Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1876-03-29

his danger.
81 shall weary you with my long
story. Let it suffice that there was
examination after examination, and
to my horror my brother was plac-
ed in the witness box to confront
me; and he did so quietly, and
without shade of emotion, save
at last, when he broke down, and
the magistrate told him that his
display of feeling was most credit
able to him.
81 was astonished te see how a
net was closing in round me-inno-
cent words and deeds now seemed
to have suddenly taken q guilty
color, and at last, to my horror, !
was committed for trial, bail being
refused.
"John came to me then, and fac
ed me trenblingly in the prison;
but l turned my back upon him,
and would not speak unless he came
to me as a suppliant.
Gle came again, this time beg
ging me to hear him.
"'Ned, Ned, old fellow he cried
sobbing like a child, Il own I did it
but / can't acknowledge it. Ned,
it will break our mothers heart,
and Ellen will dispise me. Oh,
this cursed gamblingv
"'And Weakness / said bitterly,
as I realized it all-everything that
he had said, and knew it to be
true.
"'Go back to them, john l said,
Il will never betray you. Tell Ma
ry-
81 could soy no more, but sat
down on my bench, blind, choking
and half mad.
"But there, need not go into
the story of my love. bore it all
and never unclosed my lips. took
the credit to myself rs I was ac-
cused, of being the thief who had
robbed his employers, for knew if
l owened my lips I should be in eff
feet my brothers murderer, and the
blight upon the happiness of Johns
young wife.
"'It will be q lesson to him. /
said, Pm of little consequence in
the world, and as to Mary-she
will forget me-
"My trial came on, and I was
sentenced, as l told you; the bit
terest trial of all being to see John
stand there, calm and unmoved, one
of the witnesses by whose words
was condemned.
81 parted from my mother, leav-
ing her undeceived. Why should
1 shatter the idol she worshiped p
And in bitter mockery her words,
urging repentance for my crime,
fell upon my ears.
"Mary, the woman l loved, / did
not see, but she wrote and told me
she did not believe me guilty, and
would wait.
at was her promise that enabled
me to bear up during the time /
was at one and another Of the con-
Wet prisons, till the day stood
leaning over the bulwarks of the
transport ship that was bearing me
down the Channel, away to Van
Dieman's Land-a convict.
81 thought my heart would break
as I leaned there in the tight, half
grotesque convict garb, my close
cap drawn to my eyes, my face
cleanly shaven, and my hair cut
short. 1t was so hard to believe
that 1t was the same man, COMPEL
ed to associate with set who were
nineteenth sufians, with scarcely O
redeeming trait.
"And there was the soft, blue
seq, and across it the gray and rud.
dy cliffs Of the Cornish coast
Lands End would soon be in sight
for We were close to the Lizard
and soon we should be out upor
the open sea.
Goodbye I muttered, with m,
hands firmly goodbye
home mother Mary. Brother
you have been to me like Cain, 70
you have taken my life.'
al did not move, but stood watch
ing there till we were ordered be
low, and the next morning hom
was far astern.
AT the end of Eve years, afte
. the hard toll of q convict in tn
, colonies, l was back here In Eng
l land, a broken man. The hop