Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1869-08-12
Se1sft Stpru.
FACE TO FACE.
A THRILLING SKETCH.

sJohn Broome, will yet, so help me
Heaven, meet you face to face, where no
cloak of law shall conceal your evil deeds
1t aoW he my turn then.
These prophetic words were spoken by
an old man over whose head the seasons
had circed fully sky times. But as be
gave them utterance, his frame seemed
animated once more with the glow OF
youth, while there flashed from his eyes
ire that one would have thought the hand
of time had long extingushed. The one
to whom they were addressed was young
man by full twenty years. Although he
might have been called handsome. there
was sinister expression, that flashed
from the eye and dwflt in the corners of
the mouth, which materially interfered
with such an opinion.
"Silas Wilson," he replied after a
short pause, "you see at length am the
master of the field Thirty years ago You
crossed my father in love and then sho:
him down in duel. gazed upon his
ace as he lay weltering in his blood and
although | could not grasp the idea then,
| have nursed it ever since. and with my
growing hate famed the fame of revenge
| swore to revenge his death, aud have
kept my vow. Go your way to the court
house and reduce "a, soon as possible the
expenses of the country by dying
SO spoke john Broone. aud turning on
his heel he walked away.
The scene was the interior of the coun-
tryhouse in one Of our Western settle
ments, and was enacted fifty years ago =
| The long and tedious trial was over. and
had been decided in favor of John
Broone, the plaintiff 1t involved in its
consideration the right of ownership to
certain property, and its decision left the
old man Wilson homeless and peniless
1t was whispered thar there had been cor
ruption that some of John Broonr's GOLD
had been thrown int, the scales of justice +;
and tina, the heart.broken old man was
The victim of direst fraud.
But the reader shall hear the case, and
then judge.
Reirace with ne the steps of time fo'
so e thirty years. and let US gaza upon ii
curious and dramatic scene. winch was be-
ing enacted in tie immediate icinity ut
the court house we have just mentioned ;.
or rather, its future site 1t was still the
early gray of morn, ere Aurora, the cham
bermaid of nature, had pulled aside the
crimson curtains of the east. Upon a
grassy lava FIVE men formed All unobserv-
ed but strikingly dramatic tableau. In
the center stood two, facing each other
at the distance of about fifteen feet. =
| Their determined air. and the solemn
bearing of the other would seem to indi
cate that their work was of no trifing ma
ture and the duelling pistol with which
each one was armed, corroborated the
| idea. Rather apart from the others, and
with his back to the scene. stood third
parsonage, whose connection with the af-
fair was evidenced by the case of surgical
instruments under his arm. The remain
ing two parties, were engaged in low but
earnest conversation. Aud now the tab
eau changes The two seconds, for such
they were have separated, while the sur
geon saunters slowly towards the group
All the prelminarles have been arranged !;
the principals stand resolute and deter
mined the surgeon is examining some
bandages and nothing is wanted but the
signal.
''Are you ready, gentlemen ?"
A slight nod CT assent from both parties
was the only answer to this interrogation
"One, two, three-fre!"
The quiet communion Of nature was
broken by the simultaneous pistol shots,
and when the smoke had cleared away
the tableau was again changed. Upon
the ground, and struggling with the ap
proach of death. lay one of the principals
Over him bent the surgeon, essaying in
vain to staunch the blood that gushed
from his side and dyed the green carpet
of nature, while the other actor in this
tragedy stood in his original position, the
smoking pistol in his hand, horror depic-
ted upon his countenance. Aud now all
were startled by the appearance of a lad
about ten years of age, VIII" entered hur
riedlv upon the scene, aud then stood still.
transiixei with terror aud amazement. =
We will take advantage of this opportunity
to INFORM you who these personages are,
and what difficulty it was that required so
| crimson settlement
The man that stands rivctted to the earth
by the appalling deed he has done is Silas
Wilson. Not the Sias Wilson in appear