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suffering from a cold. But he could not tell what it
was. Neither could the proprietor, who was an
noyed that the linen should have been found in
such condition when it had been in use only two
days!
The argument between the two as to the kind of
matter found on the towel and the probable cause
of its being there would probably have extended
into hours had not the supper bell announced that
the evening meal was ready.
They both repaired to it. the proprietor suggest
ing as they went along the difficulty of keeping ev
erything nice, and in good order when there were so
many each day to soil and mutilate things.
The office through which they passed on the way
to the dining room was furnished with a few cow
hide chairs, a large open “fire place," a desk with
a day-book on it called the register, over which hung
a plain white board that bore this inscription:
“Pleas’ register before vou eat.”
The dining room door connected with the kitch
en by a plow line, rattled a noisy cow-bell in the
cook room every time it was opened. This was in
variably answered by a colored boy who inquired,
“How vo’ want vv eggs?”
The sunner consistin'* of pork chons, dishes of
sloppy grits, hot. very hot. biscuits, e" , <» , s and 1 lack
coffee sweetened with brown sugar bein'* over, the
guests all returned to the front norch and resumed
once more the idle, profitless discussion which the
announcement of supper had temporarilly inter
rupted.
“I see the gold bugs are going to put out Palm
er and Buckner against Bryan." remarked one of the
young men whose reputation for having tied more j
nooses around the necks of victims of Judge Lynch’s
court than anybody else gave him a strong pull
with the merchants. “It doesn't matter a d — if
they do,” he continued. “This country has got to
have more money and the cheapest way to get it is
the best way. What’s the use of a man digging in
the earth all day. toiling hard all the rest of his
life for metal out of which to coin dollars and cents,
when the government can with the stamp of a ma
chine and the signature of one of the officials make
of paper all the money in a week that the people will
need in a year? It aint nothing but a scheme on the
part of the opposition to Bryan to make the poor
poorer: the rich richer.”
This sentiment was enthusiastically endorsed bv
all present except Ed. Bristow, a student at the local
military school, who in suggesting that there must
be a standard of value for money, just as there is
a standard for the value of every other commodity,
precipitated the bitter denunciation of himself that
followed his arguement. It was hard for Uric Sib
ley and his companions to explain why if paper was
money the government did not make all it needed
and quit collecting taxes of the poor who need ev
ery dollar they can possibly earn to obtain the nec
essities of life, but they did it. to their satisfaction
at least: and went to bed satisfied that the night’s
argument had given Bryan and bimetalism a great
boost.
They had scarcely reached their rooms ami re
tired for the night before the firing of guns, the
barking of dogs and shouting of angry men outside
aroused them from their beds and forced them out
into the streets to ascertain the cause of the trou
ble.
THE REASON
It was a mob in hot pursuit of Ruffin Shi rd. a
negro of the community charged with burning the
evening before the barn of Hannah Allen, a farmer
living near Lynchum. There was no positive evi
dence that Shird committed the crime; his guilt was
only suspicioned from his having been seen in the
vicinity on the night of the fire and was supposed
to have a grievance against Allen for murdering his
little son a vear before for accidentally killing one
of his chickens.
“There lie goes." shouted a member of the mob;
“shoot him. kill him." added many voices and with
this, a hundred or more shots deafened the mid
night air. The body of the man fell to the ground
piereed in many places. But an examination by a
physician who was a leader of the men revealed the
fact that no vital spot had been hit and that there
was a chance by stopping the blood of saving the
man's life long enough to decide upon the man
ner of putting him to death.
The result of the council held was that he should
be burned alive although he maintained his innocence
and begged for his life long enough to prove an
alibi. Accordingly a chain was procured and the
prisoner securely tied in the center of a huge pile of
pine knots. These saturated in kerosene oil burned
rapidly and soon consumed the body. The agonizing
groans of the man, the pitiful appeals to Hod for for
giveness of his sins if not deliverance from his fate,
amid the twisting and writhing of the rooking flesh
was sickening and shocking, simply horrifying and
many there were who went away from the scene of
their awful crime feeling that it had been better had
they never been born. One suicided a few months
after by taking laudanum, and hr said that his rash
act was due to his participation in the murder. Oth
er members of the mob were later arrested for the
murder and one hung ami two sent to the peniten
tiary for lift*. Hannah Allen is still Jiving but it
is said his life is a Hell on earth and that hr is ev
ery day entreating death to come and ease his suf
fering by ending his miserable existence on this
earth.
In summing up the farts in this particular trans
action an eye-witness to the deed said to me:
“1 shall never forget Hie protest Ed. Bristow
made to the mob that shot and burned Ruffin Shird
to death. It was tin* manliest, the most sensible and
ablest argument against mob violence that was ever
listened to and I have often thought it was the deep
conviction this speech had on the men that resulted
in the complete demoralization of their evil pas
sions that was so plainly evident the moment after
they applied the torch.
Who knows but that appeals to the soul and
mind of man has not more force in correcting his
ways than consficat ion, degradation, torture and
death ?
“Bristow's eyes were filled with tears when he
rose to speak and his voice was husky, but realiz
ing that boldness and firmness in the presence of
men worked up to the highest point of frenzy was
more to be depended upon than emotion, he ap
peared to possess himself completely and addressed
his thoughts to the very heart and soul of all pres
ent. At first they refused to listen to him, but his
remarks were inspired and al] the anger in the world
apparently could not stand against them.
“ ‘Socrates,’ he said, ‘as a philosopher, one of
the wisest men that ever lived, would ask you if he
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