The Columbus journal., 1882-03-15
ga MAN As WAS WRONGED.,

II III nad Deen q pleasant day., ana II
we hadn't all been ont of sorts with our
luck, we should have had a word of
welcome for the stranger as he entered
our camp that wretched afternoon. As
il was, fifty of us saw him leave Chinese
Trail at Dead Mans Elbow and walk
into Jul camp, and never Il man rose up
to salute him. :
The stranger seemed 10 expect Just
such a reception. That is. he didn't
seem s. bit surprised. He passed down
the single street we had named Road to
Riches, turned to the left at the lone
pine tree, and without once looking
around him he Staked of 4 claim and
began to erect a shantv.
bad man. I'm afeared," growled
Judge Slasher. As he partly closed one
; eve and gave the stranger the benefit of
the squint. 70 '.... .
bin bounced out of some camp fur
stealin'," added the big chap from
Kentucky. ...
Tell you. he's. got a hang-dog
look put in the man known as "OhiO
Bill"
Every man in the camp was down on
the fresh arrival and that without
cause. Ordinarily W. were a jolly set,
and a stranger coming among us met
with words of cheer. but that afternoon
the devil was to pay. The three mules
belonging to camp had strayed off and
been gobbied by the Indians. and on
the heels of this discovery came the an
nouncement that we had only salt
enough to last W days, while the sugar
was entirely gone.
So we were c~rOsS-grained and out of
sorts, and it was lucky for the stranger
that he gave US no cause to pick a quar-
rel. The next dav was bright and fair,
and if it hadn't been for Judge Slasher
some of us would have gone over and
excused u manners and asked the
stranger to chip in and become neigh
borly; but the Judge said:
Hes a bad I'M, he is. kin tell it
by the way his head is set on his
body. Eust thing we know a commit
tee will come along here and gobble
him up fur robbery or murder
Two weeks had passed. and while
some of us had given the stranger a
curt good morning no one, had
struck hands with him., or entered his
shanty to smoke a friendly pipe. Then
a climax came. The six of us occupy.
ing on" shanty Were working i'm COM
and our ia : of dust Vas buried in
a corner of the fireplace. One morn
my this bag wHs missing. and you can
imagine that there was a first-claSs row
in no time. There WAS the hole where
some had duo under the stones and
carried Off our treasure, and whom
were we to suspect We had faith in
each other, and We could not suspect
outsiders because none of them knew
where IL ba@ WAS concealed, and be-
aus this was the first case of stealing
ever known on Betsy lane Hill.
Yes, we We're mad, and in the excite
ment of the !rst discovery we came
near having 4 free night among our
selves. 1t increased Our anger TO dis
cover that we could not reasonably sus-
pect any one, and this fac: made every
one of us try The harder to pick up a
clue. At length Judge Slasher sprang
to his feet with the exclamation:
by the bones OF Kidd! but I know
the thiefT'
"Who is he"
"Thathang-do@. sheep-stealing stran-
ger! Hang me, ii | didn't dream of
his coming in here last night to Dor
row shovel, and ii was his digging
under the .stunes which started that
dream! He has held aloof from us. and
that proof enough that he came here
for no good purpose"
1t was a straw to catch at. We had
lost in a night all we had gained by
months of hard work, and we didn't
stop TO reason. 1t was decided to Law
the charge AT the strangers door, and
if he conld prove his innocence so much
the better for him.. a - ,a
The news that the White House. as
we called our shanty, had been robbed,
spread like wildtire. and as we started
for the strangers claim ourcrowd num-
bered full hundred. He was outside
al work, and rs he saw us coming he
was startled. The angry murmurs and
black looks mus have frightened him.
Iou-will say-that an innocent man
would have STAYED and braved the
storm. As the crowd SwooDed down
on this man he started of AT a run:
Halt!Haiti Halt. or we'll shootr'
shouted a Score OF men.
"he'sthe thief-stophim! stop him."
roared the Judge:
Five or six shots We're fred almost as
emo, and the frsitius, m1aiIod forward
on the rocks. Three bullets entered
his back. and as the foremost men bcnt
over him and turned his VIII te. scared
face to the heavens he yaSped out:
"You have murdered me-God for
give you"
Now to search him. said the Judge
as he Jcame up, and a half dozen hands
made quick work il. Resting on his
breast, and made fast Il his neck by a
ribbon, was a package wrapped in OIL
skin. There was a flutter of excite
ment as the Judge rudely snapped the
string and held the package in his hand.
II, was our dust.
Mo- We formed in a circle around
the Judge as ne sat on a rock and open
ed the package, and in less than . min-1
ute there We're white faces among Us.
What We're the contents? A photograph
of a fairIacedm middle aged woman, and
on the Cxrd WAS written: - 'S -
.Msry-died June 9Th 1885,"
That was the dead mans wife! There
was q second photOgraph-that of q
babe about q year old, and the Judge
read aloud in a trembling voice:
- = ouE f1dfT -uISu II ~ r. 9 :
That was not all. On card were locks
of their hair. There was ; gold ring
once worn by the wife. a faded ribbon
which her fingers had touched, and a
bit of plaid like the dress the baby wore
when photographed. Relics Of. what!
OF years agone of a fond wife and
beautiful child of JOY and happiness
of a husbands love and afather's grief.
And we We're looking down upon
these things and feeling u hearts 1
swelling up end Our eyes growing misty
when up comes u good-tor- nothing,
half-witted cook with the bag Of dUs.
in his hand! La re~psiringthe. ire place
he had moved the BAG, and in the eS-
element over its supposed loss what
little wit he haG was frightened away !
for the moment. The hole under the
stones had been made by some small
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