Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-24

held the bottle firmly by the neck, and as he fin
shed speaking, as ii to drown the recolIections that
seemed to be crowding upon his memory, he drained
it to the bottom, and then threw the empty bottle
into the bush. $50 p he exclaimed s' Go You
are as valueess as man with the spirits all out of
HIM -
But, be CORY, ifsn aisy job to fill it wild spirits
agzinr'
1t takes money to I'll the bottle, and money will
put spirits into the worn.out hulk Of a man."
grumbed one Of the others
But there is command" suggested Miles,
" agin putin wine into old bottles And
am afraid the spirits of prosperity would burst such
an ould leathern canteen as yourself, Jimmy Fiske!
Yees couldn't stand the pressure ~
There is too much truth in that remark" said
the Major. " 1t would be bard to find man who
had lost his grip on life entirely who could stand
prosperity. imagine would be constantly pinch.
ing himself to see if he was rot dreaming He
would always be tinnid, hating and cowardly. That
il, unless he was by nature endowed with an extra
ordinary amount of good sense"
"Good since. Major; good since !. Do you think
a man of good since would even be such thramp
as all OF yees are barrin and excepting myself of
course?'
'' That may be debatable question, but am
inclined to take the affirmative"
Be me sowl, I'd take the other side but see the
jury we'd have to leavei to "
Il have seen men whom the world said were tai.
ented, by single reverse of fortune as
to commit suicide. have seen others recover from
shock after shock until their money was all gone,
and they were left dismantled hulks on the sea OF
fe carried hither and thither by the varying winds
and changing tides. Men of the finest talent have
become inmates of the lunatic asylum or course,
If man could always maintain his mental equi1b.
rum he would never lose his grip-his energy would
never lag; but that is impossible. That one loses
bis equilibrium is no sign he never had it."
Here the man whom his companions had named Jim
Fise, because he had at time exhibited to their
astonished gaze twenty-dollar gold piece, raised
excitedy to his feet, gave the fire vigorous kick
and said, vehemently: "Suppose an Infamous crime
had been committed and circumstances pointed to
you as the perpetrator and wove around you net
work Of proof you dare not face and then suppose
you should assume the guise of tramp, in fact be-
come one who would dare say you had not sense to
begin with %
"I should say" replied the Major ccoly, "that
such a one would be romantic sort of tramp,
and he might make his fortune by relating his ad-
ventures IN dime novel. But, Jim, did you ever
see such tramp?"
Yes met such one few years ago. He is
dead now, poor fellow. helped to bury him." And
Jim stretched himself back on his blankets, which
were half unrolled filed his pipe with tobacco, took
haf Mo fht1rnh aud Ind ;t
in the bowl of his pipe, and gave vigorous pull at
the stem.
s'Now," said Miles, 'tfor the story. We haint
had dacent story since we have been in this camp
'Yes," said the Major; "the.t tory. We have all
had Elegant male, Miles would say; the shad-
ows of evening are creeping on apace. and as we
haven't said evening prayers and ready to
be tucked in our little beds we will while away the
time listening to the Story of Unfortunate
Tramp suppose from the prologue that would be
good name to give it,
"I 1t is not long story, gentlemen, and, as have
never attempted to write dime novel, you viii eA
cuse me il fail to interest you for any great length
of time. In TACT my friend did not know the whole
story, and became tramp and died because he did
not"
JIM FISHES STORY.
Some ten years ago this friend of mine-never
mind his name-was a bright, intellectual young
man, VITO had just reached his majority. Bouyant
with energy, health and firm self reliance, it
seemed to him and his friends that life must be
success. But never mind sentiment a tramps' camp
is not exactly the place for that anyhow. He left
Lake City, Nevada county, one autumn afternoon on
foot for Nevada. Itwas after the first rains and the
roads were little muddy and the streams some
what swollen Near the top of the hill, just before
he began to descend to the South Yuba, deer ran
across the road. He took out his revolver and fired
at it, but it bounded on. He walked on down the
grade, building many castle i'll the air, until within
less than quarter Of mile of the river he sudden
ly came across lying in the road, dead. He
took hold Of him, and found that while there was no
pulse the body was still warm. II you travelled
on that road you will remember that there is water
trough in little ravine that crosses the road about
a quarter of mile from the river. 1t was not over
fifty yards from this that the man lay. My friend
went back to get cup OF water. He took the mans
head in his lap and bsthed his temples, but sign
OF life appeared. In doing this his pistol fell from
his belt and dropped into pool of blood, and his
clothes became or less bloody. He started on,
intending to give the alarm at the bridge. He had
not gone far when he heard the voices OF men COM
ing up the hill For the first time he became fright.
ened. His clothes were bloody, and he would be
found alone with the murdered nan. "Those
men have not seen me-, he said to himself, " and
will dodge out of the road and avoid observation"
He had not moment for reflection, but climbed
out OF the road on the upper side, and from behind
clump of bushes saw four men pass by, aud then
came to a halt at the dead man. They examined
him cri ically. Then one of them said
"we can do this man no good; besides this knock
on the head, the ball has evidently pierced h s
heart. Let us capture the murderer. As we came
up the hill l got glimpse OF man leaving the
road"
Ny friend did not hear this then, but he heard it
afterwards They were all armed, and two of them
carried Henry rifles. While he was debating with
himself the propriety of going down and making an
explanation, he saw the men preparing to move to-
wards him. Two Of them tied their horses and
started UP the bank on foot, while the other two
rode down the Hill to where they could get out OF
the road on horseback.
NV friend then thought there was nothing else to
do but keep out Of the way, and he fled. For nearly
half an hour he eluded their vigilance, but at last
one of them got sight of him, and then ball from
Henry rife came whizz ng past him; but he sped
on down, down the hill, towards the canyon below
the crossing Another ball struck the calf OF his
leg end cripIl led him. lie was then captured, put
upon one OF the horses ard carried back towards
the sceue of the murder When they arrived there
the body was gone.
This fellow was not alone in the murder"
one. ' He has had some accomplice who has boldly
carried the body away to prevent Identification and
an inquest
They found where man had gone down of the
grade towards the river and one of them remarked
that, heavy as the dead man was, he had been car
ried by a single man, as but one track could be
found.
at is hardly possible" said one, " that man
could carry such weight all the way to the river,
and we shall find where he has laid the corpse down
to rest"
As the road and river are nearly parallel at this
point, it was not over a couple Of hundred yards
from the road to the river It was now getting late
and twilight was coming on, but the men were re-
warded by finding pool Of blood on the ground,
and from there down the steep incline to the river
they found where the body had been dragged and
thrown over perpendicular bank, some fifty feet
igh, into the rapid current below.
The lateness OF the hour compelled them to give
I'D any further search for what they supposed to be
an accomplice Of my friend, and they carried him