Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1857-04-09
FAYETTEVILLE, TENN: THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1857,

j, kind friends, they secured a shelte
! and a home.
!, Such was the simple story will
: which my young fellow-voyager be
, guileda few hours Of our passage
He subsequently,, however, seemed
to regret his communicatiyeness, and
showed in our further conversation
an evident unwillingness to recul
to the scenes of the past.
j During the brief stay of the boat
at Natchez, we we're joined by a
number Of other passengers; and a.
mong the new corners Were several
whose ill.favored countenanoes and
staggering gate afforded evidence
that they were not strangers in the
baunis Of iniquity with which the
then famous "Natcbez under the hill'
aboundee. Hitherto our cabin had
been quiet and peaceful; now the
stiffness was invaded by the loud oath
and clustering laugh of the profess
sional black-leg, and the vocation Of
the bar-keeper remained no longer a
sinecure.
On the evening after this new ac-
cession to our company, a card party
was formed comprising, l observed,
as they gathered around the table,
two of whom / suspected to be pro-
fessional gamblers. At first no high
er stake was played for than "cigars"
or "drinks for the crowd;' but as the
night wore on, and the "drinks" be-
gan to exercise their wonted effect,
money was put up. and the game be-
came moro exciting. AT length, at.
ter varions changes Of fortune, one
of the gamblers, a burly, hard fea-
tured man, was about to sweep up a
heavy stake, when suddenly we'll
dressed gentleman, who had watched
the game for considerable time,
laid bis hand gently upon his shoul-
der, sayiug-"Stop, you did not play
fair!
The man turned quickly in his
chair, SO that the light of the lamp
from above fell full upon his features,
and launching a volley of oaths and |
imprecations at the person who bad
him. at this moment |
Gale who had been reading |
quietly iua remote part Of the cabin,
looked upward from his book, and
beheld the angry features of the
gambler The volume dropped upon
the floor as he started from his seat
and sprang towards the table. Be-
fore his object could be suspected
or opposed. he stood beside the
strangers chair, and brushing the
hair from the forehead, revealed a
scar extending back towards the
crown of bis head.
"Ha = cried be, speaking so rap
idly as to be scarcely ineligible,
''where did youget thatscar? William,
who murdered the emigrant on Rock
river? Who killed my father?"
The face of the ruffian, bat mo-
ment before flushed and distorted !
with anger, turned pale as DEATH
"My God T. be exclaimed, as he re-
in the STRIPPING the youth
whom be had left for dead upon an
Illinois prairie, five years before; "my
God can the dead speak p
"You own it! you own itl'' cried
the lad. sGentlemen, bear me wit
ness that he acknowledges the deed!
He murdered my father! Blood forl
blood! Die, scoundrel! Die ! die |
die I"
The discharge of a pistol was
heard, and the murderer fell from bis
chair dead. The unerring bullet had
passed through bis brain. The form
which brief moment before was
boundingin life and health, now lay
upon the cabin floor a disfgured
and unconscious corpse. His career
Of crime was ended. The man who
years of a lifetime had
revsled in scenes Of vice and iniqui-
ty, had 10 one brief moment passed
the valley and shadow of
death, and was summoned before the
swful bar of God. Without warn
ing, his soul was hurled through the
gates Of eternity, and ushered into
the presence Of the Great Judge,
whom only the good fear not.
1t was a fearful retribution. But
IN those days there we're none to
question it's justice. The sympa-
HAS nc Tho nacoounoro uoxa vifh II