Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-02-14

Ihe word was given, and the line, more
than hall mile long, began to move side
wise or platoon fashion, sweeping from the
road by the house across the clearing to the
woods. 1t was a grand charge upon the
great wilderness. The long platoon under
the instruction of their commander, swept
the woods bordering the clearing, and then,
doubling hack, made ssmicircular curves,
going deeper and deeper at each return into
the primeyal forest. The limit of their
marching and countermarching in one direc-
tiOn was a river too broad to be crossed bv
fallen trees it was sure that Willie could
not have crossed the river. The termination
of the marching in the other direction was
controlled by the judgment of the colonel.
1t, was magnificent tramp through the
wild, wet woods, under the giant trees, each
eye strained and expeetant of the lost boy.
Here and there, in advance Of the line as it
progressed, a partridge, aroused by the
voices Of the men, would start from the un-
dergrowth, and trip along for few steps
with her sharp, cOquettish gut, qlat, qlif,
and then whir away to some adjacent hollow,
to be soon again aroused by the advancing
line
The afternoon was wearing away The
woods had been thoroughly explored for
about two miles from the clearing,-far be
yond what it seemed possible for an infant
less than four years old to penetrate
The colonel said he could think Of nothing
more to be done The men returned in
struggling groups to the farmhouse, tired,
sad, hungry, and dispirited. There were
many Speculations whether Willie could be
still alive, and if alive whether he could get
through another night.
You see, said Josh, .'such 4 httle ieller,
and three days and two nights a victim and
freezin' and thawin' and no grub, why
he couldn't, don't you see ~
II was never found out, not even at
WhiSkey Hollow, where the men unyeiledall
their iniquities, who the wretch was that
first started the dark suggestion about the
murder of little Willie Dan became very
angry when the men. fatigued and iamiShed.
struggling back to the farmhouse from the
| diSorganized line n above narrated. began to
hint that things was tremendous queer,
and that ''them As lost could find, " and that
John, Nillie's father, was perfect hyena
when he was "mad
Dan, for the only time that day, became
profane as he denounced the sneak, whoever
1t might be, who had started such a Sugges-
ton. He expressed the conviction that the
tortune-woman had her foot in it in some
way. Superstitious fools, he said, were like
ly to be suspicious.
But Dams anathemas did not stay the
rising tide. As the seachers came back, SIS
picious glanceS were turned upon the father.
who sat with hisafflicted family at the house
Some Of the -earchers stealthilv examined
. b.s Lai-v l.,+ L.N
been knocked on the head" with fail and
concealed under the floor
But John, the father was no coward and
he had neighborS and friends who believed
in him. They told him Of the suspicious
arising against him. On the instant he
called a meeting at the little hove. of a
School-house, few rods down the road. The
| hundred searchers gathered there and filed
the room, sitting, lolling, and lying upon the
benches The father of the lost child. almost
a stranger to most Of the searchers. took his
place Mt the teachers desk and confronted
his accuseIs
1t was plain. direct work Here were a
hundred men who had exhausted all known
means of finding the lost boy and more
than fifty Of them had said in effect 10 the
man before them, I'VE think YOU killed
him" All were looking at John he rose
up and, facing the crowd with a dauntless
eve, he made a speech.
If this were story told by Homer or
Herodotus, | suppose Johns speech would
figure as a wonderful piece of eloquence for
q man never had grander opportunity to
try his strength in persuading others, than
John had. But in fact there was nothing
grand about the matter, except that here
was a straightforward man. with nerves OF
steel, who had been "hard HIT" rs Dan.
said, by the loss of his boy, and was now re
pelling with courage and almost Sc0rn a
thrust that might have killed a weaker man
His speech was grammatically correct,
cool, deliberate and dignifed. He said he
had no knowledge of the black hearted man
who had originated 50 cruel suspicion at
such a time, and he did not wish TO know
who he was. He asked his hearers to con-
slider how entirely without support in the
known facts Of the case the accusations were
that had been suggested against him. Ii
was a purely gntuit0us assumption, with
not particle of evidence of any kind to e.
tablish it. He had understood that he was
supposed to have killed his child in anger
and then concealed the body Such a thing
his own child or any other child in that way.
and if it had 50 happened he would not have
concealed it. lie only wished to brand this
creation Of some vile man, there present
probably, as lie That was all he had To
say upon that point.
In continuing his speech. when he al
luded 10 what he had suffered in losing the
boy he loved the best of anything on earth,
there was 4 twitching of the muscles of his
face, which, however. be instantly CON
trolled as unworthy of him. He closed his
speech by appealing to his friends, who
had known him long and well, to come
forward at this time and testify 10 hi, in
tegrity.
rs he ceased, the men rose up from the
benches and conyersed together freely of the
probabilities about John \ group Of three
or four gathered around him. and. placing
their hands upon his shoulders. told the
crowd that they had known John for twenty
years, and that he was incapable of murder
or perfdy or deceit, and as honest p man as
could be found in the county.
1t was decided not to search any farther
that day, as there was no prospect now that
Willie could be found alive The men weni
home, agreeing to come again after three
days, by which time the sleet and light snow
that had fallen would have all melted, and
search for the body might be successfully
made.
John went to his house. As he met his
afflicted family and realized that little Willie
was now gone, the search was given up and
his child was dead, his Spartan frmneSs
yielded, and he wept such tears as strong.
proud men weep when broken on the wheel
of life. The last cruel stab at his moral ma
ture and integrity hurt hard He was a
pure, upright man, church-memher, and
without reproach.
As the three DAYS were passing away that
were to elapse before the search for the body
should begin. it became apparent in the
community that Johns IIomeric speech had
done no good. The wise heads of Whiskev
Hollow declared that at the next search
there would be first Of all thorough over
hauling about the immediate premises.
Their suspicious found some favor in the
community. Some were discussing indig-
nantly and some with tolerance the proba-
bility Of Johns guilt Even good Deacon
Beezman, 4 magistrate who lived out on
the main road" and who was supposed to
carry in his own person at last half of the in
tegrity and intelligence of his neighborhood,
declared that he would not spend more Of
his precious time in searching for the boy.
He made it the chief point in the case that
John ''aeted guilty" He had noticed that
this rustic Spartan sat in his house and read
his newspaper with apparent interest as in
ordinary times, on the day of the last search.
and this Indifference was evidence Of his
guilt. 1t wasapparent that any color of
proof, if there had been any such thing,
might have served as a pretence for an arrest
of the afflicted father
The morning appointed as the time to seek
for the body came. The excitement was
! hiph and mon ca,oa from ,,rao+ d;-tanca. .,