Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1851-02-18

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, after the other he struck down tn
tools and companions of his crime!
{ He doomed him to see them fallin
around him with the certain know
edge that the ayenging hate whic
slew them burnedWfth ten-foldintensi
ty for his life, that it must and woul,
have it, But when would the claim
be made? Should he be the mex
one? No! The next one? No
But then each succeeding death, Sc
sure to take oneof the number, drove
away every sophisiry Of hope, and
realized to him in bare and sternel
horror that his own fate was 5as fixed
as theirs. AS each one fell away tire
circle of doom narrowed-slowly,
steadily closing in about him. Soon
there would be no one left but him !!
How could lid call an hour his own?
When couldFhe feel safe? That re-
lentless subtlety had baffled them all
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
strong men hid all gone DOWN before
that fearful fifle-eue1y one of them
shot through the eye, God Of Heav-
en!-and the sharp agony would
spangle keen points of burning light
through his brain, as if the ball were
already bursting through a socket!
i too must be shot through the eyer
Horror 1t was worse than ten
thousand deaths, and he died them in
lingering tortures told over day by
day.
From the time Of Rees's death he
looked a changed and stricken man.
In few weeks he had lost a great
deal of flesh and became piteously
'haggard-his eyes and gait and voice
were all humble His turbulent and
fierce animality faded before the har-
rowing suspense of this fear. The
bully and murderous ruffian trem-
bIed at the rustling Of a leaf His
own imagination became his hell
and hungry remorso grew stronger
andstrongerwith feastingat his heartl
He never left his house for weeks,
until the escape Of Williams and Da-
Wis inspired him with some hope. lie
procured a fine horse, and set off one
dark night for the Red Riyerl zEv-
regretted his escape-for
men had looked in quiet expectation
upon the progress of this affair, and
in strong faith that the sense of Wild
border justice would be gratifed my
seeing this stern, righteous and un-
paralIeled vengeance consummated
by the fall Of IIinch-the monster
instigator and chief actor in all the
grievous outrages which had reused
the simple-hearted Long into
demon-executioner of doom.
Hinch reachedlthe bank of the Red
River-sprang from his foaming and
horse, after looking eau
tiously around-and threw himself
upon the grass to wait for a steam /
boat. In two hours he heard one
putting down the stream, and saw the
white wreaths of steam curling up (
behind the trees. How his heart
bounded Freedom, hope, and life
once more sprang through his
shriyelled veins and TO his lips. He
signaled the vessel; she rounded to
and lowered her yawl. His pulse
bounded high, and he gazed with alb
sorbing eagerness at the crew as they
pulled Justify towards the shore. A
click behind him! He turned, with
a shu udder, and THERE HE WAS! That
long rifle was bearing st faight upon
him-those cold eyes dwelt steadily
upon him for a moment -and crash!
all was for ever blaclness to Hinch
the Regulator! The man who wit
messed this singular scene landed,
and found him shot through The eye;
and saw the murderer galloping
away over the plain stretching out
from the top of the bank And so
the vengeance was consummated,. and
the stern hunter had wiped out with
much blood the stain of stripes on
his free limbs; and could now do
what | was told he had never done
since the night Of those fatal and
fatally expiated stripes, look his wife
again in the eyes, and receive her
form to rest again upon his breast.
1t was an awful deed. In view Of
all its circumstances, the provocatlon,
the character Of Long, the deranging
influence Of the outrage upon his