The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1868-06-17


resembled an armory, so fully was
furnished with all sorts of 44urderou
weapons Notwithstanding this, h
seemed very respectable sort of man
regular in his habits, punctual in hi
his payments, and foad Of smoking ex
y cellent cigars, sent him, he used to say
by friend in Havana. He was tall
very thin, and always dressed in black
4 his moustaehes curled to point, anG
1 he invariably wore his hat cooked oyel
/ ! his right ear 97ad
In the evenings he used to frequeni
the public reading rooms of The town
but he never played at any game, OIL
conversed with the company, remain
ling absorbed in his newspaper until the
clock struck ten, when he lit his cigar,
twisted his mustache, and with a stiff
silent bow, took his departure. II
sometimes happened that one of the
company, bolder than the others, said
l"Good night, Major!" Then the Maj
or would stop, fix his grey eyes on the
speaker, and reply, "Good night, mon
sieur p but in SO rude aud angry tor c
that the words sounded more like a
malediction than polite invitation
1t was remarked that whoever thus ad
dress the Major was during the re-
mainder of the evening, the victim of
some strange ill-luck He regularly
lost at play, was sure to knock his ell
bow through handsome lamp or vase,
or in some way get entaDgled in a mis-
adventure. So firmly were the good
towDsfolk persuaded that the Maj or
possessed an evil eye, tina: their com
mon expression, when any one met
with misfortune, was-"He must
have said good Mi ght' to the Major"
| This mysterious character diued eve-
ry day at ordinary of the Crown Hotel,
and though babitually silent, seemed
unusually contented with the fare
One day, however, after he had eaten
some bread soup, he cast his eye along
the table. f fowned, and calling the
host, said
"How comes itthat the dinner to day
is entirely meagre p
"Monsieur no doubts forgets that
this is Good Friday"
Send me up two mutton chops"
"InposibIe, Major-there is not an
ounce of meat to be bad at any butch
er's in town"
sLet me have some fowl"
"That is not to be had, eilher."
"W hat set of fools p' exclaimed
the Major, striking his clenched hand
on the table with such force that the
bottles reeIed and rocked just as if all
the wine in their bodies had got into
their heads Then he called the
waiter and said, "Baptis.e go to my
lodging and bring me the inIaid car
bine which hangs over my pillow.
The poor host trembled, and grew
very pale when Baptis:e returned with
double e-barrelled gun, beautifully in
laid with silver. The Major cody ex-
amined the locks, put on fresh caps,
cooked both barrels and walked out,
followed at respectful distaucd by the
far off stood an old ivy mantled church
whose angular projections were haunt
ed by many ravens. Two large ones
flew out of turret just7as the Major
came up aud took aim for double
shot. Down tumbled both of the un
clean birds at his feet. '
".S1cre blea !" said he, picking them
up, I'm regularly sold-they're qaite
lean" n fp ra
He returned to the hotel, an1, ac
cording to his.express orders, one mole
ty of his i'll omened booty was dressed
in a savory stew, aud the other simply
roasted. Of both dishes he partook so
heartily that not vestige of either re
mained, and he declared that he had
never eaten moro relishiug food. From
that day the Major became an object
of uneasiness to some, of terror to
others, of curiosity to all. Whenever
he appeared on public promenades,
every one avoided him at the theatre
his box was generally occupied by him.
self alone; and each old woman that
met him in the street invariably stop
ped to cross herself Major Werner
was never know n to suter a church, or
accept an invitation /; at first he used
receive good many of these, and the
perfumed billets served him to light
his cigars. s1- acs - t1ssti
Such, then, was the thirteenth juror
drawn in the case of Pierre Granger,
and it may be easily understood why
the audience were moved at hearing
the name of Major Werner. The pa
per accusation, notwithstanding drawn
by the Attorney General with force
and particularity of description which
borrified the ladies present, was read
amid profound silence, broken only by
the snoring of. the prisoner, who Lad |
cody settled himself to sleep, The
gendarmes tried to arouse him from
his slum Der. but they merely succeeded |
in making him row and then half .opeo |
his dull, british eyes, When the
clerk had ceased to read, Pierre Gran
ger was with difficulty thoroughly |
awaken ed, and the Preeident proceeded |
to question him. The interrogatory
fully revealed, in all its horrors, the
thoroughly stupid icndishness of the
wretch. He had killed his. wife, he
said, because they couldn't agree; he
had set his house on FIRE because it was !
a cold night and he wanted to mako a
good blaze to warm himself; az to his
children, they were dirty, squalling
little things-no loss to him or any |
one else 1t would be tedious to pur-
sue all.she details of this, disgusting
trial. NJ. Louraugain and NJ. Leper-
yer both made marvelous!y eloquent |
speeches, but they deserved peculiar
credit, having SO very bad a cause TO
sustain.
Although he well knew that his eli