New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-07-15
ito the court with q verdict q

-
into the court with q verdict Of
Guilty"
/ shall never forget the look Of mute
agony on his wife face as Dirk stood
up to be sentenced to death, or the
calm, proud way in which he heard his.
DOOM
ssMark my words, boys, sylvester's
wife will get him reprieved."
The speaker was lounging at the
counter ofthe Yellow Bar, in the Trans
vaal road, and his words evoked a.
murmur of sympathy.
Ever since theconviction efforts had
been made in all directions to prevent
the dread sentence of the law being car
ried out, and Sylvester's wife had be-
come the heroine of the camp. There
were few who did not believe that he
shot the Frenchman; but why should
he die for an offense which was light
compared with some which lay quite
easily on the consciences OF not a few
of the inhabitants of Kimberly?
AS the hum Of approval subsidized,
some one directed our attention to a
lady walking rapidly in the direction of
the jail. We recognized her at once,
and respectfully saluted as she drew
near. She stopped for moment and
spoke to the formost man, who, as
she hurried on, turned and gave a
great shout.
"Hurrah," he cried, "Dirk's re-
prieved! The little lady has just had
a telegram from Cape Town. Three
cheers for Sylvesters wife!
doubt if the attention was pleasing,
but the kindly jailer told me that she
smiled for the first time since Dirk s
conviction, as that cheer reached her
ears, just as she stepped into the pris-
on yard.
X \
Three weeks afterward 1 had occa-
sion to call on the governor OF the Jail,
and as we sat in his little cool room,
discussing his Martell and smoking his
Boer tobacco, he looked up suddenly
with a troubled air, and said, "By the
bye, do you know that Dirk
Sylvester goes to Cape Town
with the next lot OF I. D.
BIS Illicit Diamond Buyers)?"
expressed my surprise, as I knew
the governor had the selecting of the
prisoners to be transferred to the
breakwater at Cape Town, and heard
that he had an idea OF making Dirk a
clerk in the Kimberley Prison office.
There was little chance of his ever be-
ing free man, but it was something
that he should serve his weary years
at Kimberley, amongst friends who
could visit him, and close to his faith
full wife. l mentioned this, and the
governor, stepping to a littlecupboard,
turned the key and took out a little
blue packet.
"Ihavehad to forbid Mrs. Sylvester's
visits" he said, "and when / tell you
the reason, I think you will agree that
| am right in sending Dirk to Cape
Town. You see, he seemed to expect,
when the reprieve came, that he would
be set at liberty; and so did she, but
as you know, the death sentence has
only been committed to one of i'm
prisonment for life; and how on earth
they managed to persuade the Govern
or to do that, can't tell. Well, since
that has been made plain to Dirk, he
has been a changed man. He talks
hopelessly Of his future-and God
knows, poor fellow, it's dark enough!
he seems to be pining forfreedom, he
says the convict dress clings to him
like searcloth, and the other day just
after his wife had Visited him, saw
such a queer look in his eyes that I
quietly turned over his things. At the
bottom Of a basket OF comforts she
had brought him, 1 found this.'
He opened the packet, and poured
out before my eyes a whitish powder.
"Well?" said interrogatively.
'sPoison!" he briefly replied, as he
swept the powder back into the pack
ct. 7"And now," he added, "don't
think me hard if send Dirk to Cape
Town."
There was an unusual stir and ex-
citement in Kimberly; the streets were
crowded with men and women whose
faces bespoke every kind Of emotion,
from despairing rage to rejoicing
malice; whilst hither and thither
amongst the throng in the market
square rode officials in the dark blue
uniform of the Cape Civil Service. u,
At length there was cloud of whirl-
ing dust in the Transvaal road; the
crowd swayed and parted, and at a,
hand gallop two heavily laden mule
wagons passed through the surging
ranks, and halted for the escort to
close round.
A woeful freight those wagons bore;
a load OF human misery; company of
wretched convicts, into whose souls
the iron of captivity had already en-
tered; a consignment of baffled, trapped
and forsaken seekers after illicit wealth.
Youth and age were there, and the
CALLING letters bound all together
in the links of a common despair.
Chained as they were, like wild beasts,
some stood up, and in agonized voice
called upon friend, wife and child, who
not; while others, crouching
in a corner of the rude con-
veyance, bowed their heads between
their trembling hands, and sought to
keep out the light OF a sun which had