The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-06-18

Ae"P VI Otuol tulngS OeSl0e, Dut the
worst business l ever got into was this
same moonligh6ng. A man will stay
out Of it 80 long as he fears God and re.
CARDS man, and l tell you he gets pretty
well hardened before he can sneak
around nights with enough frozen stuff
to blow him into four different town
ships in the wink of an eye. When q
man gets so that he don't care whether
ne lives or dies the next minute he goes
into moonlighting and makes heap OF
money. Oh, YES, there is lots of money
in it, but it is dearly earned cash. But
| wasn't always moonlighter. Oh, no
l used to be as promising boy as ever
walked, and that was only short time
ago. | am only twenty.six years old
now, but have felt to be nearly fifty
for the past two years. What made
me a moonlighter? III show you.
There, that made me moonlighter and
-a-murderer!"
1t was q picture, a small locket pic.
ture, of beautiful young woman with
dreamy brown eyes, sweet pouting lips
and a wealth of dark.brown hair. A
most lovable young lady, surely, if the
picture might be taken as basis of cal
culation. The features were strangely
familiar to me, for they resembled the
features OF the wife of q prominent oil
operator whom l had met several times
at private receptions and small parties.
The man continued without Interrupt.
ton:
"Ah, you start" he said, with fierce
laugh. "You have seen the original!
Yes? And you will see her again, too.
Four years ago was engaged to that
woman and was as happy as the day
was long. l had bright prospects in life
then, and my father, who was in bust
ness in Philadelphia, where we lived,
was supposed to be pretty comfortably
fixed in life. But somehow or other
after he died and his affairs were
Strengthened out my mother and l hadn't
a cent to give a beggar. l tried clerking
and bookkeeping in Philadelphia fol
awhile, but it was no 60, and to cap the
climax of my misery the young lady
was engaged to broke off the engage
ment with the polite excuse that she
thought too much of me to hamper me
with an engagement, and that could
climb the ladder of. fortune much better
if were not bound by ties of any kind
Very tender and considerate, wasn't
she? She never cared for me as much
as she did for my money, but I just wor'
shipped her, and when she threw me over
in that cool way l wilted right down and
left the city. I LANDED in the lower oil
country and tried to do something,
And then when I saw my mistake it wa:
too late to get good bargains on leases
in the northern field, but I came here
all the same and tried to make my way
had my mother to support in Philadel'
phia all the time, and it was through hel
that l learned of the marriage Of the
woman l loved to a wealthy man from
the oil regions. I was sick for two
weeks after that, stranger, and when
came to my senses I wasn't the same
man. I didn't care to live, and if il
hadn't been for my poor old mother
should have killed myself. I became
rough and reckless and did the toughest
kind of work l could find. drove team
for awhile and then built rigs and
dressed tools. After awhile turned
driller and tried to save money for my
mother, but didn't make it fast enough.
The longer lived in the northern field
the more reckless l became, and il
wasn't long before was a moonlighter
l made torpedoes for shooting wells
against the law, and lived out in the
woods in a little log hut and hated the
sight of man. l soon became the bold.
est and most successful moonlighter in
the country, and every cent could get
above expenses I sent to Philadelphia.
l got on the inside of a lot of informa.
ton some lucky spectators had, and
took q flyer on the market with splen.
did result. l made money hand over
fist, but fortune came to late to do me
any good, and though was still q young
man l looked forward to nothing this
world could give. A year ago this win
ter l took to drinking 'tangle foot
whisky, and after two or three sprees
got to going at a terrible rate, and one
day in the early part Of 1880, some time
id April, think, / got into row with a
man at the head of Tram Hollow and
we had q red-hot fight. We were both
drunk, and when found was getting
the best of him wild thrill ran through
me, the devil took full possession Of my
actions and before I could think twice
had stabbed him to the heart and my
hands were stained with the blood Of q
fellow creature!"
The dying man shook with agony a
the thought of that terrible deed came
upon him, and his pain.distorted face
was lifted in prayer for mercy and for
giveness. It was q solemn hour for 8
stranger to that rocky country the
death-bed confession under the moan
ing pines and the long shadows Of the
giant trees casting their somber forms
about in the Pickering light Of the gas
jet. A silence fell upon US suddenly;
the moaning of the pines sank to the
faintest d! Whisper; while from iaial
down the valley came the whirr and
roar of the bull wheel as the cable of the
heavy drill at the well ran with lightning
speed over the crown pully down into
the earth two Thousand feet
-" Harksa said the man whom death
kas about to claim. "Big Jack is run
nipg the tools and is letting them slide
sosthat I can hear. It is the last time
| will ever hear that sound. ,Ihave. heard
| i often and handled the bull-whee]
brake, many times. I never viii again
no, never again on this earth"
He was silent again, and 80 still va.
tho wintry night that I could hear The
thud Of the walking beam and the rattle
Il ~ y Al L. IL n. -