The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-02-12
THE MURDERER'S ORDEAL.


my proclivity Tor reading the character
OF man from his face; and finally be.
came such an adept In the art that
could occasionally guess the very
thoughts OF the individual whose counte.
nance was studying.
Soon after the gold lever broke out, !
went to California; and here / must con-
tess, among what else there was to inter
est me, l had grand opportunity for eX-
ercising my skill upon all SORTS of faces,
and under all sorts Of circumstances,
from the highest success to the deepest
despair OF failure. first tried my luck
ut digging myself, but soon tired OF that,
and believing l could get money faster
and with less labor, | opened kind OF
grocery ana provision stOre,, and went
regularly into The business OF trade, buy
ing most OF my articles at Sacramento,
getting them hauled to my quarters, and
dIsposing of them at o lair advance TO
the miners and others.
My store, as i dignified my place of
trade, consisted OF u rude skeleton OF
poles with u sutficiency OF cheap muslin
drawn over them and pinned down to
The earth, and was stocked only with the
most salab!e articles, of which flour,
pork and whisky found the most ready
market, especially whisky. ln the dry
season it was very dusty, and everybody
seemed to be dry with a thirst whicn
mere water would not qIench. If II mnn
was successful, he wanted whisky to
to bring his body up to the altitude of his
spirits; if unsuccessful, he wanted
Mhsky to bring his spirits UP to the al
titude of his body; if it chanced to be u
little cool, he wanted. whisky 10 warm
HIM; lit was very hot, he wanted whisky
TO cool him; he needed whisky in the
morning to make him bright ana active !;
he needed whisky AT night to rest him
and make him sleep well; he wanted it
Ewhen he bought and when he soltl; when
he won, ana whenhe lost; when ne stood
up and when lie sat down; i'll short,
whisky was the great regulator OF ali
human fceiings-tne genuine ellxir vitae
and consequently l did al immense
business in whi ky.
| Now this, though somewhatirrelevant,
brings me TO my story.
My store being the headquarters of
that locality ior whisky and provisions,
l WAS brought into contact with nearly
every specimen Of the genus. homo that
veniured in that region; and such anoth-
er cunglomeralion OF while, black and
| ret-such another mixture OF gentlemen,
| iaborers, mountaineers, gamblers,
| thieves, and IL ssassins--it would br hard
to find outside the limits of California.
OF course / had chance to study all
sorts of faces to my hearts content, bu,
having as have said, become an adept
in The art, on ordinary countenance, OF Il
man governed by ordinary passions,
whether gentle or british did not inter-
est me. wanted to get hold OF what is
termed character, or one whose eXter-
nal would give no indication OF his inter-
nal to any but q connoisseur; or one that
would really puzzle you to tell what to
think Of him.
| Among the many, such j at length
found. Al first did not notice him
did not think Of him. At casual glance
there was nothing to distinguish him
from the herd. lie came in quietly, un-
obtrusively, purchased a quantity OF
-four, pork and tea, paid for the same in
gold dust, and went out about his busi-
ness. lie repeated his visits at different
intervals, perhaps some halt dozen
times. before he attracted my attention
to anything peculiar i'll his appearance,
and then j should have been at loss to
say what saw more In him at last than
at first.
He was apparently about twenty-five
years of age, of medium height and slen-
der figure, of q dark complexion, regular
features, with dark, stlaigbt hair, dark
eyes, and Il beard that covered the lower
part OF his face--in all OF which there was
nothing notwithstanding striking.
He was qu!et--nOt talkative; had noln-
ing to sny except about the business he
came on; got what he wanled when
was disengaged, paid for what he got
like Il gentleman, and generally retired
with an ordinary good day." or some
similar civIlity. And yet, AS Ihave said,
be began TO attract my attention ut last,
ana began to wonder why. Was it be-
cause he was so quiet, reserved and gen.
tiemanly, ana did not purchase whisky
like the rest, and occasionally get eX-
cited and boisterousS AT all events he
had begun to interest Inc in some way {;
and the very fact, perhaps, that l could
not tell how or why, led me into closer
scrutiny, deeper study OF the man.
Alter this prolonged his visits as
much as l could without causing him to
suspect | did SO Intentionally. The
things he wanted l generally haa some
difficulty in getting, and flied up the in
teryal by remarks about the weather, the
country, the mines, the success OF some
and the failure OF 9th rS-iD a word, any
thing could think about TO induce con-
versation, watching him furtively ali the
while. He answered easily and readily,
and yet with that peculiar kind OF re-
serve that was not suggestive OF tending
toward familiarity. HIS replies. bowev-
| eF, eVlDCeu hdu Vi lullu anu cuuCdtiOu,
and began 10 give him credit l0r beinga
thinker-perhaps practical and selfish
dreamer, if l may use a paradoXical term
that best expresses my idea.
One day, L scarcely know how, !
touched upon the general snperslitions
OF mankind, and, to my surprise, saw
that at last he was interested. His eye
changed expression AMI Frightened. and
emitted strange and peculiar gIeam;
and my attention being thus directed TO
his eye, nov bethought me that l had
never seen one exactly like it-one tapa-
bic OF being SO apparently open down to
the soul while concealing SO much. 1t
| was Off its guard now; the door was
really open to the soul oil the man; and /
looked in at the door of thai opening,
and saw that the soul Of that man was a
dark one. A rameless fear came over
me; q strange thrill passed through me,
like an electric shock; felt an electric
| shudder ei dread. No wonder had not
been able to read him beiore--the man
had been wearing an impenetrable mask.
now had the hey OF the mystery, an6 TO
him. aud ! used it. He was interested
| in superstitions--he was superstitious
himself. WhyY Good men may be su-
perstitious; bad men always are, because
they carry hell of wild iancies within
/ tbuo wi thia r,,.n 7