The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1888-08-30

about. The claims cleaned out,
and there's not half q dozen ounces
in the sank. To make a long story
short, we were relocated few days
later in place some twenty or
twenty-five miles dissantf where
some big finds were being name.
Our luck was almost phenomenal.
Every night the buckskin sack in
which we stored our treasure was
made considerably heavier. This
went on until we both were sure OF
realizing our utmost hopes of for
tune.
Zone morning, the first thing after
| jumped into the hole, | turned up
a nugget, bowlder ofpure gold, that
fairly took my breath away. 81 just
knelt down and kissed it's yellow
sides and cried over it and acted like
a crazy man. When Jim saw it he
too went nearly wild; it was such a
big one. We didn't work any more
that day, but laid out under the
trees with the nugget safe between us;
planning what we were going to do
with our wealth.
"Some way or another, however,
the nugget had brought me a queer
feeling of distrust of everybody
around me. fancied that every one
in camp wanted to rob me of my
heavy hoard of dust. / even watched
old Jim Q ought to have been struck
dead for that) lest he should make
away with the treasure. That night
/ was wakeful, knowing that the
whole camp was aware of our great
luck, and fearful that some of the
more lawless crowd might attempt
a robbery during the darkness. Some
time along in the morning | awoke
with the cold perspiration oozing
from every pore. | felt, rather than
knew, that something was wrong. |
reached over to where Jim slept and
found his blankets-empty. Next,
to where the treasure was buried.
My hands could scarce perform their
office as l tore up the earth. 1t was
gone.
81 rushed out into the faint moon
light. Not soul was in sight. ]
hurried back, got a revolver, slipped
on boots and trousers, and ran
toward the nearest cabin, intending
to give the alarm, but just as !
passed a little thicket l saw Jim
kneeling over what | knew instinct
lively was the stolen gold. Slipping
softly up over the grass-carpeted
ground, l clutched my heavy revolv-
er by the barrel and raised it to
strike. At that instant, and as the
blow aimed with all my strength de
scended, there was a rush behind me,
an oath, a shot, and | knew no
more. When l awoke Jim's lifeless
body lay beside me covered with
a rough blanket. A group of stern
faced miners stood about me, and as
| arose | was seized and pinioned.
When [ collected my scattered wits
enough to ask what it all meant, the
answer was merely to point to the
pistol still grasped in my hand and
to the ugly wound that showed
where q heavy blow had crushed
in Jim's head. Suffice it to say
that the peculiar circumstances OF
the affair were such as to
make my guilt doubtful, and that ]
found no difficulty in burrowing my
way out of the shanty where | was
confined over night. For days and
weeks, l suppose, | roamed the hills,
living on wild berries and sleeping in
the underbush until | was fairly in
sane from grief and privation. Ihad
killed Jim, the man who had given
me my life, the man to whom | had
owed more than | ever could have
repaid Was his robbing me any
justification of the crime? No. |
would have gladly given him ten
times as much if Icould have brought
him back to life.
81 think it must have been six
months or more afterwards that !
went back to the scene Of my crime,
l had gone back to San Francisco
and tried to start over again, but it
was no use. Nightly l lived over
again the horrors of that night, and
woke trembling so that my teeth
fairly chattered. So l went back. 1t
was evening when l reached the
place and walked into the saloon
where everybody used to congre-
gate after the days work was
done. When l told who l was and
said that was ready to be punished
as might seem most fitting there was
a silence of a minute or two, and then
some one stepped up beside me, and
looking curiously into my face, burst
into a loud guffaw, and calculated:
why, you darn fool, the chap that
killed old Jim Willis was found next
day layin' in the bushes, not a rod
from where he did it, with his head
cut open. He only lived long enough
to say that he done it. And it was
true. / did not kill jim; wasn't n
murderer, after all. The way of it
was this: Jim had gone out quietly
through the night, and during his
absence the real thief had stolen into
the cabin dug up the gold and the
nugget, and stole away with them.
Jim had met him and been killed in
the struggle, and it was his murderer
whom l struck and fatally wounded
An accomplice, who had been on the
watch, had tumbled me over.
$50 that's why ! hunted up the
nugget, and l have alway kept it, Us
you see The story is queer; perhaps
but it has the merit of being absolute.
ly true, every word of it. f"
l