The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-06-25

'I thought the fellow must be ma
MAC, and 1 did not know Just what to
say but presently replied that I was
not certain whether saw It or MOTT
depended upon circumstances.
He was silent for some moments;
then he shivered and chartered his teeth.
Snow before morning. said he.
." Perhaps so, said ], non-committal-
ly; seems thiekening up, but that may
be an optical Illusion
"Then he wanted to know if I re-
membered what year Gen. jackson was
elected president wasn't it in '52P I
told him L did not recollect. After
awhile he said carelessly:
"'They're talking, here at The Bluff,
about running Ben Franklin for next
president
CT made no reply. Then he came up
to me and laid hand on my shoulder.
See here, stranger, said he, SIS
there any subject you feel at home on ?
Have you got any hobby-any opinions?
g am not sue I replied some
people have opinions, and some don't
have any. Some that do have them
don't have them all the time; and those
that have them all the time often forget
Them
"'Well swear ? said he, Disguised,
I'm going to jump over these falls
bet You five dollars will 7
81 said nothing, and he continued
I shall be exactly three seconds and
half getting to the bottom-won't /
now?
$50 Possibly. Maybe little more than
that-maybe a little less-maybe JUS
that. I don't remember ever jumping
over any cascades myself.
Ia orava ma Ona look laid # his
hat, backed up to the brink of the prec-
ipice, and dropped himself down hang
ing on to the edge with his hands. Then
he let go, falling three hundred feet
into the boiling whirlpool below =
May it please the court" shrieked
the little district-attorney, lunging for
ward upon his hind feet, 90 want to put
one question to this witness now You
say, sir, you had never seen the de-
ceased Mr. Thatcher up to the moment
you met him on that rock-and never
heard of any of his relations. Now, sir,
on your oath, on your Bible oath, sir
how Go you know this man you saw go
over the falls was Dave Thatcher? How
do you know it, sir %
=" don't know it. I know it was not
he. For Just before he let go the rock
he looked up at me, with his nose about
the edge ana SAID
"'You think I'm Dave Thatcher,
don't you?'
81 told him he might be, or he might
not.
Just so ! said he desperately, as
his fingers began to slip. Bet you five
dollars amt ,"
"There was a good deal of loose
talk in court after this, bat the specta-
tors would not listen to it, and Bob
D-was triumphantly acquitted, be-
ing borne through the town on the
shoulders of the jury, to the music of
brass band and the cheers of the
whole population.
"But Dave Thatcher's widow per-
sisted in putting up a handsome head
| stone over the remains of the unknown
| dead, and was going to have it inscribed
with her late husbands name, and what
she still regarded as the manner of his
death, when Bob stopped the proceed
ings by marrying her"
" ] don't see what all this has to do
with the question of the ACCESSIBILITY
of swearing witnesses in co1rt, u
said /, when John had finished his
yarn.
"Don't, Ell? It's got this to do with
it. There wasn't prison in the state
which I had not broken out of a thou
sand times. If hadn't been put on my
Bible oath what was to prevent my
telling a lie p"