The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-05-06
@istellany.
KILLING An OLD MAN.

Ii was shortly after the opening G
the great exhibition of 1851 that j sc
sail from England for the gold fields G
New South Wales, with q heart brin
full of hope and expectation, and pOck
cts, boxes and portmanteaus made q
sufficiently capacious dimensions {,
hold any amount of the precious meta
when found, in addition to my some
what scanty wardrobe.
Well do / remember the packing o
that black leather portmanteau, ant
the swallow-tailed coat that my mOthe
would insist upon putting in, although
having a presentiment that such arti
cles of apparel were not cOntD,c IL fan
at the gold fields, vigorously resisted
the measure. / also remember tht
many pairs Of warm socks that hat
been manufactured with sisterly afiec
ton and gray worsted, by the five girl.
from Julia the eldest, aged nineteen
down TO Susan the youngest, just turn
ed nine. Finally, / have a distinct
memory of how my maiden aunt, or
the strength of her sixteen stone weight
jumped upon the aforesaid portmanteau
and performed a kind of war-danct
| thereon, 20 as TO enable Tom uht
groom, and Mary the house-maid, tC
strap and lock it; aud how, after many
tears being shed by my father and mo-
thcr, my brothers and sisters, and my
maiden aunt in particular, | was
whisked away TO the railway station,
| in order to catch the 9.45 A. NJ. train for
| London.
| will not dwell Oh the voyage out,
4 ln,.n,.,-a 4 ,,,ttn1, lil-a nf hnr
voyages. Suffice it to say that in just
"a hundred days We arrived at Sidney,
the capital of New South Wales, and
here discovered that the favOrite gold
field of the day was at Ophir, near Ba-
thurst, 1i5 miles up the country. Here
some tremendous 1inds had lately been
made, and people had been turning up
nuggets like an Irisbmau shovcls up
potatoes.
In due time, after a fOrnights weary
Journey in All OK cart, which also coll
tanned my cradle, my pick and shovel,
my tent and other camp requisites, as
well as all my personal luggage, ar
rived at the gold fields.
found Ophir then peculiar and yet
romantic-looking place. Two hills rose
in pyramid shape toward the sky,
both covered with gentle undulations,
both thinly timbercd to their SUBMITS.
The lower slopes of these hills were
thickly dotted with diggcr's tents, and
the Summer Hill creek wound right
around their base.
At the time | reached this gold field
the diggings there were estimated to
cover an extent of 800 miles, though
eight months previously the existence
of fgold in any part of Australia was ut
terly unknown.
lost no time in pitching my tent
and making out claim, and "a hours
later ! was as hard at work aS the rest
of them.
My tent was pitched in close proXim-
ity to one occupied by two strong, bur-
ly fellows of the old convict class, or at
least such ! set them down TO be, on
account of the odd way i'm which fam
cied each of them lifted the left leg in
walking-a peculiarly appertaining to
most men who have been accustomed
to prcambulatc in leg-irons for any
lengthy period. These men were al
ways very civil to me, and of course i
was the same TO them; and yet some
how or other I contracted u dread of
them, which 4 could neither overcome
nor combat and when sometimes one
or the other of them would stroll up,
pipe in mouth, TO the edge of my pit, |
and ask me how | WAS getting OIL, l
used to fancy that il was only done to
see whether was turning up anything
good, and consequently worth robblng;
and i used TO conceal my gold in all
sorts of out-of-the-way places 10 eludc |
their suspected designs.
One night i heard u horrid revelation |
that confirmed all my suspicious
against these men. And now [ come |
TO the Very subject matter of my story. |
] have said that my tent adjoined |
that of my two mysterious acquaint- |
anccs; in fact, the canvass Of one tent |
touched that of the other; aud from |
my tent | could hear the conversation |
they carried on in theirs very plainly. |
/ had never before listened TO their dis |
course, but one night, just aS i WAS re- |
firing To bed, | heard one say to the |
other: "Ncs, this little knife did il for |
him; ! killed the old man with one
blow, sir
The horrible admission staggered me, |
and | felt that ] must listen To the end /
of the discourse now, at whatever risk |
TO myself; 80 ! glued my car 10 The |
canvass in time TO hear his mate re- |
join: :" Did you now" And did the |
fellow resist YOU"
Faith, and hc did, replied The as
saSsin. 4" He graspcd me Till lac nearly |
pressed the life out of me, and tried to |
rip me up with his spur; but | drove !
the knife into him up TO the hilt, and /
then cut his head off,
Bravo, Charlie ~ cried the other; /
A" that makes the seventh ol man /
we've killed since our arriya. in The |
Colonies, don't it"'
"No, the eighth" was the reply (
" Don't YOU remember the black icl-
low.n /
ooh, aye, to bc sure, right you are
said the other; but what have YOU |
done with the illiIstriouS dead in this /
present instance" I
Why, | left the body in the bush, !
with the exception of the legs, which
are here i'll the tent
The conversation here ceased, and |
was not resumed; in fact, Il stentorian !
snoring sound soon told me that it was /
very improbable that l would be 50 for /
that night at least; SO | crcpt into my !
bed, net TO sleep, (how could | after SO |
horrible discovery but 10 reflect !
upon all that | had heard.
"Thc eighth old mar they had kill !
cd, and one of them an unfortunate 4
black fellow. Oh, tie wretchcd mis- /
creants - | muttercd to myself; and {
then my mind wandered away, and i /
wondered why il was that they always /
mmIccd old men-how it was that /
their last victim tried TO rip his MUIR /
dcrcr up with a spur, such AN cNtraor
diuary weapon of defence, and what on .
earth had induced the assassin to cut /
oil his victims legs aud bring them |
into his tent. At last. however, did |
sink into disturbed, unreircshing |
>lunlbcr, and WAS afflicted 10y fright
lul dream, in which f;sncied that one !
of my ncNt-iuor neiyhbors was kucc!- |
mS Oh my chest, and cutting my throat |
from ear to car.
My dream had, in fact, some slight |
foundation, for | was awakened bysN
rouSl, hand shaking me by the sholIl-
der; and my eyes, on opening thcm;S
rested on the rough, bearded face of the .
very man had been dreaming of. !.
was about 10 scream murder .'''
FOR thought that my last hour had !
come; but glancing around saw that
il was broad daylight, and that the fel- !
low was merely asking me for Il match
10 Ii~ht his pipe with. Til, | immc- (
diltcIy gave linn, and he went away
with u nIuttcrcd expression of thanks.
That day, instead of going to work,
..,.t niit Tnr the tent OF the policc ,.o,u-