The Red Cloud chief., 1876-07-20

The ceaseless beat
OF waters murmuring low and sweet.
w. W. Ellsworth. In Scribner for July.
The Story OF a Career from the West
ern Wilds to Washington Society.
Said an officer to me: Il was banished
TO Fort Jumpoff for expressing an i'll
opinion of General Pumphandle. l
said his arms were longer than his in
~tellectual outlook, and that he had more
hair than brain. 1t was an imprudent
speech, because it was true, and l was
sentenced to three years service in Fort
Jumpoff, the furthest post from civil
zation. We had no privates at the post,
for they don't stay there, and our mill
tary force consisted of a sergeant, two
lieutenants, and a surgeon. The SER
geant was there because he was not in
his right mind, and the doctor for that
he had varied his practice by killing a
nan with a bullet instead of the blue
pill, and the rest of us were at the post
because we could get away only through
resignation or suicide. We thought Sc
riously of the last sometimes, but none
of the other unless when intoxicated.
After a nan has been educated and
trained at West Point suicide seems
more natural than resignation. "Few
die and none resign" was said of civil
Oflicers-it is the law of Cur being. We
are educated to regard ourselves rs SUI
periOr beings, which a war demon
strates. and caste in India is not more
of a fixed, iron destiny than that which
keeps a man poor and dependent all his
days, and leaves his family to suffer from
privatiOn because he is a West Point
officer. But this has nothingtO do with
the little story l set out to tell you.
"SOme two miles from our post was a
little tavern. 1t was an Old-fashiOned
place of entertainment for man and
beast-that last is a distinction without
n difference-where a bottle of bad
whisky made up the bar, and the man,
fed on rancid bacon and heavy, mOuldy
bread, fed in turn ravenOus bedbugs-
those pioneers of civilization that fol-
low the trail of the buffalo with the
instincts of "A healthy appetite. When
| reached the post where l had to suffer
my punishment the old tavern was in
ruins, for the stream of emigrant travel
and bedbugs were crossing the CONT
nent i'm cars. But l heard its history.
1t had been built and occupied by a
morose, ill-tempered man, who with his
wife and child had dropped out of the
stream of travel and attempted to make
Va living through what they were pleased
% term entertainment The landlord
vs. not happy in his domestic relations,
TWAS said, and at times he even went
so y as to beat his poor wife.
W. day a young fellow came along,
withNA his worldly possessions in a
bundiasaried on a stick over his broad
shoulders and offered his services a a
hoster ansgeneral help about the place.
les was assppted, and he seems to have
Sifen satisfaction.
Ome ,i',S however. he was sent
Z to call the landha to breakfast. The
last named did MT respond. He was
not in a favorable Coalition to respond.
nor had he any use fos breakfast. for
he was found in bed VIII his throat
neatly severed from ear to eSr. A razor
lying upon the floor, as if dr0pped from
his hand-left hand-indicated ss;c;da d.
that is If men are given to sevsr;no
their windpipes with the left had
This eccentricity in the use of a razo'
sent the story travelling $50 miles to tn,
ear of a judge, who sent in return ovel
the same road a sheriff. The yOuns
hostler was arrested, indicted, and triei
on a charge of murder. 1t was an ex
ceedingly interesting cas- of circum
rSorS.Sevidence. 1t turned on thai
,el.ho< business. The wife swore
tlat e late>sented was left-handed
He had frequently eaten her with tha,
left arm, which Gauss ber 70 rom.rs
and remember that p~etsiaritv of he,
lord and master. On the -
certain stage-drivers and huns .aa.:
fled to the fact that the deceasedEI
lord used his right arm as did othe
people, and the clothes worn on the &C
casion by the hostler were found vel
spattered with blood. He proved, O
ais lawyer did for him, that in killing
beef the day before this blood hat
stained his wearing apparel. On tn,
other side, again, an army surgeon an(
the country doctor gave the blood
most careful and scientific analysis, ant
found it human gore. 1 don't believe
the two. il fairly tested, could tell any
blood from red paint. But to add t.
the weight of evidence the dead land.
lords gold watch was found hidden Ia
the loft where the hostler slept.
Tho jury were satisfied the man was
guilty, and so found. He was con-
demned to be hung, but the pretty