The Kansas herald of freedom., 1859-09-10
[Continued fronn first paae.l

sure to take one of their number, drove
away the sophistry Of hope, and realized
to him, in bare and sterner horror, that his
own fate was fixed as theirs as each one
fell away, the circle of doom narrowed
slowly, steadfastly closing about him.
Soon there would be none left but him.
How could he call an hour his own
When could he feel safe That relent-
less subtlety had bafaed them all. One,
two, three, four, five, six, seven strong
men had all gone down before that fearful
rife-every one of them shot through the
eye! God Of heaven and the sharp ag-
ony would spangle keen points Of burning
light through the brain, as if :he ball was
bursting through the socket! 81, too,
must be shot through the eyen 1t was
worse than ten thousand deaths, and he
died then in lingering torture, told over
day by day.
From the time of Rees' death, he look
ed changed and stricken man. In few
weeks, he had lost great deal of flesh
and become piteously haggard-his eyes
and voice and the gait were all humble,
His turbulent and fierce animality faded
before narrowing suspense of this fear
The bully and murderous ruffian tren-
bled at the rustling of leaf. His own
Imagination became his hell, and hungry
remorse grew stronger and stronger with
feastiDg at his heart. He never left his
house for weeks, until the escape of Will
liams and Davis inspired him with some
hope. He procured fine horse, and set
off, one dark night, for Red river. Every
body regretted his escape-for men had
looked in quiet expectation upon the pro-
gress Of this affair, and in strong faith that
the sense of wild border justice would be
gratified in seeing this stern, righteous
and unparalleled vengeance consummated
by the fall of Hinch, the monster insti-
gator and chief actor in all the grieyous
outrages which had reused the simple
hearted Jack Long into a demon execu-
toner of doom.
HiDch reached the banks of the Red
river sprang from his foaming and ex-
hausted horse, after looking cautiously
around, and threw himself upon the grass
to wait for a steamboat. 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 bound
ed !! Freedom, hope and life once more
sprang through his shriveled veins and to
his lips. He signaled the vessel; she
rounded to and lowered her yawl His
pulse bounded high, and he gazed with
absorbing eagerness at the crew, as they
pulled Justify toward the shore. A click,
behind him /! He turned, with shudder,
and THERE he WAS That long rifle was
bearing straight upon him-those cold
eyes dwelt steadily upon him for mo-
ment-and crash all was forever black
ness to Hinch, the regulator The men
who witnessed the singular scene landed,
and found him shot through the eye! and
saw the murderer galloping swiftly away
over the plain stretching out from the top
of the bank
And so the vengeance was consummat-
ed, ard the stern hunter had wiped oul
with much blood the stain of stripes on
his free limbs, and could now do, what
was told he never had done since the
night of those fatal and fatally expiated
stripes-look his wife again in the eyes
and receive her form again to rest upon
lib DOoOul.
1t was an awful deed. In view of all
its circumstances-the provocation, the
character of Long, the influence of the
outrage upon his brain, though no othel
evidence appeared of impaired sanity
the mind is lost in uncertainty as to the
Judgment which should be passed upon it
He did not remain in Shelby county
but in what direction he had intended tc
go, after returning to Arkansas for his wife
and children, could never learn. He is
now, probably, living his old quiet and
good-natured life, in the heart of the greer
wilderness and it is likely as not thai
one of those two boys who rolled will
him about on the floor of his log cabin, OF
that memorable night of which | have
above simply related the events and con.
sequences, will, some of these days, come
to Washington from one of those con
gressional districts beyond the Rocky
Mountains.