The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-06-20

"I thought the fellow must be ma
MAC. and / did not know just what to
say; but presently replied that was
not certain whether I@aw it or not-lt
depended upon circumstances.
% He was silent for some moments
then he shivered and chartered his teeth.
"'Snow before morning, said he.
8" Perhaps so, said ], non-comm1ttal-
"; seems thickening up, but that may
be an optical Illusion
"Then he wanted to know If re-
membered what year Gen. Jackson was
elected president wasn't it in '52Y L
told him [ did not recollect. After
awhile he said carelessly:
'''They're talking, here at The BluH,
about running Ben Franklin for next
president.
~ made no reply. Then he came MP
to me and laid a hand on my shoulder.
'''See here, stranger said he, IS
there any subject you feel at home on
Have you got any hobby-any opinions?
'' / am not sue L 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.
'.sWelI 1 swear = said he, Disguised,
I'm going to jump over thes2 falls-
bet you five dollars l will !
u said nothing, and he continued !:
I shall be exactly three seconds and
a half getting to the bOttom-wont l
now p
"' Possibly. Maybe little more than
I that-may be a lit tie less-may be JUS
| that. | don't remember ever jumping
/ over, any cascades myself.
/ He gave me one look, laid II his
| hat. backed up to the brink of the prec-
/ ipice, and dropped himself down hang
/ ,ng on to the edge with his hands. Then
/ he let go, falling three hundred feet
/ into the boiling whirlpool below
/ MAY 1t please the court, shrieked
1 the little district attorney, lunging FOR
| ward upon his hind feet, - want 10 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 Won know this man you saw go
/ over the falls was Dave Thatcher? How
/ do you know it, sir %
Il don't know it. l know it was not
! he. For just before he let go the rock
/ he looked up at me, with his nose about
/ the edge and said
''' You think I'm Dave Thatcher,
don't you?'
Il told him ne might be, or he might
not.
go Just so ! said he desperately, as
his fingers began to slip. Bet you five
| dollars I amt >"
There was good deal of loose
talk in court after this, but the specta-
tors would not listen to it, and Bot
/ D-was triumphantly acquitted, be
ing borne through the town on thu
/ shoulders of the jury, to the music OF
a 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 1t 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."
q don't see what all this has 10 &c
with the question of the ACCESSIBILITY
OF swearing witnesses in cO7rt;
said I, when John had finished his
yarn.
Don't, Ell? It's got this to do with
it. There wasn't a prison the state
which I had not broken out of a thou
sand times. II I hadn't been put on my
Bible oath what was TO prevent my
telling a lie ? 80