The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1870-05-06
YiseFlIang.
KILLING AN OLD NAN.

sail from England for tie gold fields OF
| New South Wales, with a heart brim
! full of hope and expectation, and pOck-
| cts, boxes and pOrtmanteaus made OF
sufficiently capacious dimensions to
| hold any amount of the precious metal
| when found, in addition to mysome-
what scanty wardrobe.
| Well do I remember the packing of
| that black leather pOrtmanteau, and
| the sWaIloW-taiIed coat that my mother
would insist upon putting in, although,
! having a presentiment that. such arti-
cIes of apparel We're not CONNIE IL fdut
at the gold fields, l vigorously resisted
! the measure. I also remember the
many pairs of warm socks that had
been manufactured with sisterly affec-
/ ton and gray WOTsted, by the five girls
from Julia the eldest, aged nineteen,
down to Susan the youngest, just turn
ed nine. Finally, / have distinct
memory Of how my maiden aunt, on
the strength of her sixteen stone weight,
| jumped upon the aforesaid pOrtmanteau
and performed a kind of war-dance
| thereOn,t so as to enable Tom the
/ groom, and Mary the house-maid, to
strap and lock it; and how, after many
I tears being shed by my father and mo-
| ther, my brothers and sisters, and my
maiden aunt in particular, l was
"
/ in order to catch the 8. .45 a. NJ. train for
London.
s will not dwell on the voyage out,
/ because it was very much like other
/ voyages. Suffice it to say that in just
q hundred days we arrived at Sidney,
the capital of New South Wales, and
/ here I discovered that the favOrite gold
field of the day was at Ophir, near Ba-
| thur5t, 145 miles up the country. Here
some tremendous finds had lately been
made, and people had been turning up
nuggets like an ITiShman ShOvelS up
! potatoes.
In due time, after a fornight's weary
! journey in an OK cart, which also con-
tanned my cradle, my pick and shovel,
my tent and other camp requisites, as
we'll as all my personal luggage, L ar
rived at the gold fields.
L found Ophir then peculiar and yet
rOmantic-loOking place. Two hills rose
in a pyramid shape toward the sky,
! both covered with gentle mdulatiOns,
both thinly timbered to their SUBMITS.
( The lower slopes of these hills were
thickly dotted with digger'5 tents, and
/ the Summer Hill creek wound right
around th&
/ At the time I reached this gold field
! the diggingS there were estimated to
cover an extent of 800 miles, though
eight months previously the existence
/ of gold in any part of Australia was ut
/ terly unknown.
/ 1 lost no time in pitching my tent
and making out Il claim, and 2t hours
/ later was as hard ut work as the rest
of them.
My tent was pitched in close proNim-
ity to one occupied by two strong, bur-
/ ly fellows of the old convict class, OF at
least such | set them down to be, on
account of the odd way in which l fan
cied each of them lifted the left leg in
Walking-a popularity appertaining to
most men who have been accustomed
to preambulate in Ieg-irons for any
lengthy period. These men were al
ways very civil to me, and of course L
was the same to them and yet some
how or other I contracted a dread of
them, which could neither overcome
nor combat; and when sometimes one
Tor the other of them would stroll up,
pipe in mouth, to the edge of my pit,
and ask me how / was getting on, |
used to fancy that it was only done to
see whether l was turning up anything
] good, and consequently worth rObbing;
and used to conceal my gold in all
sorts of Out-Of-the-way places to elude
I their suspected designs.
! One night / heard a hOTrid revelation
that confirmed all my suspicious
! against these men. And now 1 come
| to the very subject matter of my story.
! I have said that my tent adjOined
that of my two mysterious acquaint-
ances in fact, the canvass of one tent
touched that of the other and from
my tent could hear eTc0nversation
they carried on in theirsgyery, plainly.
L had never before listened to their dis
course, but one night, just as INyas re-.
firing TO bed, / heard one say to the
4 other: " Yes, this little knife did it for
! him ] killed the old man with one.
blow, sir"
The horrible admission staggered me-
and l felt that must listen to gthe end
of the discourse now, att whatever FISK
to myself; so I glued ear to the
* in. time to mate re-
,.voH did the
pressed
rip me drove
, the knis and
. Bravo Charlie @criedS the other.
"that makes the seventh oil man
f we've killed since our arriYa! i'm the
- Colonies, don't it?p
r. No, the eighth,7 was the reply
" DON'T you remember the black fel
Iow?"
ooh, aye, to be sure, right you are,
said the other; but what have yoJ
{ done with the illustriOus dead in thi,
| present instance ?N
Il Why, [ left the body in the bush
5 with the exception of the legs, which
are here i'll the tent"
: The conversation here ceased, ant
|. was not resumed; in fact, a stentOFial
= snoring sound soon told me that il wa
t very improbable that would be so 70
f that night at least; sol crept into IN!
e bed, not to sleep, chow could / after 81
}. horrible a diScOYeTy?) } but to reffec
Il upon all that had heard.
@ "The eighth old man they had kill
G ed! and one of them an unfOrtunat
V black fellow. Oh, the Wretched mis-
G creants - L muttered to myself; am
Z then my mind wandered away, and
II wondered why it was that they alWay
u murdered old men-hOW 1T was tina
It their last victim tried to rip his muI
II deTcr up with a spur, such an eXtraor
l. binary weapon Of defence, and what o.
IS earth had induced the assassin to Gu
J off his victims legs and bring theL
r, into his tent. At last, however, l eli
il sink into disturbed, unrefreshin
ie slumber, and was afflicted by fright
- ful dream, in which l fancied that on
,d of my neXt-door neighbors was knee
< ing on my chest, and cutting my thros
sd from ear to ear.
lie My dream had, in fact, some sligl
sd foundation, for I was awakened by
d. rough hand shaking me by the shOu
der; and my eyes, on opening then
of rested on the rough, bearded face of til
of very man I had been dreaming of.
in I was about to scream "murder
~ for [ thought that my last hour ha
+ come; but glancing around | saw tn;
V. il was broad daylight, and that the fe
u low was merely asking me lot 4 mate