Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1883-09-27
New Seaiee-Vol "a No. 80

you are talking about. 1 think you are
sick or crazy, or crazy, or something. But
anyway, you are awake. and I'll get to
sleep while have chance"
He fell asleep. and l laid there IN a
cold sweat, turning this new terror over
in Il whirling chaos, which did duty as my
mind. The burden of my thoughts was,
how much did l divulge? How much
does he know? What distress in this
uncertainty. But by and by evolved an
idea. l would wake my brother and
probe him with suppositious case
l shook him up and said: suppose a
man should come to you drunk"
This is foOlish-I never get drunk"
Il don't mean you, idiot; l mean the
man. Suppose man should come to you
drunk, and borrow knife or tomahawk
or pistol, and you forgot to tell him it
was loaded, and"
How could you load tomahawk?" ?"
II don't mean the tomahawk, and did
not say the tomaha Wk; said the pistol.
Now, don't you keep breaking in that
way, because this is serious. There's been
man killed"
What. In this townY
YES, in this town"
"Well, go on; l won't say single word.
''Well, then, suppose you forget to tell
him to be careful with it, because it was
loaded, and he went off and shot himself
with that pistOl-fOoling with it, you
know, and probably doing it by accident,
being drunk. Well, would it be murder ?"
"No-suicide."
NO, no; don't mean his act. mean
yours. Would you be murderer for let
ting him have that piStol?"
After deep thought came this answer:
well, should think l was guilty of
something murder. Yes, proba-
bly, murder, but don't know"
This made me very uncomfortable
However, it was a decisive verdict l
should have to set out the real case; there
seemed to be no other way; but would
do it cautiously, and keep a watch for
suspicious effects. l said:
Il was supposing a case; but am COM
ing to the real one now. Do you know
how the man came to be burned in the
calaboose?"
NO"
Haven't you the least idea?"
Not the least"
wish you may die in your tracks if
you have?"
Yes; l wish 1 may die in my tracks"
'Well, the way OF it was this. The
man wanted some matches to light his
pipe. A boy got him some. The man set
fire to the calabooSe with these very
matches and burned himself up"
'Is that so?"
''Yes. it is. Now, is that boy a mur-
derer do you think y
Let me see. The man was drunk?'
Yes, he was drunk"
Very drunk"
Yes"
And the boy knew it?'
"Y eS, he knew it"
There was long pause. Then came
this heavy verdict:
"If the man was drunk and the boy knew
it, the boy murdered that man. This is
certain"
Faint, sickening sensations crept along
the fibers of my body, and l seemed to
know how person feels who hears his
death-sentence pronounced from the
bench
l waited to hear what my brother would
say next. l believed l knew what It
would be, and l was right. lie said:
81 know the boy
had nothing to say, so 1 said nothing.
simply shuddered.
Then he added:
Yes, before you got half. through tell
ing about the thing | knew perfectly
well who the boy was; it was Ben COontz.'
| came out of my collapse as one who
rises from the dead. l said with admira-
ton:
why, how in the world did you ever
guess it?'
You told 1t in your Sleep.
said to myself:
How splendid that IS This habit
which must be cultivated"
My brother ratified innocently on:
when you were talking in your sleep,
you kept mumbling something about
which | couldn't make any
thing out Of; but just now, when you be-
gan to tell me about the man in the Gala
boose and the matches, remembered that
in your sleep you mentioned Ben Coontz
two or three times, so [ put this and that
yon see, and right away | knew
it was Ben that burned the man up"
praised his sagacity, effusively.
Presently he asked:
Are you going to give him up to the
Iaw?"
No." | said;" 81 believe that will be a
lesson to him. | shall keep an eye on
him, of course, for that is but right; but
if he stops where he is and reforms, it
shall never be said that betrayed him"
How good you are.'
well | try to be- 1t is all a person
;an do in Il world like this
And nov. my burden being shifted to |
other shoulders, my terrors soon faded |
AWAY.