The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-11-19

Dlouen weapons, and suggestion
''throw him from the window wG
only over-ridden by gesture frol
the judge. Tennessee laughed
| And, apparently oblivious of tn
l excitement, Tennessee's Partner in
e proved the opportunity to mop hi
/ face again with his handkerchief.
:. When order was restored, and tn
4 man was made to understand, by th
: use of forcible figures and rhetoric
that Tennessee's offence could not b
condoned by money, his face took
more serious and sanguinary hue
: and those who were nearest to hin
noticed that his rough hand tremblet
slightly on the table. He hesitateC
moment as he slowly returned til,
gold to .he carpet-bag, as if he haC
not yet entirely caught the elevated
sense OF justice which swayed til,
tribunal, and was perplexed with th,
belief that he had not offered enough
Then he turned to the judge, ant
saying, "This yer is lone hand
played alone and without any pard
ner,' he bowed to the jury, and was
about to withdraw. when the Judge
called him back. "If you have any
thing to say to Tennessee, you had
better say it now.' F,r the frs
time that evening the eyes of the
prisoner and his strange advocate
met Tennessee smiled, showed bis
white teeth, and saying, "Euchered,
old man! !" held out his hand. Ten
nessee's Partner took it in his OVID.
and saying, ii just dropped in as
was passin' to see how things was
gettin' on,'' let the hand passiveiy
fall, and adding that sit was a warm
night again mopped his face with
his handkerchief, and without anoth
er word Withdrew.
The two men never again met each
other alive.
For the unparalleled insult of q
bribe offered TO Judge Lynch-who,
whether bigoted, weak, or narrow,
was at least incorruptible- firmly
fixed in the mind of that mythical
parsonage any wavering determine
ton OF Tennessee'5 fate and at he
break of day lie was marched, close
ly guarded, to meet it at the top of
Marley's Hill.
How he met it, how cool he was,
how he refused to say anything, how
perfect were the arrangements of the
Committee, were all duly reported
with the addition of a warning moral
and example to all future evil-dOers
in the Red Dog Clarion, by its ed
itor, who was present, and TO whose
vigorous English l cheerfully refer
the reader. But the beauty OF
that midsummer morning, the bless
ed smity OF earth and cir and sky,
the awakened life Of the free woods
and hills, the joyous renewal and
promise of Nature, aEd above all,
the infinite serenity that thrilled
through each, was not reported, as
not being q part OF the social lesson.
And vet. when the weak and foolish
decd was done, and q lie, with It's
possibilities and responsibilities, had
passed out OF the mishapen thing
that dangled between the earth and
sky,the birds sang,the flowers bloom
ed, the sun shoue as cheerily as be
fore, and possibly, the Red Dog
Clarion was right.
Tenncssee's Partner was not in
the group that surrounded the omin-
Gus tree. But, as they turned to
disperse, attention was drawn to the
singular appearance of motionless
donkey cart halted at the side of the
road. AS they approached, they at
once recognized the venerable 'Jen-
ny" and the two wheeled cart as the
property of Tennessee's Partner
used by him in carrying dirt from
his claim and few PAGES distant
the owner of the equipage himself,
sitting under buckeye tree, wiping
the perspiration from his glowing
face. III answer to an inquiry, he
said he had come for the body OF the
deceased" if it was all the same TO
the Committee. He didn't wish to
"hurry anything,'' he could walt
He was not working that day; and
when the gentlemen were done with
the "deceased,n he would take him.
"Ef thar is any present. he added,
in his simple, serious way, Gas would
care 10 jine in the fun'l-they kin
come" Perhaps it WAS from sense
of humor, which l have already init
mated was a feature of Sandy Bar /;
perhaps it was from something even
better than that: but two-thirds OF
the loungers accepted the invitation
sc once.
1t was noon when the body of Ten
nessee was delivered into the hands
of his partner. As the cart drew
up to the fatal tree, we noticed that
it contained a rough, obiong box
apparently made from a section of
sluicing-and halt filled with bark
and the tasscls of pine. The cart
was further decorated with slips of
willow, aud made fragrant with
buckeye blossoms. When the body
was deposited in the box, Tennes-
sees Partner drew over it piece of
tarred canvas, and gravely mounted
in the narrow seat in front, with his
feet upon the shafts, urged the little
donkey forward. The equipage
moved slowly on, at that decorous
pace which was habitual with ''Jen
N.Y. even under less solemn circum
stances. The men, half curiously,
half iesiingly, but all good humored-
ly, strolled along beside the cart ;
some in advance, some little in the
rear of the homely catafalque. But,
whether, from the narrowing of the
road, or some present sense of deco
rum, IS the cart passed on the COM
pany fell 10 the rear in couples, keep
ing step, and otherwise assuming
the external show of a formal pro-
cession Jack FoDlinsbee, Tho had,
at the outset, played funeral march
in dumb show upon an imaginary
trombone, desisted, from a lack OF
sympathy and appreciation - not
having, perhaps, your tune humor-
ist's capacity to be content with the
enjoyment of his own fun.
The way led through Grizzly Can
|on-by this time clothed IN funeral
drapery and shadows. The red
woods, burying their moccasined
feet in the red soil, stood in Indian
file along the track, trailing an un-
couth benediction from their bending
boughs upon the passing bier. A
hare, surprised into helpless inactiv-