The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-01-15
Abe Wallace-A Tragic Story Of the
Far West.

GO3 V0SSo
"WnAr's er matter wild yer?" de.
handed Abe Wallace, With . not I'm.
natural petulance under the circum.
stances. "What or yer lingerin' around
that visage er mine fore Can't yer rasp
that countenance?"
Obviously he couldn't. For nearly an
hour he had strapped his razors and
moved diligently: but barber though he
was of q thousand, and, barber extraor-
binary to Leaping Antelope Run, he
seemed to make no headway against
Abe's bristling badge of manhood.
"Ef yer razors won't cut, shoot 'em
of. Year me? Shoot 'cm Off," and
the handsome, sunburned minor COM
posed himself for the novel operation.
sis the barber at homeP'' asked q
low, sweet, musical voice, entering the
door at that moment.
He started. No yellow water running
from his pan had ever looked Us sweet
to him as that voice. ltpercolated him,
and he arose from the chair . new man.
The rough life passed away from him.
The crust formed by his habits and
hardened by his surroundings was bro
ken.
"Permit me, madam, to assure you
that this individual before you is the
barber" said Abe, and his new dignity
sat easily upon him and seemed part
of him.
~ am on my way from Boston to the
Sandwich Islands," said the young girl,
quietly, "and our carriage broke down.
l Thought l would improve the opportu-
nifty and have my hair banged. Oh!
no, no." she exclaimed, IS Abe gallantly
drew forth q thousand dollar draft on
New York. "Not for the world. I've
six millions of dollars, not only in my
own right, but in my pocket. Twill pay
for any service"
As the barber proceeded with his
task, Abe walked the shop nervously.
A presage OF danger oppressed him.
The chestnut curls on his forehead grew
damp with anxiety. He knew life, in
his rough way, and he knew BARRIERS.
The fair young girl would be no match
for the frontier hair-dresser, if the worst
should come. And why should it not
come? Had she not millions in her
pocket? He glanced at the tiny feet
planted squarely and firmly on the stool
before her, and recognized character.
He knew nothing of Boston, but he un-
derstood feet.
"And do you live in this funny place,
to hep" asked the girl, smiling at Abe's
reflection in the glass.
~ do" sighed Abe. "Misfortunes
have cast my bark Of life high upon this
barren shore and left me with only the
shelter the sea-weeds Afford"
"Te he! how odd. OUGHT"
But Abe grasped him and laid him
upon the floor. The barber had made
a dive for the dainty pocket and had
failed.
Leaping Antelope Run was aroused.
Such an attack found no apologists
among the wild, rough miners. What.
ever they might be inherently, they
would tolerate nothing Of the kind in
the barber.
"Away to the dull thud!" demanded
one, more intelligent than the rest. And
they echoed the cry till the moonlit air
was shivered and the beams crept away
convulsively. They may have expected
him to beg, but he eyed them sternly.
ooh! my! what will they do with
him" asked the beauty with one eye.
She had no need to speak. The thrill
Of that eye struck chord in Abe Wal.
lace.
"They'll sprain his neck, darling"
marmured Wallace, in tender accents.
This feeling was new to him, but he un.
derstood it.
"Gracious! and may I see him.
whispered she with the other eye.
Abe's answer was lost in the sullen
roar of the crowd.
Out under the grand old trees that
fringed the mines. Out under the whis.
per of the leaves. Out through the
shadows. The wind swept down from
the sierras-velvet winds, but pitiless.
They shook sweet voices out of their
satin garments, but not pleading tone
for that human barber, soon to be nei.
ther barber nor human.
The rope was around his neck. Will.
ing hands were ready. A cloud tloated
across the face of the moon, but she
struggled from behind it. held bv the
horror of the scene.
"Hold!" commanded Abe. And
then addressing the barber, he asked
"You are Justice of the Peace, are you
not?"
~ am," responded the condemned,
in low, steady tones.
"Then marry u.s. said Wallace,
drawing the Boston girls arm within
his own.
"You do take this woman for your
welded wife," asked the barber, with q
strange glitter in his eye.
81 d." responded Abe.
"Do you take this man for your wed.
ded husbandp" inquired the barber, with
peculiar smile.
"Te, he! suppose so, te, he!" wills.
pered the musical voice.
"Then l pronounce you man and
wife. Go to the deuce"
The rope tigktened, but as he went up
the barber uttered a wild, demoniac
laugh.
Then with the shadows of the Ser
ras gathering around him, he hung
dead.
Try as he might Abe could not shake
off the influence of that laugh. TWAS a
ghost in bis life.
"Good heavens!" he screamed, as he
sprang from his seat a day or two after
ward. III understand it now.'
understand what, love?" asked his
beautiful bride, looking up from the bite
Of an apple.
II know why he laughed. l know
why the barber laughed with his dying