Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-12-02
| gentlemen, You don't know that be,s

gentlemen You don't know that he'
guilty! Unhand him. Let the Law
have its wayi let the law have it's way!'
| He fought his way to the prisoner
and at sight of this wild shouting
horseman they broke apart. and the
tall Absalom still held him by the col
lar. Then in Absalom's grip. anc
covering and trembling close to John
Earnings horse, he was hurried down
to the Jail: but at the door another
struggle came; the air was filed with
cries as the heated mass broke agains;
the building, and John Earling was
| thrown from his plunging horse and
went under in the struggle, but Absa-
lom tore the helpless, fainting wretch
through all and thrust him headlong in
at the open door, and the bolts shot to
their sockets and the man was safe.
CHAPTER XIX.
He was safe behind the thick stone
wall-the still book-keeper-and the
thousand hands that burned to rend his
flesh and soul apart were powerless
But he reeled about with his fingers
pressed hard upon the veins of his thin
neck, and gasped for breath, until the
crowd had melted away toward the
river; then he sat down with his blood
shot eyes upon the floor and was dumb.
What he had suffered, what black
plague had eaten his heart raw to the
touch of passion, how villianousIy
mixed were the ingredients of his nat
ure, or what mingled fire and darkness
had swept over him with torture and
dol IN 60. =, IS
God-weIghing his guilt against the
unseen forces that begot it-he was
blamable, can never be wholly known
this side of Heaven.
Joel was shocked beyond language,
and refused to believe in his guilt. as
did Mrs. Whitney, and indeed half of
Openstone. But out by the river the
inquest went on. and the prisoner was
held for examination; there again,
when examined before Justice, he
was held for trial at the regular term
of court.
All day long, without thought of
food or rest, John Earring watched
and guided. trying to satisfy himself in
the sight of Heaven if this man were
guilty or no. 1t was the first time in
his life that he had taken steps to
then, and ever after, he could not and
would not proceed without the finest
scrutiny of the entire field, lest in
prosecution or defense he might COM
NIT wrong scarcely inferior to the
first.
That night the town babbled with
dark words and prophesyings of the
prisoner ultimate escape. Joel pro-
t-iIoI hail for hi,
but the cringing, miserable man would
not submit his life to the street, and
guards were placed about the Jail.
Out where the town met the prairie
to the north the old lawyers house
stood under the signing trees with q
darkness deeper than the night infoId-
ing it. In the dim parlor where Maun
had often moved SO airilv she now lay
still with bloodless face and draped in
white. Mrs Bower, Celeste, and other
women with plying hearts, had ar
rayed her so, and Celeste had wept
above her. putting white flowers in her
helpless hands and dark damp
him who, she thought, had loved the
murdered maiden. should he come.
Late at night. after long cOnsulta-
John Earring came YEARLY
and with an unspeakabIy dark heart in
at the old lawyers door. Mrs Bower
received him and led him in where the
still sleeper Law, and Celeste. who had
been sitting by her, at sound of his
footsteps went into the adjoining room
where other watchers sat and closed
the door. For long time he stood by
hn vi
most wondering. at her awful white
ness, her utter silence, her bottomless
sleep. That which had charmed him
was not there, the life that gave
her beauteous motion had been
checked and turned aside into a region
where his eyes could never follow. Is
it possible to love a single human at
tribute alone and vet not draw its pos
It was so with him, but he did not
think of it. He was plying her, and
his pity with an angry sor-
row that twas speechless before the awful
wrong that had been done
20 her. There she lay, stained, and
,ut off in the fine bloom of innocent /,
yirihood; torn out of the world. |
xrenched away from home and !
sight, life, and all that had ever been |
Or might be dear and sweet to con- |
ciousness. for what? Through whom? |
o she did not know. She had no /
neither, and thev never told her. /
hey never told Eeri'' he moaned /
md started from the room, I
lot seeming to know that Mrs. Bower
vas there. She followed him softly |
'ut upon the porch and laid her hand |
Upon his arm. Her father wanted to
zee you if you came she said.
He turned upon her with angry,
eyes and looked at her
moment trembling with feeling. He
lever told her there was any harm in
he world he said, thiekly. .'She
ad no mother, and he never told her!
know know-he loved her; he
owed her foolishly. childishly, and had
very thing kept from her that for her
wn safety she should have known
nd known the danger of. 0 he killed
er with ignorance! She was no wiser
han q little childr' and he started
way into the darkness, leaving the
roman standing there wondering at
i'm. After time he came back and
t the left hand side of the hall went
ito the old lawyers rooms. 1t was
ear midnight, and the lights were
lrned down and dimly glimmerng
gainst the glaring horns of the elk's
cad, the eagles ewes, the glass cabin
Is and sclntillating serpents' skin.
tut in the darkness he had thought of
lie picture of Maun's mother hanging
here under its frightful covering. and
bought what she must have been to
lie old lawyer that he had