Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-03-01

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all its surrounding, about hi.
away. This was heonly Co ehoul
from which such sighs conl' - ob'
tanned. ! had discovered Il ecci
slsnt, and used 70 ny there n Ii.
early, evening and waich lhr<aL III.
glass for Jean to cone oa ii ths
house and make soF our seetins
place.
II watched to see hereome eNI ihal
morning. at milking tine. i' ding
TO hurry over and trysto squ4I zsat.
ters with her. for I haa con- MI a
! leave md = to go 4
But she didn't coms out, f6e reason,
as found long after, Chat when
left the night before, old Baziue had
abused me until she stood up for me,
and then he turned on her and struck
her, and she had left the house at
once and gone to a friend two miles
away. saw some things through the
glass that morning, but thought moth
ing Of them at the time. When my
boss showed up at breakfast l de.
manded my wages-going to leave at
once-would give no reason. l was
paid, and hurried away feeling mad
at myself and all creation. I walked
to the town, took the stage, went to
the railroad and rushed for New York
where l shipped at once on a packet
bound for California, and We sailed
the same evening. This was in 40,
mind you.
ave went round the Horn and
made port all safe. Then | got the
gold fever and struck off for the mines.
Four years l worked, and at the end
was only about $4,000 ahead. long
ed to go back to civilization for a
while, and | started for the only place
on land where / could hope for a well
come-Round Lake; I wanted to
hear something of Jean, too.
II reached there, surprised my old
boss, who said he had heard l was
dead. He invited me ia though some-
how he didn't seem very hearty in
his welcome. I sat there an hour
when in comes two constables, claps
irons on me. and elbows maa warrant
fer my arrest-for the murder OF old
Monster and Missis Bazine.
"Of course l objected, t'wern't no
good. l landed in the town Jail.
There / heard the first / knew of the
matter. 1t seems that about 7 o'clock
on the morning I left Round Lake 50
suddenly, Peter Carter had rushed TO
the nearest neighbors and Informed
them that the old couple had been
murdered, their bodies carried off and
the house robbed. He had slept with
friend, he said, a mile away. Jean
had left, and the old people were
alone. Their beds were covered with
blood and the house all turned up.
"Whom did he suspect?'
why me-Ben Marlin, who had
been there the night before drunk, q
quarrelling with the old man, cursi,g
and threatening him.
81 was looked for, my haste in leav-
ing and refusal to tell why, my every
action convinced all of my guilt. |
was traced to New York, to the ship
in which sailed but in those days
there was no way of teiegraphing
ahead to stop me. There was Ben
Martin also in the crew, aud he died
of the tremens the second day out
This found its way into the papers
and the people interested concluded
that Martin was a mistake for Marlin,
and that I was gone.
"Well, | was in pretty bad fix.
But l sends for lawyer and gives
him five hundred out of my pile. lie
Was a mighty white chap-even if he
was lawyer-Td been overhauhng
my memory and l gave him some
points. He went to work on EN- with
a will.
"The day of trial came, and it was
a big day in that town. Peter Carter
swOre dead against me, how cursed
and threatened the old man, how !
had been seen lettering around near
the house afterwards. He believed,
felt sure, that / was the murderer.
His friend, a stupid lout, swore
that Peter slept with him the night oi
the killing. He couldn't tell what
time Peter went away for he slept un-
tll the boss kicked him up.
Jean, prettier than ever, reluct-
antly testified that / had returned
curse for curse with old Bazine, bu,
not as bad as Peter Carter stated. and
that had made no threats except
that I would "take the wind cut oI
his sails yet"