The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1882-08-17

the penalty; aye, the JRH penalty
What did you come here for, any
how?''
II want to fild my father" was
the brief reply.
"Precious little use he would have
been to you if you had. If he had
been the right kind Of a man you
wouldn't have been here"
81 don't know. / haven't seen
him since | vas four years old
Mother used to say he was a cross
old brute, but l never believed it.
He was the only person in all this
world who was tlways kind to me.
l can remember yet how he looked
when L used to Tide behind the rose
bushes when l saw him coming, and
wait until he said: Where's papa s
boyY before I ran to meet him.
But he went away one day and
mother took me and ran away. She
never seemed to think anything OF
him, but 1 could hardly live with
out him. [ used to cry to 90 to
him and she whipped me, and a hard
life I've led ever since. She wasn't
like him. She smothered me with
caresses at one time and vented her
wrath upon me the next. I always
wanted him. She said he had gone
to Denver, and when l was fifteen
years of age i ran away, hired out
to some drover and crossed the
plains. But l didn't find him. l
went to every party OF miners that 1
could hear of Sometimes l worked
my way with treighting parties,
sometimes l followed trains on foot.
| found n man who said he knew
him and that he had gone to the
Black Hills, and l came here. l
heard there was party of miners
over in Rattlesnake Gulch, but my
feet were so sore that I couldn't
walk any farther, and l found the
horse grazing down there by the
stream and l thought would ride
him, and if my father was there he
would help ine through, and if l
didn't find him l didn't care what
became of me. Hang me, if you
want to; it won't be any worse than
what have borne"
The miner pushed the hat hack
from the tanned forehead and gazed
intently into the prisoners face a
moment, then dropped upon his
knees beside him.
care your wrists vely painful,
boyY he asked, huskily, as knife
descended, cutting the thongs away
and leaving the prisoner free
"There, let me battle your DOOR
swollen hands, and bruised and
blistered feet" and the tears rolled
down the sunburned checks and fell
upon the bleeding wrists so recently
freed from cruel bonds. I've al
ways loRged for justice. and now if
the boys will take me out and hang
me, I'll feel as if I'd had it,
care you my father?'' asked the
boy, winding his arms around the
miners neck and pressing his cheek
against the bearded face, I"
''Tm your father" returned the
man, clasping the boy to his bosom
and sobbing convulsively. I'D
have found you long ago if she had
not bribed a doctor to write to me
OF your DEATH
The next morning, when the men
came for their prisoner they found
him sleeping peacefully, with his
head upon his jailor's breast and
his wrists and feet haAdaged with
strips torn from one of the miners
shirts. The father had not slept,
and when he saw the rope and the
astonished faces of the group, and
the full significance of their coming
flashed across his mind, he said,
with q strong effort at selfcontrol: !:
"Boys, l move for new trial. If
1 hadn't known you would treat me
with more kindness than L deserve,
daylight wouldn't have found me
here, but preferred to trust to your
generosity rather than leave you
with the matter unexplained. 1t is
thirteen years since left my boy,
expecting to see him again after n
lapse of a few short days, but for all
these years 1 have thought him
dead. l have been bitterly wronged
and it broke my heart, soured my
nature and made me hard and stern
towards transgressors. Lookr' he
said, carefully unwinding the band
ages. ''Look at the bruised and
blistered feet that have tramped
from Illinois TO Denver, and from
thence to these regions, in search of
the father whose face he had not
seen since the day l bade him good
bye, after carrying him down to the
gate upon my shoulders, and then
get your rifles and shoot the brute
that wanted you to hang him just
for borrowing a horse to ride over
to another gulch, after his feet were
so tired and worn and bruised that
he couldn't walk any farther. II
you feel like hanging somebody
deserve it more than he does, and
that rope mustn't be put around any
neck but mine Tell your own story
boy"
And the youthful culprit told his
wanderings, his hardships, priva
tions and disappointments in search
of his father, and asked to live, i
only for little while, now that ht
} had found him.
you'll die of old age before W,
harm a hair of your head said th'
e. judge, drawing his sleeve across hli
eyes and walking away, followed b,
the others, leaving the father anC
son alone.
''Are your wrists painful yetY
asked the miner, at length, liftiny
/. one of the bandaged hands tenderly
''Tve no complaint TO make o
ANYTHING now, since l can look up
: on your face" replied the boy, an,
the father bathed the bruised fee
again and then prepared their break
!, fast.
7 From that hour his nature seeme
to change A happy light shone i
, his ewes and touching tenderness
came over his features whenever b
f met the loving gaze of the boy, VIII
4 had endured so much to find hin
They were never known to be apar
,. during their stay in the mines, an
? in few weeks the father took th