The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-04-21
UNDER A TREE TOP.
The Tragedy at Niger Bend Camp
A Confession.
"Sam Blakely is killed."

e'Sam Blakely is killedr'
A dozen men who were seated about
the logging shanty smoking or playing
cards started and looked about at the
sudden announcement.
Shorty, the skidder, stood just with
in the room swinging smoke-begrimed
lantern and looking straight ahead at
the group of loggers gathered about
the greasy pine table with a sputtering
tallow candle in tne center. The game
of euchre came to sudden halt. Jim
Sweezy turned half round on his stool
and grinned at Ned Oakley, or Shorty,
and growled.
..Bosh! What you givin' US now,
Shortly"
''Ratsr' and a general laugh fol-
lowed
But the stumpy skidder knew what
he was talking about, and was not to
be put down by unseemly levity. He
advanced to the center of the room,
and then several of the loggers could
see that his bronZed face was pale, and
that a scared look filled his ewes.
Shorty was not easily overcome. Some
thing of Az unusual nature must have
happened, and no mistake.
Jim Sweezy crushed his cards down
upon the table and wheeled squarely
about as Shorty said:
Its Gods truth, boys; Sans dead,
7
minutes ago."
''Durn Gurus, seems to me-" NUT
tered Jim Sweezy. 1.-The Teller started
this morning to 90 down to Niger
Bend. and don't see how he got back
an planked hisself under a tree. You
amt comm no cod now, Shorty Eff
you be, I'll smash every bone in yer
body soon's find it out"
81 toll you twas Gods truth
''Boys, Shorty amt lynn now. He's
seen somethin' onyhow. Let's 90 out
and 'vestigate," cried a huge, red
headed teamster. who had until now
sat with his back leaned against the log
ribs of the shanty, smoking a briarwood
pipe. He knocked the ashes out
quickly, and then thrust the hot briar-
wood into side pocket of his womus.
bob Stiles is right; We'll 'vesti-
gate"
There was general commotion
now, and soon nearly every man in the
shanty, including many who had
-crawled into. their hunks before Shorty's
coming, poured into the crisp outer air,
and followed the flame of the skidder's
lantern to a tree-top about forty rods
away.
When the skidder came to a halt he
had his lantern high, thus permitting
every man to see the dark object that
lay upon the ground just under pro-
Jecting limb of the giant pine.
Its Sam Blakely, sure enoughr'
cried Tom Holcomb, the scaler. f.He
must have come back through the
woods, and got under this tree lust as
it fell. Poor fellowr'
A feeling of awe came over that
group of rough loggers, and for a time
they spoke in subdued tones, and moved
about with solemn tread, as though
fearful of disturbing the rest of their
dead comrade. Poor Blakely's skull
was crushed in, but he was not dis
figured otherwise. Sam was quite a
gentleman among the loggers. He was
Fairly educated, and witha1 keen bust
mess sort of young fellow.
On the following day the body of tbs
young logger was conveyed to Niger
Bend and consigned to earth. The
shanty crew attended in a body. May
Andrews and her mother were the only
snourners. May and her mother, the
latter widow, were employed TO do
the cooking. Mrs. Andrews brother
doing the chores about the shanty.
Sam Blakely was Mays cousin, and he
was often at the cooks shanty in con-
sequence.
One other had frequently been at the
woman's shanty-Tom Holcomb, the
scaler. Which one was the girls
fayorite none could tell. May seemed
deeply moved at the untimely taking
of of her cousin, and her eyes were
red with weeping for some days there
after.
It was learned that Sam Blakely had
been to Niger Bend on the day in
question, and had set out to return to
the shanty just before dark on that
fatal day. No one saw him after he
left the Bend until Shorty's discovery
Of his body under the pine top. The
ersa had been felled lust at dark. and