HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1887-8-11, Page 7•
Ant.
• Having in my time wandered over no
email part of the globe, and bog now laid,
up in ordinary, it ie pay chief delight to teas
ovez• the aero and yellow leaves of • my mem-
ory by the help of treveled visitor, Such
wayfarers are the eoat honfeeed and wele
Conte guests a my old oak-petaded snioking
room, on Whose walls hang maty an ent-
lered trophy of the chase'; and many a
weapon, from •my o•wn well upeel 4ngtisb
guns to the "cerat Malayan kreeee" from
Perak and Salaugore serves, if not to point
a moral,• at all events to invite or enggeet
,many a tale,
, My old friend Captain P. was here at
the end of last year for a week's vii t and
the reversion, in the matter of pheasants'of
my enoreenodern f'iends' leavings. Thote
young gentlemen are not satisfied with any-
thing less than twenty brace e day to each
gun, but weold stages are not such epi-
eures—we who know what it is to shoot for
'our suppers, and to go hungry then. P.'s
best stories, I think, • hail from the West;
though there are few of the parochial chyle -
ions °fins planet that woelcl not furnish him
with a text. But he handles the West as if
he loved it, as Izaak Walton bade us handle
the frog. He ts at home anywhere there ;
on the peairiee, the Rocky Mountain se the
Pecific coast from Alaska to Panama. He
had been, many years ago, a Government
officer, ma,gietrate, escort captain, or the
like, in British Columbia.
On the evening which I will take as an
epoch to start with, ourparty coosisted of
a certain Chancery barrister, who shot well,
drank fair, and had the sometinies Pre -
yoking gift of summoning up the merits Of
one of our tales of outland with a indicia
neatness often not to be anticipated from
their wild ingredients; the parson of the
parish, who might sometimes, I fancy, have
prefered whist, short or even long, to our
everlasting traveleretales,; P. and myself.'
We.had been conversing on the subject
of flies.*, Our reinarks had been severe on
those works of nature, and devoid of any
shade of Brahminical charity. Their splen
did impudence had been dealt with, and the
barrister had cited even Mr. Ruskin against
them The Rector had reminded us of the
etymology of the title "Beelzebub." I, for
• my part, though certainly against the grain,
had assumed the brief of devil's advocate,
and pleaded that some doctors (names un-
known) had hold that mosquito bites (in
quantity unknown)Will act (in circumstances
not precisely stated) as a prophylactic
against fever.
"Although," said P., after meditatively
filling up his long tumbler and cramming a
fresh charge of kanaster in his vast mem.-
solleum, "although flies once did help me to
a little fortune, (it wasover $7,000)yet they
must not call me as a witness to character.
I'm'elead against them. 'La inort sans phrase'
is my verdict."
' We waited, for indeed he was the last
speaker on the subject, and we were quar-
tering the ground to flush a story or some
subject to shoot a story at.
"The best fellow the very best out and
away, of my acquaitna,nce in the French
Army—and in the Crimean days and be.'
• \ fore at I knew many—was Hector Cardec,
adron leader of MacMahon's out there
in the mud in Algeria—as sgood a soldier
and comrade as ever slapped tisword home
in scabbard. He was mighty quick at pullt
iiVit rout, too, by the same token."
e thought a' story woe's to the fore now,
but none of us could think how the flies were
to come in.
"Well," resumed he, after some solemn
puffs of his calumet, "well, he died—of the
bite of a bluebottle fly on the sands of Bou-
logne. A queer fate for such a fire eater!!
Poor Hector I his bold soul must have made
t e air shake over those meadows of aspho-
d 1 yonder whenhe realized it and comment -
e th re on in his free fashion !" And P.
in/he character of Hector's vates sacer, here
blew out so vast and indignant a volume of
smokethat it 'Item(' to, be -that hero's shade
in person and in the very act of the utter-
ances suggested.
All this was very moving, but 'we clearly
had not yet lashed the story; and the
barrister found voice for us by saying dryly,
"Let us have the case for the flies, such as
it is—the seven thousand dollars."
"Well," said P., "in the,year 1860 or
thereabout I was taking the pay of our Sov-
ereign Lady, and giving no small share of
very hard work for it, in her Majesty's
colony of British Columbia. I was a" Jus-
tice of the Peace, and had somewhat ladle.
Una% and •multifarious duties connected
with the maintenanceof order generally,
and of the gold escort in particular. In
the Pall of that year I was in the northern,
and in those days extreme, limits of the
colony—at the Forks of Quesnelle, to
speak by the card—as an early •Winter be-
gan to whispei hoarsely' and frostily to the
various Mining camps that it was time to
be pulling up flume boxes, and for prudent
folk to be turning their faces South. Men
who had done well began to think of the
amenities of the saloons and billiard halls
of Victoria.; if very well, they' dreamed' of
even 'Frisco as a place of hybernation 1 while
men who had been avoided by the quick
wings of fortune were fain to balance the
prospect of taking the down road only to
remeasure its weary miles after a long win-
ter, against thatof hybernatingin the
society ot icicles and treemartins.
" It cost more money then to insure the
sale transport of 4 dust' from the mines to
the lower country. The smart red jackets
of the gold escort had to be paid for as
smartly; nor, if the truth must be told, was
the security so provided altogether equal to
that of a Chubb's safe in a bank cellar. The
escort boys were only men of mold. They
could fill a pit like other men, and though
there never was a serious attack in my time
we had plenty of alarms to season our ex-
\-trclursions with, and one abortive ambuscade.
deny owners of 'dust' wouldn't trust it to
/the escort, mod some didn't like the toll,
and so it came to pass that many a little
Jew trader, of furtive proclivities and fru-
gal mind, would sneak down the forest
trails carrying his wealth himeelf, and make
his way (aye, marry, and sometimes fail to
make it 1) in a hunted sort of fashion to the
lower country. And many a stout Califor-
nia with buckskin belt well filled, or heavy
saddle bags, preferred his own insurance to
that of the Petticoat Government' it wee
often his ungallant humor to rail itgainst.,
Between these two sorts of wayfarer, the
one fleeing like a partridge on the moun-
tains and the others in jovial Chaucerian
sort of cavalcade, banded together for safety
and good compahy, swaggering and rufflina
• many grades of travelers, These folio ws,
through the primevel woocle, there were
however, stick to one's memory—gay with;
the glow of anticipated pleasures, pleasures '
to be alPthe ssveeter by long and forced ab-
stinence from them, comfortable and secure
with a fortuna,te season behind thein, with
the bravery of bright revolver butts and
ecarlet shirts, in harcl training for euccets. '
fully bricking at the tiger' of nature itt
her most primitive form, like men who had
been warring with merninoth and inestodon
and had conte off winners—these boys made '
Wright: fietiiites 'briongh, If there w as ri
soldierly clash of etireup and ,seabbardetn
lin1O'4.144Seerated rontAnct nO,feathe
and flourish of war; •yet ' the tin Aril-11ring
cup clinked gallantly against fryingvaco
kettle ea they rode, and thew paladin
pelf,were,te, 4o them bare testiee, a foll o
fight ea ',Any soldierseytho ever wore Wei
country's color. ,
ktgt. of the W4Y h4PPened ::011eving
duty just then to beperformed in a quiet,
non-offieittf way) to', join 'pitch a ,party as I
have 'described ,geing from the Forks o
•QnesneileAlewn to Williems'e ,Ietlee„t.hse
two points are tsonee Inindred. and ,fifty
miles apart, and thirty miles a day in the
woods ,evas Very good travelling. Slow it
was but not monotonous. If there were a
monotone it was of the dark and sombre
twilight pi the constant, ceiling of pines
through which the sun and upper air reach-
ed us arrow -wise. Below there was a vari
ety of travel ; here a wet bottom of mud,
deep enough and thick enough to pull an
animal's ehoe off; there a big fallen tree
acrose the trail to be negotiated with cattle
whieh could fly as soon as jump; and twee
would be relieved by a redwood traee' of
cedars, with a slippery carpet of needles so
clean, so sweet, and in all weathers so dry
that it usecl to :mein a shame not to off sad-
dle a,nd canip then and there instead of
leaving it. At times the road would climb
over hog's baek, or divide, and the travel-
ers voc.uld toil and struggte up hill, to emerge
in time upon some bare scalp of mountain—
granite, syenite, or metamorphic rock—
Where tho herberry or kinniakinnick enam-
eled the white gnartz with its scarlet berry
and gloesy eaf or where the sole yeeetetion
the snoiv Watei: had te trickle-through:Vas
composed of peetrand patches of Mop hag.
There was rie game, nothing to shoot at
here ; unless, which Saint Hubert forbid
foul murder were done -upon the chipmunks,
a friendly, gracious little race of striped
squirrels, who frisk and. flirt and play at
hide-and-seek evith the human traveler along
the wayside trees, or upon the whisky
jacks, portentciusly tame birds' in Pries:Bien
colors of white and black, in size between a
magpie and a wag -tail, who enjoy all the
immunities of our robin, and will parole on
a man's knee while ,he is eating his 'dinner.
No; there is nothing for the sportsman on
these trails. What game there is listens .to
the free-born accents of the white man and
shrinks deeper within the forest Shades, and
no traveler has leisure -to seek it there,
Well, we got down in thne to Wil-
lia,msts Lake, a broad valley, with two
ranches or fax leis about at mile apart, where
onions at fifty cents apiece and milk (those
two anti -scorbutic longings of the man of
pork and beans) were to be obtained—a
foretaste of the luxuries of the lower coun-
try. The houses were, both well filled with
guests, for other mining districts"' were
swelling the downward stream of travel. I
will spare you a description of the manners
and humors of these 'caravansaries, and go
on to say that, having secured a tolerably
promising corner for my blankets, I had
rolled myself up in them, with my saddle
for a pillow, and was well in the first dream-
less sleep of the tired man, when --it was
only about ten e'clock—a galloping horse
suddenly pulled up outside, and Bud cries
--€ Oh, Williams 1 you've got the Judge
therpt We Want the Judge waked me
up. In that country it doesn't take much
to open the weariest man's eyes, nor, on the
other hand, is undue excitement fashionable
among AngloAaxons so, while the slight
dttorep.ancy between night and day' dress
was being rapidly adjueted, the whole story
was told in a few curt sentences to this ef-
fect.
"At the other house a little difficulty
had occurred—a shooting scrape. The vic-
tim'was not dead yet, but as the manner of
it—a felon shot from behind—had alienated
the sympathies of the boys, it had resulted
in the offender being 'corralled' and' de-
tained, and the Ju.dge, who was reeported to
be at the other ranch, being sent for.
‘• The interior of the other house, which
was soon • reached, to eges fresh from the
cool dark night presented a picture that I
well remember. The large log building
was not divided into rooms and passages,
and the cavernous glooras and abysses of its
nocturnal condition made it seem vaster
than it was. The chief light came from the
fire of pine logs stacked endwise up the
chimney, and it flashed red upon a strange
and numerous company.• '
" There was, as a matter ot course, in
these worimnless lands an efficient and beau-
tiful manliness in the atmosphere. Death
• What is death to dwindle, peak, and pine
about Still as little a thin to be frivo
lous, or cynical, or to bluster about. A fact
of what we call life, like any other fact,
but with ' the gravity of finality about it;
one of the more emphatic facts, and to be
reckoned.with as such, but no more. Such
was the feeling that animated these men.
'FeW ofthem 'probably had read "Hamlet,"
but hiS. thought was their thought—"If it
be now, 'tis not to come • if it be not to
come, be now, yet it will come; the
readiness is tell.", And if the hard life at
close gra With' nature brigs abott the
same resil*Seas divine`• philosophy, who
evesuld. not, rather hear tlie lark singthan
. -
thesqueak?
"Before, the fire, not unskilfully propped
up, was thvictim—a poor, weak, viscious.
looking creature. He had been shot through
the lungs, and was bleeding fast to death
internally. The murderer sat a little way
flownigtlitahtshl3a.ackotpopatIstietewatic1), him
mncesadt inby
silent euards, one with his cocked pistol in
hisnand, the other With a sir/tiler, weapon
on the table before him. Like the others
his was no true miner's lace. He looked a
villain of the ' town like the understrapper
of a gambling hell ; not a villain of the open
air at all. The crowd who had been with-
held from their sleep by this red business,
welcomed my entrance with a grave silence.
'" Good evening, gentlemen; where is the
owner of this house?'
"He stepped forward and quietly said
that the two men had arrived together from
the northern road. on the evening before
and had rested at his house the whole day;
that about . nine that evening he observed
them come in from v outside together ; that
they liad,a drink of whiskey at his bar, aud
he now remembered that they seemed sulk-
ily disposed to each other. They must have
gone out again, for half an hour later he
heard a Ingo' idiot dose outside, and, the
doer °peeing, the wounded man steggered
in and fell on the floor, bleeding freely at the
mouth. It was found on examination that
the shot had entered the back and come out
at the breast. The poor wretch was 1111.
able to say inore than, Let—the—told—
matt—take—care l'
“ To my request for further evidence, a
respeetn,ble-looking man, Joe Davie, of Ant-
ler, deposed that he was coming in from do-
ing up his mule in the barn when he saw in
the desk two figures near the house door ;
he heard words of appatent dispute, then the
report and flash of a pistol shot ; then
men ran almost into his erme, whom he
Seized and disarmed of a dragooh revolver,
(produced.) The man at there, (pointing to
the prisoner.)
I then approached the victim for whom
there wee obviously no aid in surgery, and,
6 having improvk `, pOS W c
O lay a ilttle00,93001Y4.11410rota tlitel ?Alt
✓ afaint anewer, by eiga and loelt, to the effeet
that the prieenet nevi the MaltNito had shoit,
r '
"1 then asked the prieoner What is your
rt nal'Ile4'aines Connor.'
Where of ?'
'Shirt-tail Camon,.Cariboo,'
Did you shoot tine man ?'
"That's for you to find out, if it's yOUT
f business.'
Do you Ithow his time ?'
'Silenee. 'James Connor, you are my
prisoner tu the Queensnaine, on the charge
of attempting to murdee man here present,
name nnknown, Yen will be good enough
to hand oyer any con paled weapons or
papers you have about you, or I ehall take
them from you hy force.
' The men opposite him deliberately cov-
ered him at two feet distance with their re-
volvers as he slowly produeed a common
leutcher's knife from under his coat and a
Derringer from his trouser's pocket, and fur-
ther, with some reluctance, a rude little
pocketbook or leather case, (which, by the
way, contained nothing of any importance
as evidence,) ancla very artistic bowie knife,
with a scientifically proportioned blade and
a haft of green shell work, such as SeeiFran-
deco cetlers are proud to make, My volun-
teer constables then civilly informed hie that
they, though oot British subjeets, had been
moved by the specialnature of this 'difficulty'
to act as they had done • but that beyond
clinching ' the prisoner 'for me with their
experienced hand e they could do and would
do no more.
Accordingly, a couple of stout rawhide
lariats were produced, with one of which
I Mr, Connor was very 'neatly and qiiickly
bound, while the ,end of the other was so
arranged around his neck that, while he
could in nowise slip his bead out of it, the
holder of the ether end of it, passing as it
did over a hook of the roof of the room,
could strangle him incontinently at will
with a slipknot well lubricated for the
purpose. The situation was not agreeable
for me and scarcely dignified. elle duty of
a constable or jailer thrust upon a magis-
trate ; the surrounding persons, at the beat,
cold assenters to British justice;' at the
worst, when the indignation of the original
witnesses should have subsided (and Mr.
Davis refused to wait voluntarily, and car-
ried his summons as witness, scrawled by
me on an old envelope, down country with
him) too probable sympathizers with, and
perhaps rescuers of, the criminal. The only
hope I had was in a rumor that the Judge
of the Criminal Assize was reported to be
somewhere in the neighborhood. He, at all
events, would have physical force of some
kind and would relieve me of my prisoner.
Him, whatever might betide, It determined
te hold while hand and bit kept together ;
and while the tired eyelids of my tired
?yes could be induced to keep apart. Look- I
ing back now on what did happen I hardly
know if I should so have determined could
I have foreseen it.
"Gentlemen I never slept for five
nights and four days from the moment of
that capture! They tried to bribe me—
first with one gold watch, then with three,1
all of the huge American pattern; then
with leather hags of 'dust,' also increasing
in value. At last I had to threaten that I1
would hang the man with the lasso that
never left my hand if they did not cease. At "
length, on the evening' of the fourth day,
when.' positively believe I was light-headed
but keeping a firm grip of the lasso, never-
theless (whether the poor devil, Connor. was
lightheaded. I did not perhaps too curiously
consider) without even a rumor from the
road to prepare me, dear old N., the magis-
trate of the district we were in, having
heard of my strange plight, sent two special
constables to relieve me of my man. They
did so, and let him escape within the hour.
'Bribed?' you ask—who knows? Connor's
friends, or the law's enemies, were many
and rich. They had had relays of horses
on more trails than one for several days, I
learned afterward. As for me, I slept for
six and -thirty hours without a break, and
have now arrived at the point when I can
introduce the promised flies into my narra-
tive.
"The foregoing unsatisfactory episode
being ended, with the only good result teat
, my sometime jaded mare was now as, fit as a
four-year-old, I went about my business,
• having received a cheerful message from
Mr. Connor that he intended to shoetree 'on
sight.' The stereotyped warning of the ,
West enerally means business, and is con..1
seder& by the party receiving it as a legiti-
mate warrant for any extreme of anticipatory
reprisal and defense; but I never expected
to see Connor again, and I blew his message
out of the ranee of practical politics.
"On my way down,- some fifty miles from
Williams's lake, I encountered at a wayside
houseva face that was familiar, and present-
• lyeremembered it as belonging to an elderly
and feeble -looking miner, who, in the &st
day or two of my acting as constable, had
Ihovered about me in a diffident way, as if
desirous of speaking, and yet disappeared
,without any actual parley having taken
place. The strange thing was, however, that .
he was now in the very teeth of Winter, going
up country! He appear :d still very shy, and
we barely exchanged half a dozen words
with each other till about eleven the next
morning, to which hour I had waited to
let the ice melt off the roads. We were sit
ting together in a sort of rude veranda that
gathered the beams of the morning sun, I
looking over somenotes and he dozing in the
corner of the settle. I noticed with some
!compassion the deep lines of Ids face, and
tidly wondered what strange matters might
be read between them had ;any one the key
to the eipher. The flies, the meanest
sort of all the common house flies, were
troublesome, and perhaps investigating also
the strange matters writ in the poor deep
wrinkles. He twitched and moaned patheti-
cally, and I, with the end of my long glove,
assumed the humble negro function of fright-
ening away the „blue -tail flies togive him a
little more sweetness et unconsciousness.
There was an indescribable pathos in
the old Man's nasal drawl. He tipoke as one
who had got his death wound in his heart
as he went on: ,r reckon you remember
me in the crowd yonder when you corralled
that critter, Connor? 1 had reasons to be
grateful to you, jedge, and with my poor
sister's son, Dave Crow, (that was hitn
as was shot by Connor,) with him —God's
mercy on him even l—out of my path, and
Connor chained up in your British cala-
boose, or, may be, hanged for good and for
all, I guessed. the last of my troubles was
over. was wrong, though. I was half in
the mind to lot on up yonder and tell
what I heel to do with it all, but it
meennal to kitaler fix itself so'e I'd better not
--end I let out for tee down trail, wall, not
lighter --there ain't much lightness loft me,
I teokon, naote—but feeling I'd better not
' meddle with the way things was fixed hp
for me. This yer was rner eecond season in
a creek, 'way over between Antler and
Yeller Jaeleet. Las year I made a little
under ,910,000 in coarse gold, hatch of it
fossicked out in Australiati fashion I was
too and a man to be much raised by that or a man to beer alone."
oafnytihtingunidnerti'lltab,we °filidoo;rbuoifI XneVi'do4bhi44!
and tuk the rest down lad Winter. I
wrote to Ametiole to Devoe a 'bad boy.,
hitt all of my blood thett abov0 the
grap8 yoaa--Aabike lay imow—nethin 1 I
told Dave to cone on and be e SOU to me,
Ito eatne—eure eairea I wonder he
spared the money for that retove. We come
up together last Spring, end the luck held—
both ways, 'ledge, the luck held, The gold
peened out well, and Deve's ill luck, in the
ehape of James Connor rejoined him up
here. I guess it was a stirrer record bound
them two boys in sech a tight cahoot to,
goatee, but I needn't reckon that over to
you 'mow, if so be I knowed it at all. I
heven't beeo so much alone-seItve not march-
ed the most of ray day e to the aorrerful
tune I hey—not te be able, to read men's
hearts, you kin lay, year bottom dollar on
that, Jedge. Them men meant murder I—
they meant it for weeks and meant it for
inonths. Seem to me now I've raked some
in, that money. ain't so very ditch M this
world as they make of it; yet to a man
who's bin powerful poor foe'. sixty years, it
figures large when it Hems like he'd lose it,
and then—the nat'ral contrayriness of humen
nettle 1 I worked and watched agin them
two wolves enough to 'eat a man's heart
out. We shared IT evens three ,tweeks
egone and let out together for Victory.' You
know vshp.t happened at Williema's Lake,
and you kin put a rneanin' to it now. Two
days ago I heard Connor was broke loose.
He don't know where the dust is buried,
but he reckons putty straight that some is
buried, and may I '—here the old man, to
my aStonishrnent, exploded a train of some
six of the most terribly ingenious oaths I
ever heard in British Coluinbia--' if he does
find it, and does keep it on this side of
hell l'
"The weird fascination of the man's ap-
peal borrowed nothing from his words, or
even his manner in the ordinary sense but
there was a magnetism in it that rem; ided
me of old German ballads, and that, at any
rate, gained his point:
"That night's march over those mighty
metamorphic rocks, through that gigantic
volcanic ruin now frozen so stiff and. cold,
though I shall never forget it, would require
a Dante to sing and a Dore to depict its aw-
ful beauties. At last we reached the nlaim.
The snow had clothed the torn and riven
banks, and heaps of boulders, the ordinary
ravages of mining, with its smooth and pure
outline, and the cabin door, deftly and
Speedily opened by the owner's familiar
hand, let us into its neat and orderly
precincts. Materials for light and fire were
ready prepared' for use, thougla. we had
antedated the matter by a whole Winter,
and having used them we sallied forth again
to stable my horse in a somewhat distant
shelter. On. our return some coffee and
crackers (biscuits, that is,) lent a sense of
fragrance and festivity to the little shanty,
but I wasehocked to observe the weakness
of the old man when he was thawedrfrom
the cold. He waived aside, however, all
notice of this and showed rne how to supple-
ment the scanty comfort of the lowest of
three bunks with a nondescript collection of
coverings, old sacks, and 'even planks and
dry branches, till my future bed looked like
a woodpile into which I was to creep feet
foremost.
"'It comes to me, 'Capen,' slowly said
Summers—did I mention his name before?
it comes to me that this, thing is pretty
nigh played out. I guess the Cinnabar
mast wait—no , man but me could show you
the way to that ; but just under where I am
sitting,(an,d I put this yer stool here a pup.
pus,) . the depth of a piek-handle hes
some two hundredand sixty ounces of dust
as near as I cam mind, tied up in three can-
vas sacks; and 'that thar dust, Jedge,
Cap'endear, my boy, as drily the flies from
the old man's face—the old man's face as
has every tear drained off it by years o'
weepin' in his la, art—that dust is for you.
You're toung, and I have no one belonging
to me in the world. I'll give you a vnitin
sign—a writin' saying the dust is yours.'
"1 atrug led as well as I could against
the man s 'benevolent intentions; but, at
last had to promise that I would exhume
the gold and. accompany hiin to the settle-
ments in the morning. Summers was so
Weak by this time that I was obliged to
wrap hiin up and compose him for sleep in
front ot the replenished. fire. He felt no
pain, an begged me to go to rest, vehich
did at la, clothed as I was, and warned by
some intuition to arrange my pistol for in-
stant use.
"1 must have slept an hour or more 'When
the old man's voice awakened me, repeating
in a stronger but far-off sort of voice the
same string of unspeakable imprecations
that I formerly declined to repeat for your
benefit, or rather injury. They did net
seunti so vicious this time; but gave me the
idea of a sort of wild abracadabra or verbal
fetish, used to fortify or accentuate a reso-
lution. I slept again, and again awoke this
time to some purpose. As my eyes opened
p, match was struck in the cabin, and
to my amazement—for somehow I had
never anticipated this—James Connor
stood 'with a candle in one hand
and a pistol in the other, peering into
the cold and. silent face of the dead
miner; dead—in a seconcl that was evident,
for no pious hand, though my own was near,
had closed his weary eyes, and they were
wide open and tho jaw falben in aui the
unloveliness of death. I must have made
some motion or sound, for the murderer's
light and weapon both quickly moved upon
me as I lay supine on one elbow, with,
thanks to my intuitive precautions, the
muzzle of my revolver covering him as he
stepped sidewaye toward my bunk. There
was no use in delaying the end ; I pushed
aside the nondescript mass. of coverings
with my' pistol hand and showed myself.
The ruffian backed a moment.
"The Judge, by the jumping Moses!'
he hoarsely exclaimed. Then, to do him
justice, his voice grew firm, and he demand.
ed sternly and briefly: 'You had my message?'
"It was touch and. go ; fortunately I was
ready, as I replied, 'Take my answer 1"
"The hammers of both weapons fell to-
gether. My pistol resting on the bunkedge,
sent its bullet home under the man's lett
breast; his must have, thrown p,' a,nd the
ball minty tufted up a skin-deep furrow
just above my left ear.
"I dug up the dust as Summers had di-
rected, and enlarged the hole till it afforded
a shallow grave for him and Connor. t pil-
ed over them as many largo stones tte
could conven ently drag from the hearth,
and rode away in the early morning,a sadder
and a richer man by some seven thousand
dollars. Some of it I spent on myself ; what
ilncelidabwolittth the rest is hardly worth talk-
" Yes," remarked a fond mother the other
day, "Any sort is very fend of his cornet.
He melds that he is only an emateue pleyer,
they think he really deserves to be caned a
vigoroso.' "
The American reading of the Biblical in-
jenctien appears to be: "It is not, well for
lanflING A ,ouilizsE xtrup,13,4A
'Fite Jury Said he Med hut the (*owl]
Decided 011terwlee,
About 1230 o °look the other morning
Hong Di, the Chinese &emetic who murder.
ed Mrs. Billion at St John, cal„,. eolne tittle
ago, wet; teken from jail and Waled by a
mob. The murderer had been on trzal foi
several days, and a verdiet of guilty was re
turned ou Saturday, the Joey fixing the
inioishineut at imprisonment for life., Mrs.
Billion, her two daughters, and William
Weaver, heed servaut naen, were bitting at
8011W when, the door ef the diningrome was
threwu open by Hong Di, the cook, who
levelled a Winchester rifle at Weaver and
shot him through the !Moulder. He fell on
the floor, and a eecond ,shot went throegli
Mrs. Billiou's head, killing her instantly.,
Both daughtera fled to all adjoining roorn
and escaped uninjured.
The Chinamen tied, and Weaver monaged
to get on Ids feet and. lock the door. Igo
trace of the murderer could be found for
nearlya week , when he was found on the
bark of the Sactemento River, nearly starv-
ed to death. On hearing the verdict the
crowd became exasperated. The Judge re-
fused to accept the decision of the Jary,
and a wild none .at once began. Almost
every man preeent was armed, and in an in-
stant a hundred pistols were drawn amid
cries of "Lynch hint 1" The Sheriff tamped
to his feet and quieted thecrowd long enough
to say that, while he disapproved of the
verdict, he hoped no blood would be shed in
curt,
The crowd left the court room and the
prisoner was removed to jail, Soon an ef-
fort was being made to lynch the Chinaman
and while the Sheriff and his charge were
inside a large and determined mob was form-
ing outside the jail. All day long the crowd
kept on. the street, but no effort was made
to get at the prisoner until near midnight.
At that time the town was elive with
strangers from surrounding places, including
the Captain of a steemer and twenty of his
crew. Citizens were posted at. all avenues
of escape, and about 12:30 o'clock a break
was made for the jail. Guards had been
posted by the Sheriff, but as they were in
sympathy with those on the outside, little
resistance was made. In a few minutes' the
assassin was in the avengers' hands.
Weaver, the man whom Hong Di had shot
first, was present, rope in hand. The pri-
soner was at once dragged out and taken to
the bridge shrieking and screaming in terror.
His cries were addressed to deaf ears. The
rope was put around his neck despite his
desperate struggles, half a dozen men raised
him in their arms, and he was tossed over the
parapet. He was probably half dead when
thrown over. He struggled feebly for a few
moments. Shortly afterward the body was
cut down by order of the sheriff and carried
to the jail.
Economic Statistics of Paris.
The annual return published by the Pre-
fecture of the, Seine with regard to the
population of Paris, the consumption of food,
the circulation of vehicles, and passengers
by train, and other economic facts bearing
upon life in the metropolis is always full of
interest, and from that relating to 1886, j
which has just appeaxed, it will be gathered
that the food: supply of Paris coraprised, in
addition to 261,377 • live oxen, 234,349
calves, 1,891,871 sheep, 247,105 pigs,
13,377 horses and 304 donkeys, 152,005
tons of butchers' meat, 24,152 tons of pork,
3,375 tons of horseflesh, 24,143 tons of
poeltry, 17,559 tons of butter, 5,412 tons of
cheese, and 4,544 tons of turbot, salmon ;
and red mallet. • The quantity of other
kinds of fish consumed is much larger, but
as they are not subjected to octroi dues
there are no statistics forthcoming. In
addition to the above Paris consumed last
y , 0, 0 eggs, while' h y
of liquids the consumption was 87,560,.000
gallons of wine, 3,217,000 gallons of quits
and liquors, 6,705,000 gallons of cider,
and 6,120,000 gallons of bear. The gas
company distributed during the year about
, 251,000,000 cubic meters of gas, of which
about 25,000,000 meters were for the streets
land public buildings, whilethe quantity of
water supplied from various sources was
about 150,000,000 cubic meters, there being
66,000 subscribers to the water rate out of
about 82,000 householders living in streets
and squares, avenues, Sm., with a total
I length of about 600 miles. Turning to the
' vital statistics, it will be found that the
number of births during the year was
60,636, of whom over 17,000 were illegit-
imate, while the number of deaths was
57,092, of which over 10,000 were due to
pulmonary complaints. The total number
of patients in the hospitals' during the year
was 130,765, of whom 13,920 died. There
were 20,604 marriages and 488 divorces.
Circulation inside Paris was upon a larger
scale than ever before, the Omnibus Company
having carried over 191,000,000 passengers,
while nearly 50,000,000 traveled by the
• two independent tramwaylines. The boats
on the Seine carried about 20,000,000
passengers, while between 17,000,000 and
18,000,000 used the circular railway. The
analysts of the municipality ordered the
destrocticn of 1,147 articles of food and
instituted over 4,000 prosecutions for
adulteration, while the police arrested 35,-
894 men and 6,253 women, of whom 2,703
were foreigners, mostly for trifling offences
such as disorderly conduct or begging.
Burn Your Old Sermons.
There was a great deal of good sense in
the advice given to a minister who was con-
tinually going about among the churches as
a candidate and continually complaining
that he either did not get a call or could not
retain the plane after he did. The advice
was, "Burn your barrel of old sermons."
The preaching and repreaching of old, aye,
even throughgood sermons, has been the ruin
of many a promising and able preacher.
Here is how one puts it :—
I believe there are several hundred good
men going up and down among the churches,
seeking rest and finding none, who could be
settled in three months if they would burn
their barrels. The truth is, after a preach-
er gets a stock of sermons he is tempted to
change his field of la.bor on purpose to re-
peat them. And that is so much easier than
making new ones that he is very likely to
try it again.. For a while the experiment
succeeds. By touching up the sermons and
being familiar with them Ile makes them
snore popular in the second place than in
the first. But this easy, lazy way of pre-
paring for the pulpit grows into a habit.
The preacher gotta studying, Ilia spiritual
and mental growth are arrested, and he
becomes a mere parrot. He thinks when
he goee to a fresh field " all these discourses
will be nOvV to these hearers and just as in-
teresting as if written expressly for them."
But that is a great mistake. He cannot
make the sermone new to them unless they
art rieW to himself.
although a number of the neiehbors say
Reports en the condition of Crown Prince
Frederick William are to the effect that he
is progressing rapidly. He has no difficulty
in speaking, but hie physiciaus mime him to
exorcise cere. '
LIG-I4TER 'MAIM
• Li litning etruekthe Lyon couhty Man-
sas) ourt House ter° the gas meter levee
ite ignited 'the gas, and set the build-
ingadut::hgeer. owl was
ts1 leaningi in Atla et at: twhaesbs, eoo tolfrightenedts
by thuoderbolt which Amok a tree against
whilees maniac,
Lightning made splioters of the foremast
of the schooner Alfred H. Hemp of Albany
while the Captain arid crew stood upon her
desks, yet not a man was injured.
James Cerrnichael of Spring Hill mines,
Out was standing on the porch of his house
with two blends, when lightning instantly
killed him, while neither of his friends re-
ceived the slightest injury.
*Lightning peeled the bark from a tree in
Ricliwoocle township, and, cutting it into
six-inch pieces, drove thein into the weather
boarding of a house several feet away, so
that the whole front was decorated.
Lightning entered the residence of Ce S.
Meacham et Fruitland park, Fla., and
meandered around the premises until, meet-
ing an umbrella leaning against the wall, it
pped out the ribs and made a bonfire of
the cover. It then left the door.
The points ot the cultivator with which
Frank Strait of Corning, was ploughing were
melted by lightning and Strait was killed.
The only mark on his body was a dark blue
:mot on the etcle of his neck. His shoes and
stockings were torn to shreds,
Two visitors at IVIarshfield., Wis., live to
tell a wonderful story of lightning. One of
them was struck upon the shoulder, the curs
rent passing down his leg and through thet
soul of his shoe, making a cleanteut round
hole in the leather and entering the floor.
The other was likewise struck on the ahoul-
der, and the fluid passed out through his
slippers, making six clear-cut holes through
the toe of each of them.
As It Will Be One Hundred Years Hence.
Miss Araminta, Fitzgiggs to James Augus-
tus De Brown, at an aerial picnic party one
hundred miles from the city. Time, mid-
night.—" Dearest Augustus, will you let
me see you home
He (aside)—" I shouldn't wonder if she'd
propose to -night." (Aloud, bashfully)—" I,
do not know. My ma's here. Perhaps she.
will expect me to go with her."
She—" Oho no 1 I just saw your ma's
driver arrive with her new aerometer, so
that she will drive home, while we will wing,
it on the soft, lambent air, and I've some-
thing sweet to tell you, love." •
He—" Oh .A.raminta, you're a flirt ? but.
for this time I yield." They fly away.
She—" No! by Heaven I'm true, James
Augustus. (Putting her arm affectionately
about his waist.) I have long wished to say
something to you that concerns my whole
life. Dearest, will you be my husband? I
can support you In juxury ; my business is
prosperous; I havemoneyin bank ; I own
a house, and can cherish and protect you.
I love you ray darling, and will make you
a good you,
Say ' Yes ' and make rae
happy 1"
He--"Araminta, you do not think of what
you say. You cannot consider what it will
take to support a husband like me, educated
as I have been by my ma in the most eipen-
sive tastes and habits."
• She—" Do not say `No,' dearest. I will
work for you. I will do anything—even to
going on the stage. Only say that you will
have me."
He —"No'! no 1 Araminta ; you know
not what you ask. I will be a brother to
you. will be your guardian angel. I will
always be ready to accompany you to the
opera or theatre. I will always come to you
for money or advice; but I cannot marry
y
She—" You must 1 you shall! If you re-
fuse me I will haunt you all your life, for
tomorrow my cold corpse shall be found in
the hay and on my person a letter telling
thet you have deceived me and left me
hopeless."
• 110—" Are you in earnest, darling I
(Aside)—I'd better close on her. Maybe I
can't do better, and I'm getting passe.
(Alond)--Take methen, dearest Arammta ;
I am yours forever 1" He falls into her
arms. She embraces and kisses him, and
they arrive at his mother's door.
The Importance of Geography.
Negro Father (to son)---" How yer gettin'
'long at school ?"
Boy—" Fust -rate.
Father—" Whut yer flingin' yer mine
down on fur de mos' part ?"
Boy—" Rimer tic."
Father—" Got down ter. jogerfy yit ?"
Father—" Wall,No
sah"
1 wants yer ter git down
ter dat ez soon ez yer ken."
1 Boy •—" What's jogerfy gwine ter do fur
' me ?"
1 Father—" Whut's it gwine ter do fur ye?
W'y, it'll allus keep yer outen de pi' house,
ad t's whut it gwine ter do." •
Boy—" How come ?"
Father— s yer clun bos'all yer sense
dat yer doan know how come? Doan yer
know dat er man wid plenty o' jogerfy in
hie head, kin allus tell de age o' er hoes by
lookin' at him? Doan yer know he ken
;fling his eye up ter de donde an' tell w'en
I it's gwine ter rain, an' dat he kin skin er
, sheep jes like snatchin' off er shirt? Ftei ow
dat man whut tuck er peach tree switch an'
'found dat fine well o' water on de Fulgum
1place, dean yer ?"
I Boy--" Yes salt."
1 Father—'' *all, he wuz er fine han' at
jogerfy. Go beck ter dat school-'ouse an'
study jogerfy, son ; go right back dar an'
study it dis minit." •
• A Large Family.
A certain distinguished United States
eenator was on one occasion in Calcutta on a
tour round the world, and among the places
visited was the English cemetery. There
were many noted Englishmen buried there,
and such names as "George Gordon, Bart.,"
Henry Trevelyan, Bart.," were so numer-
ous as te attract the senator's attention.
Finally he said, "My, my, this Bart family
m
must be a large and influential one ! I re-
member to have seen the name in tonclon ;
but I had no idea they were emit prominent
people. Really, when I go back to England,
I Must look them up and get better acquaint
He Made a Neat Hit.
Is there any one living here tinder twen-
ty-one years of age ?" inquired a man who
rang the door bell to a Jarvis street resit
dence the other day. '
"No, there is not,' rather sharply repIi.,
ecl a spinster of eight -and -thirty summers
who ahswered the ring.
Why 1 Is it possible ?" was the reply
of the apparently astonielied men, "don't
you live here ?"
It was a neat hit, aud aftee s little simper-
ing and a brier chat about the Weather the
maiden purchased two copies of a work en.
titled " Hints for the Yonne