The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-03-12


One day, I scarcely know how.
touched upon the general superstitiops
OF mankind, and, to my surprise. saw
that ne was interested. His eye changed
expression, and frightened, and emitted
strange and peculiar CLEAN: and INV
attention being thus directed to bis eve
i now bethought me that I had never
seen one exactly like it-one capable of
beng so apparently open down to the
soul while concealing SO much. It was
on lSs guard now; the door was really
open 20 the soul ef the man; and looked
IN as she door OF that opening, and saw
one. A nameless fear came over me,
like an electric shock; ] felt an electric
shudder of dread. No wonder / had not
Deen able to read him before; the man
mad been wearing an impenetrable mask.
had the key of the mystery, and to
him, and 1 used it. He was Interested
IN supersGGons-he was superstitious
himself. Why2 Good men may be super
stlhous; bad men always are, because
they carry hell of wild fancies within
them. Thus it was with this man, as I
could see by his eye, and I made his
fancy work upon him. told him sto-
mes of sorcery, of witchcraft and magic,
of ghosts, hobgoblins and devils till he
became pale with fear, breathed with
compressed lips and trembled, in spite of
his great nerve and skill
Ii good men, as have said, are some
times superstihous, why, you ask, did I
think this man superstitious also
First, answer, because I had acci-
dentally thrown him off his guard and
read his soul; and secondly, because he
was not naturally nervous and credulous.
Fear could only arise from the self-con-
victed knowledge of a past wicked deed.
The man was even then a criminal.
| But let me hasten along to the denoue-
| ment.
| 1t CHANGED that no other person was
present when this conversation occurred
! about the superstitious fancies of men,
! and as soon as we were interrupted by
| the entrance of another customer my
dark visitor left somewhat abruptly
After that he did not come so often as he
| did before, and never renewed the con-
versation that had SO agitated him, and
| never, in fact, entered into any other
| that he could possibly avoid. / Kept my
thoughts to myself, but made some cas-
| ua1 inquiries about him, and learned
that he had been so fortunate as to Sc
cure capital 't lead, from which, with
his partner, another young man, he was
taking out gold in quantities that prom
ised to enrich beth, and that both had
the goodwill and esteem of all who
| knew them.
One dark night, about three or four
weeks after this, was startled from
my sleep by wild, prolonged shrieks,
and cries of '' Murder murder help |!
! help I"
I jumped, seized my revolver, and
darted out into the open air The cries
! and screams still continued, coming
from bend of the river about hun
dred rods below. In a minute I was
joined by five others, all well armed, and
together we ran as hard as we could to
the place from which the alarm proceed
ed. When we arrived there at least
thirty men were collected in and around
the tent of the dark man / have been
describing, and he it was who had given
the alarm. His partner and companion
had been murdered and robbed, and he
himself had been slightly cut across
the face and gashed ON the left arm, and
he was all excitement, 1amenting his
dearest friend, and vowing vengeance
against the assassin. 1t was some time
before we could get at the particulars.
and we then learned that both had been
sleeping side by side, when an unknown
roblser had crawled under the light can
vas, stabbed one to the heart, and taken
large bag of gold from under his head.
With this he was escaping when the
present narrator awoke and seized him.
and received the wounds which had
compelled him to relinquish his hold.
Lights were brought, and there, sure
enough, was the bloody confirmation of
all that had been related.
shall make no attempt to portray the
intense excitement, the wild rage and
CONSERVATION which this daring murder
occasioned. Every man felt that, if the
assassin escaped without his Just pun
lshment, there would no longer be Sc
cur1ty for any one in our hitherto quiet
and peaceful valley, and solemn oaths
were taken to hang the wretch, if found.
upon the nearest tree.
large reward was offered for his de-
lection, and every gambler that had ever
been seen about there was more or less
suspected, and believe that, had anv
man been arrested on the following dav.
he would have been hung first and tried
afterward. I said less than any, for I
had my own suspicious, and I contrived
my plot In secret, and made confidant
of no one.
The murdered young man was as de-
Gently buried as surrounding circum-
stances would permit, and his compan-
ion, my superslGous friend, grew more
moody with grief, and refused to work
hls lead any more, and proposed
selling OF his rock and tools, and quit
ting the country altogether. I think he
would have gone at once, only that
told him it would not look well to leave
without an effort to discover the muir
derer, as some people might be mali
cious enough to say he knew something
Of the matter, and So get him into trouble.
He turned very pale, and declared he
would stay year If he thought by that
means he could discover the assassin of
his dear, dear friend.
On the second afternoon following the
tragedy, almost every individual in the
vicinity, the friend of the murdered man
among the rest, assembled at my store at
my particular request. had told them
/ had something to communicate concern
ing the foul deed, and thought it not
unlikely I should give them some clue to
the assassin.
When all had collected, and arranged
themselves as had directed, In a semi
circle before my door-eager, expectant,
eKcited-I came forward, holding IN my
hand an egg. Then made them q short
speech on the superstitions of mankind.
which i contended had their origin in
mysterious facts revealed from the other
world by Gods good providence for the