-ehair and looked at tho jury
with haggard eyes. His sparse gray hair rose
straight from his crown in front, and fell
jagged and tangled on tho dusty coat-collar
behind. There was a nervous twitching in his
tobacco-stained lips ami shifty aspect in the
way he moved his long neck and turned hur
riedly to confer with liis counsel. Ho was the
focus of five hundred pairs of cjVS. He seem
ed to shrink and shrivel under their scrutiny.
His face said that ho was a hard man; a man
of deeds against the law and its officers; of lax
regard for tho rights of others ; of tho intense
selfishness so prominent a part in tho make-up
of the true criminal. Ho was a common man,
too, of the lower order of mind, lower order of
society, which, by the way, he called—when
he mentioned it at all—“sassiet;” and in utter
contempt.
Ono hand grasped with nervous hold the
scattering beard on his chin, and his under lip
was slightly swollen and scarred from the dis
colored teeth which ho had pressed against it
at various periods of the trial. Over by the
rusty, unused stove in the corner a group of
young lawyers sat, hair thrown back to expose
their foreheads, feet tucked comfortably on
vacant chairs, shirt collars and cravats awry
and crumpled, eyes tired and sleepy, laughing
and jesting in a whisper.
The judge, old and hard with many winters,
many weary miles of arid desert circuits, Blanv
nights with' tho boys, closed his eyes and, by
force of long practice, heard every word, While
his thouglils-vvero a thousand miles away. The
blue flies hummed against tho dim windows
and the jury, one and all, seemed intending
suicide. A pale, tired woman, with an old
sun-bonnet set crookedly on her aching head
and a snuff-stick in her mouth, held a suckling
baby and gazed steadily and drearily at the
prisoner.
There were other women too. presumably rel
atives, all weary, all interested-anil al! dipping
snuff. A hum arose from tho spectators, who
watched with flagging zeal the legal tragedy
before them. The blare of a brass band floated
into tho room with the cries of hawkers on tho
streets —for it was court week and the town
was full of people. Outside the sun rioted on
the white sand and unpaved walks and tho
weatherbeaten fronts of the houses. There
w r as strength and hope ami freedom in tho
swooping shafts of the heat and the soft breeze
that came from over tho leagues of prairie.
Knots of people stood in the dark stores, or on
tho corners, eagerly discussing tho progress of
the case, and the chances of the man who was
on trial for his life.
.For it was the state of Texas vs. Cabriel
Wilkinson, indictment for murder in tlfe first
degree.
“TeU yer,” said one man. as the shavings
flew from his virulent pocket knife, and he
looked around in enjoyment of his superior
knowledge, “tell yer, he’s a hard old *oPr"n,
an’ had ortor swing. Th'ey’fo the
tuffest crowd in the county, an’ that’s
sayin’ lots. You mis don’t recklect mebbe
what ol’ Gabo’s in the hole fnr, but I does. It
were seven year ago the killin’ were done, but
Lord, it didn’t make much stir in them days.
“He were a Jew peddler, an’ bo came ’long
h.yar with a big pack o’ notions. He sold
goods right in this town, lots o’ ’em, an’ one
mornin’ ho left for the Tordillas setllomint to
take the folks down thar. Ho were known to
hevstopped at ol’ Gabo’s house, an’ he flashed
a big roll. He were known to leave thar nex’
mornin’ with ol’ Gabe fur a pilot. Jesus! An’
bo weren’t seen no mo’. That is, he weren’t
seen no mo’ sellin’ goods. They foun’ him in
the woods torerd the evenin'. All his money
an’ most o’ his goods was gone. An’ he never
knowed what hit him.”
The speaker passed, expectorated freely and
deliberately, smiled affably on tho listening
crowd, and resumed.
“But it created no big stir them times. Lord,
no! Folks know’d in reason ol’ Gabo done it,
'cause he were terrible flush awhile, an’ his
young wife—she were a han’soine gal, w’en he
married her—she come to church in a
red silk dress as most o’ the town folks rec’niz
ed. Many a w oman had a-vvanted to buy that
piece, but the thievin’ Jew ho axed too much
fur it. An’ ho sold it mighty cheap at las'.
Haw! haw!
“Thar come new penpie inter the place with
idees ’bout Taw an’order,’an’‘state develop,
mont.’ an’ 'night school,’ an' sich, an’ tho
sheriff as were sheriff then lia weren't Tected
no mo’. A new man coino in an' OF Gabo
went on tho ‘quedow’—dodge, yer know.
He’s bin on it ever sencc He were run down
like a javclina in tho brush three month ago,
an’ he made what yer might call a good game
fight; but’t wer'n’t no sorter use. Nover is.
Some say as thar were or nuther man in tho
killin’. Kinder helpin’ Gabo, an’tho officers
is keepin’ him low. I dunno. Gabe never
needed no help I take it.”
The hum in the court house had ceased.
Night came in the windows and the dirty
lamps were lit. The crowd leaned over the
benches, and from the dark back ground their
faces glared steadily. It seemed to the lonely
man, sitting constrained and still, that they
wore all rising to tho ceiling to fall on and
crush him. The women were paler, and the
baby’s cries were hushed. Tho officers were
alert. When any one opened the door ifnd tip
toed noiselessly in, hat in hand, the sheriff's
head turned and ho watched the intruder with
steady eyes until ho melted into tho crowd.
The droning, unimportant witness stopped
down from the stand; the judge straightened
up and looked eagerly over his inclosure; tho
young lawyers at the stove, pretty well filled
with stimulants by this time, took down their
feet and stopped whispering; two deputies
stood up calmly; tho lean, wiry prosecuting at
torney arose, cast one swift, triumphant glance
at tho jury, another at the judge, one more at
the nervous little attorney for the defense, a
last, long, searching oiie at the prisoner,
turned to the men and said :
“Bring in Si Brady, alias John Thompson,
alias William Barker.”
The effect was like a knife wound on the
man at the bar. His dark skin grew a sickly
green, his small pale bluo eyes turned inward,
his lips drew slowly back, displaying tho huge
yellow teeth, and his powerful hands gripped
the chair arms till his knotted veins rose in
thfobbing rebellion and the wood creaked un
der tho strain. As ho sat huddled in the chair
he looked like some tremendous incarnation of
murder crouching for tho spring. His faded
wife half roe from Tier seat, screamed faintly
and dropped back. In strange perversity, she
wore even then a stained, discolored st arlet
silk gown.
An int< rise silence followed, broken only by
the rapid beating of the prisoner’s foot on the
floor and tho quick rustling of papers in his
attorney’s trembling fingers. A measured
tramp ascended the stairs, the door swung
open and tho two officers appeared, their
hands resting firmly on the shoulders of a fig
ure between them. All eyrs were b'-nt on
him and ho knew it. With shuffling tread
and hand to his face he was show id rather
than led into the witness chair. He was tho
nrriah of bis class, the detestation of criminals
tho frequent Instrument of the
law, the nnnio)<-«s vicarious aven
ger—state'# evidence. There was
scorn of him In every heart, loathing In every
look, from the judge on the bench to the small
boy in the rear industriously cracking pecans
Only the district attorney encouraged him
with a smile as tho disgusted clerk arose and
proffered him the Bible to kiss. Ho touched
it lightly with his dry lips and muttered an af
firmative to the rapid formula. From first to
last he carefully avoided looking at the pris
oner, who, witli rigid face unchanged, glared
venomously at him. No leading questions
were necessary. He told his story glibly, rap
idly, as if anxious to have done with it and es
cape from tho inimical atmosphere that sur
rounded him.
Yes, his right name was Si Brady. He had
| known the prisoner long. He saw him mur
• dor the peddler, “Jew Levy.” Ho shot him
I *>i the head while they were walking side by
side. The Jew did not speak after the shot.
Ho and M ilkinson divided tho booty, Wilkin
son taking the larger share. He bad given
some of it to Wilkinson's wife. Wilkinson
had also given some of it to the woman. The
red silk was given by Wilkinson. Ho be
lieved the woman then had on the dress. It
i looked like it. They told her they had bought
the goods. Wilkinson had planned the mur
der and had committed it unaided. Ho (Bra
dy) had simply followed his leader.
"bin lie!" yelled the prisoner, springing to
his feet, liis gaunt frame shaken with passion.
“You did it yourself.”
For the first time Brady looked at him. “I
tell the truth,” he said. “Your folks has
threatened my life to keep uio from telling.
I b’lieve they'll kijl me yit.”
With a smile of triumph, Wilkinson sank
into liis chair. “Y'aro right," he muttered.
It was some hours later when the jury, pale
but a unit, brought in their announcement of
guilty, as charged. The condemned stood the
verdict and sentence unmoved. He seemed to
breathe more freely now that tho strain was
over, and his eyes, no longer fervently intent
upon the proceedings, roamed restlessly among
tlio faces seeking his betrayer. Brady had
slunk away after a merciless cross-examina
tion, and now stood half sheltered bohiud tiio
sheriff. That functionary was very grave. It
was noticeable that his treatment of the state’s
witness w as gentle.
“It reminds me,” said one, of how he looked
the day ho hung Seth Jones, the nigger.”
Tho sheriff evidently regarded Brady as a
dead man, a man under sentence, whose life
lease was shorter by weeks I han his late com
panion’s If a poll of the five hundred heads
then assembled could have been taken, there
were probably none who would not have con
curred in the opinion that the person of many
aliases, in his desperate grasp at liberty, had
signed his own death warrant. And he knew
it. You might read it in every line of his
blanched face, in his shrinking figure, as ho
clung to tho law he had battled against all his
life, personified in thoquiet officer who could
give him no protection. When the deputies
passed with Wilkinson in custody, the con
demned glanced only once at his betrayer, but
in the look there was a world of malice and
exultation. He passed out; the heavy doors
shut behind him, and as the hist straggler left
tho room, Brady turned to the sheriff and
said huskily:
“My boss is 1 itched back o’ tho courth'us,
slier’ff. I must he ridin’. I wanter put fifty
miles betwixt me an' this place by sun-up.”
“Ride fast, my boy,” said the officer, “and
keep your eyes skinned.”
Together the two nlcn flcscemll’d the stops'
and walked to. the south side ot me plaza,
where a powerful black horse iuly champed
the bit and moved his bead up'and down in
rccogr;iticn of their coming.
“Lie’s a good mi,” said Brady, stopping even
then to stroke the tangled mane and purpose
lessly adjust the stirrups. “He’s ’bout all I’ve
got left.”
Bis face was very pale and his lips trembled
as he climbed, stiffly, into the saddle. Ho
turned, as lie gathered up tho reins, and held
out an awkward hand.
“I did it to save my life, John,” lie said.
“Won’t yer shako han’s?”
Tha sheriff stood a moment with folded
arms peering up into the dark face above him.
“I’ve shook hands with a murderer afore ho
went through the trap,” ):e rejoined slowly,
"an’ I’ve clasped a inanj' a hand ns were red
with crime, but the man as I hung wore a
brave man, though Ito were a nigger, an’ lie
never went back on liis frien’s. No, 1 won't
shako.”
With a muttered oath Brady stooped in tlio
saddle and shot out into the darkness. The
sheriff watched him musingly a moment, then,
slinking his head, walked slowly away.
It was a cloudy night, and there was no
moon to cast shadows. On the wide, wliito
road that led away from the town there was
only dusky stillness. Tho sand glimmered
faintly, and the ragged fringe of bushes stood
a dwarfed and silent spectator of the race
against death. A Blow wind went abroad that
murmured softly over the lonely stretches, as
if crooning a w hispered warning. Sitting low
in the saddle, every poun ! ■>! him disposed to
the best advantage ; crouched so as to afford
the bast possible mark for a bullet; with
slouched hat pulled over his eyes; with quick
glances roaming to and fro, ahead on either
side; starting ut tlio slightest rustle; glaring
apprehensively at the black stumps
of decayed trees; praying that
the dark might last and no
starlight como; stealing a band down now ami
then so feel the Winchester hugged closely
under liis knee, State’s Evidence sped along.
The perspiration rolled from his freckled fore
head ami fell on the wetter withers of the
horse. Tim saddle creaked under the rapid
motion, and it seemed to firn fugitive that the
roll of tho hoofs might be heard for miles. The
cactus sped past him in grotesque shapes, and
the thorny overhanging limbs clutched at him
witli murderous, detaining fingers.
“When 1 reach the Matte do Osa,” he whis
pered, “I’m safe.”
Tho thickets had grown denser and the road
Larder and dimmer. He ciTuld almost number
the miles behind him by the increasing wild
ness and dosolatcncss of tho land through
which ho was passing. His horse, as Im had
said, was a good one, but it was flesh ami blood
and was falling under the strain. There was
no longer the buoyant feel beneath tlio
saddle. The gallant neck drooped ; the earn
were rigid ami pointed forward. There was
labor in tho heavy breath and fast-coming ex
haustion in the weakened stride. Abend was
an elevation, just a gentle rise, and clotbed
witli tangled chapparal to tlio summit.
“I will walk him to tho top,” said Brady.
Ho checked tho sobbing brute, and plodded
slowly upward. He reached the ridge,
glanced hurriedly around, hung outlined for a
moment against the dark sky —and dropped
from the saddle dead.
Two spiteful snaps of fro preceded, two
sharp reports wore simultaneous with tliopass
ing. A horse in terror thundered down tho
road. So sudden was it that man and boast
seemed to have melted into air. There was a
rustle in the undorgrowtli. and tho wind that
blew softly was all tiiat moved. No form ap
proaclmd tho dead thing. Far on tlio breozo
camo tiie short, excited barking of tho night
fox. A mass of vapor overhead rifted for a
moment, and a star shone on the huid face
that was still forever.
- - ♦
The Russian trovornment has ordered from a
T/>ndou firm a number of war baloons, each one t >
provide'! with a car V> accommodate Mx men.
AH of the European nations are getting ready to
tgbt for peace.
...... ~»■.. .■
Sarah Dougherty was a lodger in tho Hobo
ken jx>!ice stnth n a few nights ago. Hbe li seventy
four years old, and she liui been trumping about tn#
country for forty yenn. Bb* ha# traveled from
Maine to Texas, and from Sew York to California, i
Bno Las lieeu in every Urge city. At every ina'ign. I
ration of a president, from IlarriioQ to Cleveland,
she has Uen present, Luring the Indian War ho
was In th# west, ntyl whertvar she goes she recces
an original poem picturing th# death of General
Custer
UNDER THEJOOF TREE.
“Hollo, Jim! Where have you been lately?”
shouted a broker tho other evening to a portly,
finely-dressed man in the corridor of the St.
James. The gentleman stopped, shook hands
with his friend, and replied: “I've i con homo
to seo my old lather and mother, the first time
in sixteen years, and I tell you. old man, I
wouldn’t have missed that visit for all my for
tune.”
“Kinder good to visit your boyhood homo,
oh ?”
“You bet. Sit down. I was just thinking
about tlio old folks, and feel talkative. I f you
have a few moments to spare, sit down, light a
cigar, and listen to a story ot a rich man who
had almost forgotten his father and mother.”
They sat down and tho man told his story.
"How I camo to visit my homo happened in
a curious way. Six weeks ago 1 went down to
Fire island fishing. 1 had a lunch put up at
Crook & Nash’s, and you can imagine my
astonishment when I opened the hamper to
find a package of crackers wrapped up in a
piece of newspaper. That newspaper was the
little patent inside country weekly published
at my homo in Wisconsin. I read every word
in it. advertisements and all. There was
George Kellogg, who was a schoolmale of
mine, advertising hums and salt pork, ami an
other boy was postmaster. By George! it
made me home-sick, and I determined tlien
mid there to go home, and go home I did.
“In the first place I must tell yon bow I
came to New York. I had a tiff with my
father and left homo. I finally turned up in
Now York witli a dollar in my pocket. I got
a job running a freight elevator in tlio very
house in which I inn now a partner. My
baste to got rich drove tho thoughts of my
parents from me, mid when I did think of
them tlio hard words that my father last spoke
to me rankled in my bosom. Well, 1 went
homo. I didn’t see much change in Chicago,
but the magnificent now depot in Milwaukee
I thought was an improvement on tho old
shed that they used to have. It was only
thirty miles from Milwaukee to my home, mid
I tell you, John, that train seemed to creep.
I was actually worse than a school boy
going homo for vacation. At last
wo imared the town. Familiar
sights met my eyes, and, darn it all,
they filled with toms. There was Bill Ly
man's red barn, just the same; but groat
Scott! what wore all of tho other houses? Wo
rode nearly a mile before coming to the depot,
through houses where only occasionally 1 saw
one that was familiar. The town had grown
to ten times its size when I knew it. Tho
train stopped and I jumped off. Not a face in
sight that I knew, and 1 started down tlio
platform to go home. In tho office door stood
the station agent. I walked up and said:
•Howdy, Mr. Collins?’
“He stared at mo and replied,‘You’ve got
the best of me, sir.’
“I told him who I was and what I hud been
doing in Nov? York, and lie didn’t make miy
lames in talking to me. Said he: “ft’s about
time yiifi came heme. You in New York rich,
and yonr father scratching gravel to got a bare
living.’
“I toll yon, John, it knocked ino all In a
heap, f- thought my father bad enough to
live upon comfortably. Then a notion struck
mo. Before going home I telegraphed to
Chicago to one of our corrcspomb n:.s there to
send mo .«1,000 by first mail. Then I went
into Mr. Collins’ back office, got my trunk in
there, and put on an old hand-me-down suit
that I use for fishing and limiting. My plug
hat I replaced by a soft hat, took my valise in
my hand, and went home. Fomeliow tlio
place didn’t look right. Tho currant bushes
had been dug up from tlio front yard, and the
fence was gone. Ail the old locust trees iuid
been cut down and young maple trees were
plan ted. Tho bouse looked .smaller somehow,
too. But 1 went up to the front door and rang
the bell. Mother came to the. door and said:
‘Wo don't wi.di to buy anything today, sir.'
“It didn’t take me a minute to survey her
from head to foot. Neatly dressed, John, bnt
a patch and a darn here and there, her hair
streaked with gray, her face thin, drawn and
wrinkled. Yet over her eyeglasses shone ‘lioso
good, honest, benevolent eyes. J stood staring
at her and then she began to stare at me. 1
saw the blood rush to her face, mid with a
great sob she threw herself upon me. and nerv
ously clasped me about the neck, liystorically
crying: ‘lt’s Jimmy, it's Jimmy!”
•’Then I cried, too, John. 1 just broke down
and cried like a baby. Him got mo into tho
house, hugging and kissing mo, and then she
went to tlio back door and shouted, ‘George!’
“Father camo in in a moment, ami from the
kitchen asked, ‘What do you want, Car’line?’
“Then ho ennui in. Hu know mo in a mo
ment. Hestiick out his hand and grasped
mine, and said sternly, ‘Well, young man, do
you propose to behave yourself iiow?’
"He tried to nut on a bravo front, but ho
broke down. 'There wo three sat like whipped
school children, all whimpering. At. ki n sup
per time camo and mother went, out to prepare
it. I went into the kitchen witli in r.
“ ‘Where do you live, Jimmy?’ she asked.
"‘ln Now York,’l replied.
“ ‘What are you workin’ at now, Jimmy?’
“ ‘l’m workin' in a dry goods store.’
“ ‘Then I suppose yon don’t live very high,
for I hear tell o’ them city clerks wlint don't
get enough money to keep body and soul to
gether. So I’ll just tell you, Jimmy, we’ve
got nothin’ but roast .spareribs for supper. Wo
ain't got any money now, Jimmy. We’re
poorer nor Job’s turkey.’
“1 told her I would bo delighted with tho
rparcribs, and to tell the truth,Joim, I haven’t
eaten a meal in Now York that tasted ai well
as those crisp rousted spiireribs did. I spout
tho evening playing checkers with father,
white mother sat by felling me all about
their misfortunes from old white Jlooley
getting drowned in the poml to father’s sign- I
ing a note for a friend and having to mortgage
the place to pay it. The mortgage was due
inside of a week and not a cent to meet it
with -just j-’bifl. Bho supjn.'.cd they would be
turned out of house ami home, but in my mind
I supposed they wouldn’t. At last nine
o'clock camo and father said: ‘Jim, go out to
the barn and seo if Kit is all right. Bring
in an armful of old shingles that are just in
side Hie door ami fill up the water pail. Then
wo'll go off to bed and get up early and go
a-fishing.’
“I didn’t say a word, but I went out to tho
barn, bedded down the horse, broke up an
armful of shingles, pumped u pail of water,
filled tho woodbox, and then we all went to
bed.
"Father called mo nt 4 :ffO in tho morning,
and while ho was getting a cup of coffee I
skipped over to the depot cross lot# and got
my best brass rod. Father Viok nothing but a
trolling line and spoon book. Ho rowe l the
boat with bls trolling lino in his mouth, while
I stood in the stern with n silver shiner rigged
on. Now, John, I never saw a man catch ilih
like Im did. To make a long story short, he
caught four bus.; and live pickerel and 1 ncier
got a bite.
"At noon wo went n store anil father wont
homo, while I went to the vustotiii o. I got a
letter from Chicago witli a check for ?<1,1X4) in
it. Wiih tonio trouble I got itca-hod, getting
paid in 85 and 810 lolls, making quite a roil.
I then got a roast joint of boot and a lot
of delicacies nml had them sent in me. Afier
that 1 went visiting among niy old schoolmates
for two hours end went In mu. The Jo ni, was
in the oven. Mother had put on her onAr silk
drei.qand father hk<l (Jonned ilia Sumin,'t-ge-to
meeting clothes, noub too good, either. This
is Where X played a joke on tlio old folk#.
Mother was In the kite hen watching the roast,
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
Father was out to the barn, and I had a clear
coast. I dumped the sugar out of tho old bine
bowl, put tho thousand dollars in it, nnd placed
the covoron again. At last supper was ready.
Father asked a blessing over it, and he actu
ally trembled when ho stuck liis knife in tiie
roast.
“ AVo haven’t bad a piece of ment like thia
in five years, Jim,’ lie mid ; and mother put in
witli, ‘And wc haven’t had any coffee in a
year, only when wo went a visitin’.’
“Then she poured out tiie coffee nnd lifted
tho cover of the sugar bowl, asking as she didso,
‘How many spoons. Jimmy ?’
“Then she struck something that wasn't
sugar. She picked ui> the bowl and peered into
it. ‘Alia, Master Jinnny, playin’ your old
tricks on your mammy, eh? Well, boys will
bo boys.'
“Then she gasped for breath. She saw it
was money. She looked at mo, then at father,
and then with trembling fingers drew tiie
great roll of bills out.
“Ha! ha! ha! 1 can seo father now as ho
stood there then on tiptoe, w ith his knife in
ono hand, fork in the other, and his eves fairly
bulging out of bis head. But it was too much
for mother. She raised her eyes to lieaven
and said slowly, ‘Put your trust in tlio Lord,
for bo will provide.’
“Then she fainted away. Well, Joim,
there’s not much more to tell. Wo threw
water in her face ami brought her to, ami
then wc demolished Hint dinner, mother all
tho time saying, ‘My boy Jimmy! My boy
Jimmy!’
"I stayed home a month. I fixed up the
place, paid off all debts, hud a good time, and
came isu-k again to New York. I nm going
to send 850 home every week. I tell you,
Joim, it’s mighty nice to haw a home.”
John was looking steadily at tiie head of liis
cane. When he spoke ho'took Jim by the
hand and said: “Jim, old friend, what you
have told me has affected mo greatly. I
haven't heard from my heme way upin Maine
for ten years. I’m going homo tomorrow.
Notable Sayings About Women.
I wish Adam had died with all liis ribs in
liiin. —Boucieault.
To a gentleman every woman is a lady in
right of her sox.—Bulwer.
A handsome woman is a jewel; a good wo
man a treasure. -Saudi.
Wlint is woman? Oily one of nature’s
agreeable blunders.—Cowley.
A fashionable woman is always in love with
herself.—Rocliofoucald.
Women detest a serpent through profession
al jealousy.—Victor Huge.
A passionate woman’s lovo is always over
sliadowod by her soar.—George Eliot.
Handsome women without religion uro the
flowers without perfume.—Heine.
There was nover vet a fair woman but she
made mouths in a glass.—Sliaksi-eare.
Between a woman's “yes” and "no” I would
not venture to stick a pin.—Cervantes.
Oli, woman! thou wort fashioned to be
guile, so have rill sages sdid, all poets snug,—
Jean Ingolow.
Ideas are like beards—men never have any
until they grow up, and women none at
all.—Voltaire.
Trust not a woman when she weeps, for
it is her nature >o w.-ji -rben »hu want* her
way.—Socrates.
A JOKE ON GENERAL GRANGER.
From this Courier-Journal.
General Joo Shelby Is in Lexington, on a
visit. Ifo was inwwwiliw tlnlilMMii fcwMiig at a,
portrait of Mirs Salite Strother, mice a famous blue
grass beilo e.ud ufterwarff tlio Baroness Fulmen
borg, and told tho Lexington Transcript a story
concerning her. Ho sakl that he was much tn lovo
with Miss BnUio,BT«l became very Jealous of tha
attention of tho theri Lfru'onnnt Gordon Granger,
who came on a Airfoil ;h from the army to visit
Lexington, and spent almost every day with Mis#
Strother. General Shelby says ho (Shelby) hap
pened to find a large Unltod States flag In this city,
and ha to- k It to his room and wrote on it hi inrxo
letb r-: "Hoa<l<piaitersol the luiited : titcsaimy.”
H" got a long rope and tied iho flag in the umldla
(.fit, uni going nlbe bight up to tlm limit resi
dence, where Miss Strother stayed, he climbed high
up in a locust tree hi friiiituf the Hui.t bouse and
tied one cud of the iopo, on It., JLe U><n took tho
other end of tnc r. pi, and climbing a tree on tho
oilier side, stretched tlio Hug across the street high
In the air in front of Miss S.rother's home. Next
morning tho Joko gave sneli publicity totho futur#
General Granger’s love-imikiiig that he went away
thoroughly cmbarriisscd by lhe merriment that th*
then young men made at liis dipousc.
Thirty years after General Granger went Into tho
federal army nnd G •ne ai Shelby into tho confed
erate. After tho war hid gone ogainst the confed
ernte anus, General Shelby relrontcd with his com
mand to Mexico lo join Maxlnitilh.n. Soon after
lie got on to Mexican soil, and was living In Camp
Lardy over the Mexican lino, fhoro came ouo day
mid camped on tho Ameri an side of the line a body
of federal soldiers that were evidently afraid to vio
late tho neutrality of Mexico by following Shelby on
to Mexican s< l . They lay In sight of each other
for three days without any communication. Final
ly, under a Hug of truce, h :lby s nt a messenger to
Grungi r's camp to make some Inquiries, and among
other things to Hud who was in command, and
signe 1 bls name to tho communication. General
Granger i-atttio note with surprfro, and seat tlio
messenger back with a kindly note, which ended:
"I um ' Jordon Granger, tho man you drove out of
Lexington, Ky., with a L’nlted Slates flag, and now
I have driven you out of the United Hutes with th#
same old ling."
- ■—•—
Hlie Didn’t LVasti tlio Damn Out.
From tiie Louisville Post.
Little Bobby wits playing at a Fourth street
residence where ills mother win visiting, nnd sud
denly enmo Into the pmforamld the company, say
ing: ‘‘Ma. I suy d—u Johnny; he’s no good; hu won’t
play with me.”
“Why, Bobby!” exclaimed Ids horror stricken
muinn; "cento rli ht here to me. I must wash that
unuglity word right out of your mouth.”
So site look the ai.to.iUhe l youth Into tiie bath
room, nnd in order <o enforce on his memory th#
Injunction that Lo musu't use cusa words any
more she washed his lips, tongue and teeth with
soap Illi tiie kid was nearly nuuser.iol. Finally,
when bi# mouth was all washed out clean, tho lacy
Inquired:
"Now, Bobby, how do you fool?”
“Woli, mama,” said Hobby; ‘‘damn’s there yet.”
At'luson, Kas., lias more church member*
who iwar than nay oilier cl y of its size in toe
com.try. ft is only sineo lhe U-I plio o caiue Into
goiwral use that the fact has iievii n ticed.
A fanner in Jackton county, Michigan, baa
a ■ prln v.io oi water on Ills farm which lii wiu
trr ke< ]«, tho tnow inelti: i for yards around. The
earing serves us a winter mnde. yous o Ir< gi
Fn Route Toward Gettysburg;.
From Colonel Aylett, who wore the gray
we got tli" facts wc here array:
Lee s invaders were on their way.
I'uwlng a Penntylvanl# town.
Greencastle, a mode.t village brown.
Women look out with fear und Iruwn.
Ono the Old Flag as un apron wore;
Waved It with pride os tfie stood by her door.
While the toldlers lu gray murched past luoucra
baring these men—brothers, alas!—
To touch tho Hag, this handsome luu
Tries to auuoy them as they puss.
H<t pluck nnd loyalty have charms;
Picket salutcslier. no one barms,
Antone murcl.lng regiment curries aruy,.
Many salute her with a sigh.
Thli|klng of home v. lib moistened ep>,
Ason toward Gettysburg they hie. '
Hural! Smith was tho name that kb e bor#
When Gettysburg ihook with the battle’s ro»r.
Luma s tali' page pul to th#