River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-11-18

coed He attempted to soothe and en-
courage him in vain; the next flash
which lighted up the scene showed
him, to his horror and dismay, the fig
ure of man in front of his horse hold
ing him by the bride, while with his
right hand he presented pistol at his
own head.
"No words" said the man, give me
that satchel, and you may gore
fuse and your life isn't worth minutes
time.
That face was the same that had
appeared to him twice before; that
voice the same that he had heard at
the innl
But you don't wish to rob me, " said
the agent. This money is neither
mine nor yours, and"
Il tell you, no words! Whether it's
mine or not, I'm determined to have
it; so give it up quick, or you die with
out mercy"
Never" said the faithful agent, Il
will defend it with my lifer' And he
drew his knife from his belt, but before
he could strike the rob5er, the latter
had discharged his pistol, and the
agent fell heavily from his saddle, dead
ere he reached the ground!
His horse snorted wildly as the re-
| port Of the pistol was heard, and break
| ing from the grasp of the murderer,
! fled wildly back toward the inn.
That's bad" said the man, as he
gazed after him. | meant to get away
on his back And here-the fool forced
me to it he added, as he turned his
gaze upon the form of the dead agent
He turned the body over to examine
the features, but there was no life in
the look which rested on them
Dead as a nail he uttered briefly
as he bent down to search the body
But where was the valise?
He had seen it but moment before
the dead man had perhaps thrown
! it from him as he fell-a little search
would end it.
| The murderer beat about among the
! bushes and underbrush, but the valise
! could not be found. Where was it
when he saw it? OF a sudden he re-
memlsered-it was strapped to the sad
die! And now his fearful crime had
| been in yain-the horse had borne ii
away with him and thus deprived him
| of the fruits of his murder Rage and
the batlied frenzy for gold oyermaster-
ed the nIurderers prudence, and with
deep curses at his luck, he hastily fol-
lowed the horse, who had only just
disappeared in a turn Of the path.
But he could not Overtake the
| frightened animal. Nevertheless he
| pursued his way along the path until
he had cleared the woods, and then
/ sat down to rest his tired limbs. He
was almost maddened by his failure,
and in his desperation, he would have
| followed the horse still further, but
| hat he feared to meet the men of the
inn. Swallowing his rage as best he
might, he turned and wal ed leisurely
back towards the scene of his crime;
intent only on burying the body, and
making his way as speedily as possible
| from the locality He had traversed
| perhaps half of the distance when his
| ear caught the sound of distant shouts.
Intent upon escaping before he should
be seen by those whom he knew had
become alarmed by the return of the
agents horse, he started upon a fleet
run But he was destined to come to
speedy retributiOn; he reached the
place Of the murder only to fall into
lAlG lAtilNlH VI a Dtil ~ hllOlI lIfld COIliC
by shorter path in their scouting for
the agent. Fiercely he struggled for a
while, but his struggles were all in
ain; he was oyerpOwered and securely
held. and in a few moments the other
party came up. To their consterna-
ton they bcheld the body of the agent
lying upon the ground, the water all
around turned red by bis blood. The
life of the murderer was freely de-
manded by the excited crowd. They
were already dragging him toward the
oak tree when one of the men shouted.
Stay! hold a moment! | think
know him"
He advanced to him as he spoke,
and after examining his face. said, at
is Bill Larkin!"
A general shout of surprise and hor-
ror went up at this announcement.
William Larkin had been born and
reared in the neighborhoOd, and after
Il number of villianOus acts had fled
ten years before, after committing a
robberyi i'll this very forest. And now
lie had returned to the scenes of his
youth only to end his career by a felOn's
DEATH
Forest justice is speedy The muir
derer was in the hands of the back
woodsmen, and before them lay the
fearful evidence of his guilt. A rope
was noosed around his neck and pass
ed over the lowest branch of the oak,
and three sturdy mon grasped it, ready
to draw up the murderer at the sig
nal. The inn-keeper stood forth and
addressed him in few words;
s4NI~.Ifr.,s, I IL, o,,e,ht 70
say "! YOU should not be hung for
your II crime. You have taken
the It Of fellow-creature, unprO
voledly; what have you to say in de-
fence Of your wickedness?"
Nothing; | would do it again if
had the chance"
Haul him up" shouted the inn
keeper.
The rope was drawn, and Larkin
was struggling in the air. For 4 mo-
ment his limbs twitched in convulsive
agony, but soon ceased, and his of
Tense was cxpiated.
There was something terrible in that
expiration. There upon the very spot
where his victim had fell, his blacken-
ed corpse was left to swing upon the
branch Of the oak until nothing should
remain Of his body to tell the passer-by
of the fearful offense for which he had
suffered death, by the stern code oft e
lynchers in the lonely forest path.
- .
Weak Woman VS.. Tyrant Man.
New York Evening Post.
Here is an illustration of what can be
done by defenseless, weak and I'M
protected woman when left alone to
deal with the tyranny ofheartless man.