Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-02-23

And now you've got in your hand
a rifle that may have been the death
of many a brave fellow at the Ala
mo. It's seventeen years since it
was in anybody's hands, and its last
shot, mayhap, was fred as a kind of
salute tony girl, your boys bride,
who came into the world on that
day, her mother not knowing
whether she was widow or not.
Eh, mother?"
g All, that's day to remember"
said the wife.
"Pa has got bis gun down."
cried the bride. "Sam. l never
saw the gun down before"
AS he spoke the old man gave
the rifle back into Rathbone's
hands, and he stood holding it.
"You dontt care to shoot me-"
cried the bride. "Ahl pa, you're
not as brave as you used to be.
You don't dare aim at me-"
" Yes, shoot u.s." laughed half q
dozen wild Texas girls. "Shoot
us-shoot us-shoot us"
"Then l will, my pretty robins"
cried the father. Gone, two, three
fire away or I'll fire."
He aimed the weapon that hung
useless on the wall for seventeen
years-the gun the Mexican had
cursed-at his daughter. 1t was
Just as safe thing to do, in ones
opinion, as if it had been o broom
stick.
Who's afraid?" cried the girl.
"Now then, one, two, three"
cried the soldier. "Bang!" ="
AS he uttered the childish imita-
tion of the sound of firearms, it
was drowned in a real explosion.
The gun went of, and the bride
dropped to the floor with scream.
A bullet had entered her temple
She was dead when they lifted hel
in their arms. 1t was plain that
seventeen years before, the Mexican
who had owned it had not fred II
after reloading. His dying worC
had been fulfilled. His gun hat
proved curse to its captor. Bu
hew?
| am not willing to admit super.
natural agency. l maintain the
gun exploded in accordance with
the laws of loading and of friction.
If men would only try to trace
mysterious events to their source
superstition would soon cease. Fol
one, | believe nothing ever occurred
which could not be explained. Thai
this is not the common opinion the
narrator is well aware.
But, amid all his agony and re-
morse, my old chum persisted in
one statement-he had not pulled
the trigger. Those who had watched
him closely, veterans, expert in the
use of firearms, declare that he
had not-that the rifle seemed to
fire itself of. All that the father
could say was: "The gun is cursed.
The Mexican cursed the gun"
To comfort him, we all agreed
that it was so. Indeed, / am not
sure but they all thought it. In
wardly, | resolved to ferret out the
mystery.
The horrible accident nearly
broke his heart. He had been a
fne.looking, upright, middle-aged
man when his daughters wedding
day dawned; when he arose from
his bed on which a long and terri
BILE illness had laid him, he was bent
like patriarch of ninety, and his
hair, from being brown and rich,
was thin and white as snow.
AS for the gun the Mexican had
cursed, the soldier had never seen
it from that day.
Strong in her tenderness for the
father, even in her grief for her
child, the mother had overcome her
horror Of the dreadful thing, and
had carried it to the great garret.
There she hid it in lumber closet,
so that it might not trouble her un-
happy husband should his eyes ever
look upon the things of this world
again. He never asked about it;
he believed it had been destroyed.
lie did not know the powder horn
and shot.bag hung beside it.
Again | was making my annual
visit at the old homestead. It was
a warm day, and my former chum
had been afeld since dawn. At
noon his job was done, and the boys
who had toiled with him followed
him home, full of gloe that their
work was over.
81 shall take nap, lads" he said,
after dinner. GAS for you, you can
do the same if you like, or go a fish
ing. There's plenty Of trout in the
kill, I'm told"
And as the boys cried aloud that
fishing was their choice, their frther
smiled upon them.
Whatever troubles we've had,
mother" he said, "we've two fine
boys"
And he went to take his nap with
a lighter heart than he had often
| had ginpa tha fataI ,,a.,.;oco 1ov