Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-04-01
BOTH J0NAHS.
Tho Fate of Ono of Thorn In a
Logging Camp.

Before Wolf River camp was In win
ter quarters the majority of the inrn
had reached the conclusion that afcllow
named Scrcnus Smith, who was put
ting in his first year as u logger. was u
Jonah. Every body recognized his PEE
culiar,icS. and when Mcnomincc Ken
drick said hc was a Jonah the cpithct
was fixed upon him, and rs n Jonah he
has since been known.
Regarding this as Il joke to bcgin
with. the men finally came to look
upon Smith u a mysterious character,
aud at length some one with smatier-
Ing of Biblical learning suggested that
the only thing 10 do with Jonah was
to throw him oycrl oard. From tina,
time Smith los, caste rapidly.
"rhcrc ain't no good in him, Me-
nominee said half n dozen times day.
"IIr's Jonah, and he ought to be run
out. There's something unhealthy
about him. AMI never yet knew any
q ,pd 10 come from one of those fcllcrs.
We had Jonah up on the Flambcau
tAo years ago. and we had to get rid oi
him, ard I'll miss my guess II we don't
find it necessary TO shove This one be-
fore long"
Little by little the few intimatcs of
Smith fell away, and he presently was
- completely isolated ~ though hc
lived ia these wastes alone. Nobody
would eat, sleep, or work with him,
AMI ut nigh, or on SUNDAYS In all thu
conyiyinliticS and amu>cmcnt> Of the
camp he was left ont. the ,rca,mcn,
which he was receiving began to tell
OH him after awhile, and Us he grew
more and more sinister in appearance
the conviction of the men that there
was something uncanny about him
strengthened prodigiou>ly.
One sunday just before the holidays,
when he had tried unsucccssfully tn
scrapc an acquaintance with several OF
the men. he at length corncrcd one OF
them. Jack Humphrey. and asked him
what was the matter.
81 don't knows any things the
natter" said Jack, trying to move
OIL.
"Wcll, something ails YOU men OF
me. which is it," insisted Smith.
Its you, then said Jack.
"You'rr Jonah, and that's all there
Is to it,"
Beyond that Jack would ayno,hing,
but Smith, continuing his intcrrogato-
rics from man 10 man, heard from
every one of them the unanimous de-
cision Of the camp that had been ar.
rived ut. The intolcrablc loneliness OF
Smiths position made him well nigh
desperate. and ii is believed that he
would have left the camp had not ,
new arrival Of men brought one indi.
yilual of whom he could make a COM
panion. The two were then together
all the time, and confidence was -
tablishcd between them which at lat
some Of the men came To admire and
then To envy. Jonah, rs Smith was
then called, was gaycr. brighter. api
apparently healthier than ever. He
whistlcd. sang and laughed. His eyes
grew brigh, and his cheeks red. lie
made renewed attcmps to render him.
self agreeable To his associates, and he
failed To convince them that he had
been misjudgcd he found consolation
and compar.ionship with Hitchcock;
his new friend. All hands remarked
the change that had come over Jonah,
and nearly all were willing to admit
that they might have been mistaken.
Things ran along in this way u,,il
the other day, when Hitchcock revealed
his identity TO Hcndrick and a
few others. He had come into the
camp in the disguise OF lum-
herman, hut hc was detective
who wanted tho man called Jonih for
murder committed three years igo in
Kentucky. He had gained Smiths
confidence. and had heard from his
own lips a complete story Of his crime.
the last and most important confession
having been made OF SUNDAY. The
two men had talked freely Of their past
lives, and the detective, in order to
draw out his associate, had related the
details of some pretended crimes in
which he had been engaged. Jonah's
long-enforced silence and his desire for
companionship got the best Of him and
he, too, confessed. He gave every de-
tail of the crime, revealed some things
which had never been understood,
showed how be had been led into the
plot. and vowed that II he lived long
enough and was able TO do so he would
make such reparation as was possible.
In fact. he had already inc!o,dd one
lnstallment Of money TO his victims
family, and the detective explained
that that was the clue which brought
him TO the timber country. When
Hitchcock had finished Ills story and