The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1872-04-19
g4@isfellaneans.
CHAINED TO A ROCK.
A Rro,her's Terrible Revenge

or or CHAINED TO A ROCK.
10 A Brothers, Terrible Revenge.
b. Before gold mines. oil wells an
no diamond fields had developed the
ou attractions ard prscticslitles for ii
Ut adventurous spirits OF this countr.
in the fur trade of the farther Nortl
); west enlisted the energies of numel
25 Gus speculative characters, anon
25 whom were two young men from S
g Louis, who, from havlrg been plal
25 mates in boyhood and inseparabl
e friends at college, became partners i
s5 a scheme of Indian trading for th
s richer spoils of the hunt. Both wer
3 orphans-the nearest living relstlv
possessed by either was a sister +
e the elder of the twc-and ,bere wer
:. consequently no domestic ties I,
q keep them back from the wi,ds O
= limit their absence thither Ascend
y ing the Missouri river to the appoint
q ed trading grounds, they entered
. upon the coDjoint adventure in The
" true, all-absorbed energy of success
% and from the first month prospered
% beyond all their expectations, .and
o reaped profits proportionate to early
o wealth. In little mole than two
years, indeed, the biotherly firm
9 were rich enough TO have gone back
. to civilization and lived at ease for
9 the remainder OF their lives; but, as
. already told, they had no social exi.
y gencies 10 call them back, and hav-
ing contracted a fondness for their
, new occupation, they stayed On and
on indefinitely. Once year, how
ever, they repaired to st. Louis to
sell their furs and divide and invest
the profits /; and upon one of these
occasions the sister before mentioned
persuaded her brother to take her
back 10 the wilderness, that she
might observe for herself the many
wonders he bad SO often described.
Thus during the ensuing year the
rancho of the friends st the head
waters of the Missouri was graced
by the presence of an amateur "hun-
tress," who, when the time came for
her return home, was reluctant to
leave, and doubly SO because her
brother Glanced to have a sickness
which prevented his departure with
herself and his partner on the usual
annual business trip to the city. The
trip must be made, however, and it
would he her only opportunity OF
going for a year so, with what for
titude was avsilable under the Cir
cumstances, she bade the invalid a
loving goodbye, and went home
ward in tie care OF the younger
member of the firm. Left to himself,
or with the company OF Indians only,
the sick man pined until his partners
return with an unusually large div
idend, and an account of the young
lady's safe arrival in st. Louis gave
him energy 10 comba. and to conquer
the fever of whiofhe was a victim.
Thenceforth the friends trapped and
traded as before for several months,
at the end of which time a midwinter
letter from the city TO the elder of
the men almost killed him with the
dreadful news that his sister had be-
come a maniac, and that it was bis
lifelong friend who had made her
such. 1t was another friend who
wrote, and the words were few, hut
to the point. The brother happened
to be alone when reading them, and
was thus able to master his first furi.
GUS impulse for immediate signal re
venge upon the traitor. and subdue
his frcnzied feelings to the cooler de-
liberation of a scheme for retribution
as pitiless as the offence had been.
When his partner came in heexplain-
ed the pallor of his countenance by
pretending temporary faintness, and
resumed bis daily pursuits as though |
the message from home had been the |
most ordinary Of enclosures. His
treachsrous friend must die; but in |
dying he must be compelled to en-
dure agonies as lingering as those
ne had inflicted; and while the self
appointed minister of justice followed
his usual ayoestion he planned the
revenge that should be worthy the |
wrong. When the next stock of |
furs was packed for transportation |
down the Ilver, the aveDger made |
some excuse for brief visit to Fort |
Benton, where he procured of law
yer the execution of will, leaving
the testator's name blank.
Then returning to the ,anche, he
proposed that instead of going down
the river for their market, this time
they sould go overland together on
horseback TO Fort Kearney, intercept
the boats with their stock where the
River Platte empties into the Missou-
ri, and take the furs up the former
stream to Fort Laramie, where they
could establish kind of enterpot of
their business to probable great ad-
vantage The idea seemed so plaus-
ible 10 the younger man that he ap-
proved it without hesitation, and
started Immediately with the proiec-
tor on the ov, rland journey, accom-
panied only by pack-mule bearing
provisions for the way. Travelling
many days in this style-the one
wholly unsuspicious Of the others
dark purpose-the two men finally
reached the banks of the Platte, down
which they followed the overland
trail to a place called Bernard's
Rancho, on the North fork of the
stream, near the "Chimney Rock,'
and between Julesburg and Fort
Laramie. Here they paused, to rest,
and fere, in q deep canon, walled by
lofty rocks, and lonely in immemori-
al, gloomy solitude, the doomed man
was persuaded to take a MONDAY
sleep from which the awakening was
to be more terrible than the most
guilty dream. Drugged by liquor
which the other had given him, in
seeming convivial banter before he
slept, the doomed traitor awoke to
find himself securely chained, hand,
foot and neck, to a great rock, while
before him, with eyes afisme with
rage, stood the brother who had
waited so long and patiently for this
atonement. "At first" relates
western correspondent of the Phila-
delphia Press, repeating the story,
"the bound wretch thought it was
some rough joke practiced upon his
coursge, and returned the glare of
his partners eyes with a ghastly
smile; but when that partner pro-
duced from his pocketthe mid-winter
letter, and read it deliberately word
by word to the hollow echoes of the
gloomy canyon,the smile disappeared
in look of deep despair. He con-
fessed all, and asked to be shot, but
the brother had another fate in store
for his victim. Coolly encsmping by
the rock, he sat down to see his part
ner starye to death. On the third
day the ill-fated man signed the