Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-01-03

Il knew him to be a swindler an ad.
| venturer, that he had turned gambler
and drunkard; that he had ili-treated
and lll-uSed the gentle creature, who had
clung faithfully to him from first to last
solely because she was his wife. but 10
find her thus, brought face to Zee with
drunkenness, vice, debaGchery, in its
lowest and most repulsive aspects, was
beyond all conception and understand
ing. Each recognized the other, as
'twere by instinct, for each was sadly
changed. With a shout of faunting de-
rision to me, the drunken brute turned
to his wife, and with an oath, bade her
ill glass-'that her old fame might
join the crowd and drink to the toast.
The girl mechanically obeyed but reeled
back ere she could place the glass on the
slab before me. Roughly thTusting her
aside, her husband handed me the
tunbler. Maddened by the patient,
suffering, yearning lock in her eyes-I
can see it even noY-I dashed the yes
sci and its contents in the mans face.
Recovering himself on the instant, he
drew and leveled his revolver at me /;
| quick as thought the woman's hand
clutched the muzzle and turned it aside.
A brief struggle, and the infuriated beast
wrenched the pistol from her feeble
grasp, then-then, down, down, with an
awful thud came the weapon upon the
Door, supplicating, upturned face.
"With one bound reached him in
another moment We were gTappling in q
death struggle. / but remen er dashing
his head cruelty, mercilessly sgainst the
| ground, and then to me came insensibil-
| ity. I had been kicked heavily and re-
peatedly during the scuff1e by the mans
mates, and but for the assistance of seme
of the diggers present should, in al
probability, have been beaten to death.
You look incredulOus. Ask any man
who was an early-timer at Charlestown,
Bruce BaV, Greensboro, or the like.
"Tbe mauling l received, combined
with a severe attack Of Swamp fever
and incipient ague, laid me on my back
for some months. Shortly after my re-
covery-at Hokitika several men were
tried for supposed ,complicity i'll the
murders perpetrated by the gang of
fen Is headed by Burgess and Sullivan.
1t happened that attended the various
trials in an official capacitF as Journal
ist. One day a man was tried for, l
think, bearing arms with an illegal in
tent. He was suspected by the police of
belonging to gang OF stickers-up that
had just then taken possession Of the
coast. had been outOf court during
the trial, but as the man left the dock
Convicted felon, L entered. "A woman
stepped to his side from the body of the
court, and with q low moan, of anguish
shebade him goed-hyP 4Was blocking
the path-our eyes met-and once again
husband and wife stood before me. Into
the open street followed them. One
look from her-I saw the cruel scar on
her forehead-then with shudder she
passed on. Recoverine from the mac
ton OF surprise, soueht to follow her.
In vain-she was lest to me in the
assembled crowd.
'In less than q week the man had
broken Jail. He was pursued hotly, he
evaded his pursuers al d escaped.
'FLater on, in the early winter, Cobb's
cORchman, plying on tie Greymouth and
Hokitika line, carried the news to the
former township that the body of man
had been washed ashore from the Tera-
makau. Particulars we're published and
the body laid out for-i Identification, at a
shanty some miles below the river. |
Next day a wonlan, cold, starving, foot |
sore and weary, dTenobed to the skin by |
the pitiless rain, applied for permission |
to view the remaiEs. She had walked |
from the Grey, crossing creeks, toiling |
along the heavily -graYeled path by the |
sea, with the spray Of the ocean beating /
IN her face, and the storm-drops soaking |
her garments through and through. The
elements combined to drive her back, |
but stern sense Of duty that seemed an
inherent part of the woman drove her
bravely on. One look at the dead face,
and husband and wife were together for
the last time.
u was living in a cottage in the midst
of the bush, about three miles from the
township of Hokitika. The track lead
ing to my section was somewhat unde-
fined. boggy, and plentifully dotted with
swamps. knew It we'll, and scarcely
ever used the digs lantern. One
night, close to my pa door, l tripped
and fell heavily eVef something lying
right in my track. A low cry from the
inanimate mass revealed the fact that
had fallen over a human form. Gently
I raised the head-a Woman's-and the
worn, face that had haunted me for
years. She had made herself acquainted
with the place of my abode, and her
QuLy 10 Tile Iud1 hEtC udO IudTIIcu nav |
Ing been fulfilled, she had Crawled back
to die on the bosom of her early love.
"As she recovered consciousness, the
light of recognition flashed into her eyes,
and for a moment the happy smile of
yore beamed over her wasted but still
beautiful features. Plaintively she muir
INJURED. There is no tie to keep me from
you Low, darling. I have come to you
1T last.' ~
"And so she died, there on the bleak
range, pillowed in my arms!
1--WE buried her in the little cemetery,
the old sexton and I, in the evening of a
winters day. There was no weeping
over her grave. Tears came not from
me, No stone or cross marks the place,
cannot trust myselfto breathe
her name, not even to you. %. .-i2i.st
I There on the hillside she sleeps, and
there, there in the cold, cold grave
sleeps my heart. Youth, hope and love.
buried with her that night"