Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1871-03-17

anu lOOACu at illli dShdHCc. IC Oit
father tore his hair and pleaded fol
mercy. But there was no mercy IL
any heart there. The avengers were
all powerful. The great -Oom adorn-
ed for festival and mirth was turned
into a court room. The women were
thrust from it, the men remained. On
/ the raised stand where the fddlers
had been seated, Harry Bray now took
his seat in the character of Judge
Lynch, The jury was named. the
| mock trial hurried on, the accused
! called upon to answer. He pleaded
not guilty. Hedenied any knowledge
/ of the fact that Il grave lay SO near his
| home. He persisted i'll the repetition
| of the statement that he had found the
horse and saddle bags, but he admitted
that there had been money in the lat
! ter.
He stood before them looking very
unlike murd ,rer, calling on them
! for justice-calling Oh God to witness
the truth of his words; speaking OF
his young wife and his old father: bid
| ding his neighbors remember that he
had never done them any wrong.
But Judge Lynch has no mercy, no
compassion, no belief in the pOssibili-
ty of false accusation; and this Judge
Lyme b was an avenger Of blood. The
end was what the end Of such a trial
generally is: the sentence, the awful
one of death; and in less than three
hours from the moment on which
they first saw the bridegroom hap
py and blythe, standing with his
bride at the head of the gay country
dance, his body dangIed, a horrible
sight to look upon, from the branch of
the tree that shadoWed what all be-
iieVed to be his victims grave!
When all was over they found the
ol father dead in his chair, beside the
fireplace. and found among the women
a hopeless gibbering maniac, whom
they would hardly have known for
the rosy-Cheeked young bride.
They were revenged, but at what
cost? The two men returned to their
homes, saddened and altered, yet nol
rem0rsetul, for they had but revengcd
their cOmrade; and this TO them, SEEM
ed common justice. The legal code of
border life had been adhered to; bu-
for the last look at the mad bride hey
could scarcely have recognized how
awful all this had been. They lived on
poor Charley, ana fancying that in
some other world he might even know
how well they had revenged them
selves upon his murderer.
And so five years passed; and one
day the two went together into a coffee
room kept by an old FIenchman in
the city Of San Francisco, and. being
in low spirits, out of luck, and with
slender purses, were sitting disconso-
lately over their meal, when a hand
came down on each shoulder, and q
voice cried, Found at last! I've
searched the city for you. Heaven
bless you. dear boys" :"
1t was Charles Chester. handsome
and cheerful, Wel-dresscd and wcll-tc-
do looking; Charles Chester, whose
murderer they belle we'd themselves to
have lynched years before
And this was the story lie told them,
wondering at their pallid looks aud
-. Is .~,.,.,; silence lie while: -" l.
money he had with him being in gold
and heavy for his belt, he placed it in
his saddle bags and had completed ina~
ny miles of the journey, when, II o
a new but apparently deserted ttwell-
ing, he saw man lying, groaning ter
ribiy. DismOunting, he assisted him,
and found that he was traveller who
had been set upon by rui1ianS, and
robbed and wounded. He. had crawl
ed to this house for assistance, but
found ii empty, and LOW lay dying III
The road. Charles Chester had done
his best for tie poor fellow hut with
out avail. He died in his arms just
as the sun went down; and, by its fa-
ding light, he had dug a grave on the
turf before the empty house. and
there buried him. There was no one
in sight and his fears of an attack
upon himself warned him to hurry
on; bnt when the last sad rites were
over, and he turned to remOunt his
horse it was gone. The animal mad es
capped into the woods, and, with night
coming on, all search seemed hopeless.
The money III the Saddle-bags render
ed the loss a maddening one. He tread
ed his way through the underbrush,
darkness hid all objects; and, at last,
tree, he fell to the ground insensible.
When he came to himself, he was
lyin. in a wagon, to which he had
been conveyed by a kindly German
who conld STEAK no English. In fall
ing, he had broken his arm, and was
very weak and i'll. Before he was able
TO comm unicate his story to any one,
all hope of recovering either horse or
moupy had deserted him. He was in
DESPAIR. He could not assist his pa
rents. To return to hls friends would
be to cast-himseli upon their bounty.
This he would nOU do; and hi> strug-
giles had been great al first but they wele
over now. He had done well by the
old folks, and had returned 10 pay has
debts and resume his friendship with
hls old friends"
He was with them-he lived. The
farmer had doubtless told the truth
lie did not even know why the turf
mad grown so green in the little yard,
and he had found the horse at large
in the woods, and knew nothing OF
The rider; but the thing had been done
and could not be undone-the dead
brought to lie, or the maniac's mind
restored, or the blood washed from the
hands.
Of course they told their story, and
of course they believed their friend
ship as warm as ever; but 1t was not
so. They never would meet each
other again as OF yore. Tie two could
not forget the man they had lynched
to avenge their friend, AID doubted
the propriety of his returning alive
and merry to trouble their consciences,
which were quiet enough as long as
he seemed dead. AS for Charles
Chester. he cleared the murdered mans
memory among his neighbors, and
saw the wild-eyed, white-faced wo-
man, who only shook her head and
moanc1 and muttered when he spoke
To her; and then he too was content to
saw goodbye TO those who had done
the deed-alheit for his sake.
So she three parted, each going his
own way, for thus it seemed to forget
the deed done by Judge Lynch and
his court upon the day of the brides
coming home.
The Deadly Climate CT San De-
uaiEg0.
The climate of san Domingo has
been fully tested by white men, and
found to be deadly To them. Z. Quix-