The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-09-30
THE BUCKSON CASE.
BY EDWARD CRAPsEy.

BY EDWARD CRAPsEY
In the year 1851, Captain John Buck
son lived, with his wife Nancy, in hand
some cottage in the village of Seakonk
near Providence, Rhode Island, in th
enjoyment Of competence acquired b,
many years of frugal industry. He was
however, often absent from home, as h
still pursued his vocation, and was mas
ter of the sloop Oregon, plying between
Providence and Norfolk, Virginia.
He had then reached his fiftieth year
and his hard sea-faring life had not mad,
him look younger than he was. He wa
tall, gaunt and angular, weather-stainet
and storm-beaten. His short, stiff hal
was grizzled, and his long, narrow fac,
furrowed by deep lines, but his physica
powers appeared to be still untouched
and he seemed assured of long contin
uance of active life.
His temperament was favorable to 8
lusty longevity. He was patient, and
apparently so passionless that he stared
at the cares and troubles of life, as al
strangers with whom he could not posi-
bly, have dealings. He avoided quarrels
and all unseemliness, with scrupulous
care, and was krown on his vessel and
in his village only as a sedate, God.
fearing man, kind-hearted and even.
tempered.
But he had positive points in his
character, and the requisite friction
would produce the natural glow. AS in
all equable men, his anger burned with
dim light but intense heat; and hence
with him, knitting of the brows, or
twitchiDg of the hands, meant more than
the widest signs of passion in other men,
and his word of wrath was heavier than
the brawler's blow. But he so loved
peace, and so sedulously courted it, that
his most intimate associates remembered
as memorable epochs the rare occasions
when his temper had given way.
The only trouble of his life brooded on
his own hearthstone. Mrs. Nancy Buck
son was many years his junior in age,
and, in important respects, his opposite
in character. To her youth she added
comeliness of person. Though a thor
oughly good woman at heart she vet
embittered her life and his by constant
efforts to do more than her duty. Nerv-
Gus and irritable, she became fretfully
voluble in her assertions of her own mer-
its and his shortcomings. So, in the
summer of 1861, the neighbors began to
pity poor Captain John as a hen-pecked
husband, and the inroads of the wife
upon the domestic quietude were noticed
as of constantly increasing frequency
and bitterness. Captain John, however,
bore the infiction with his accustomed
patience.
But the end was at hand. One even
ing, in the last week of July, neighbor
james Pauls-in passing the house,
heard Nancy's tongue going at an unusual
rate, and, glancing through the window,
saw Buckson standing before her. He
seemed reused at last; and although
Pauls could not hear his words, he saw
the knitted brows and twitching hands,
in one of which a stout whipcord was
grasped. The scene was
indelibly stamped by after-events upon
the memory of the accidental witness,
and he could always see, even to the most
minute details, the enraged woman, con-
fronted by that quiet, concentrated man,
with his passion and fidgeting
with whipcord. At the time, however,
Pauls gave no especial weight to the
and, stopping at the viii
lage inn on his way home, only casually
to the inevitable loungers that
he "reckoned Nancy would keep on a
naggin' of Captain John until she riled
him."
The next morning the cottage was
closed and deserted, but the circumstance
lid fa Il De-
had gone to Providence to
prepare his sloop for sea, and Nancy had
] habit of making sudden pilgrimages to
the neighboring towns. The event, then,
was so far from being suspicious, that it
was not even unusual.
In those days a magnificent forest
stretched to the northward from the little
town, interspersed with patches of open
and, where the blackberry grewin great
abundance. This wonder and delight of
he American glades had fully ripened |
under the hot July sun, and the children |
,f the village were busily. employed in
gathering the fruit. That afternoon the |
patches were unusually crowded. One |
group of children started home lust |
before sundown, taking their way direct |
through the wood, without regard to
beaten paths. They had gone but short /
distance, when the little dog that was
With them stopped, and began to sniff |
'agerly at a spot of ground which ap-
,eared to have been recently disturbed.
living a long, mournful howl, the dog
cratched furiously with his paws in the
and, and in moment had uncovered
Iuman hand. Howling more mourn
ully than before, he bounded off couple
f feet, and tore at the ground with re-
|oubled energy. He soon completed his
ask, and the children saw woman's
ace, pale and rigid, imbedded in the
moist, clayey earth. With but one glance
t the horror, they dropped their pals
nd fed to the village. The dog detec-
i've remained yelping over the crime he
ad unearthed.
Every village, probably, has its sensa-
ion at some time, and that of Seakonk
anne with the stery of the children. As
he tidings spread from house to house,
he people gathered at the inn, and
agerly discussed what should be done,
nd who should do il. At last all the
,ale inhabitants, headed by the Squire,
caring a lantern, and piloted by the
started out TO investigate the
natter. But the pilots were not needed
. the dog still maintained the watch,
nd with his mournful howlings echoing
rough the dim woods. the partv could