Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-08-10

| JuS5 Wonb flRhb aneaQ ana Crleu ana
convicted their man, and when l got
back the miner who had been appoint
ed to the Office was barring his arm
preparatory to laying fifty lashes upon
the bare back Of poor Japhek
II rushed between the executioner
and his victim, and protested that they
were about to punish an innocent man.
"'Why, look ahere, tenderfoot,n re-
marked the president of the court, re-
garding me with any thing but friend
ly glance, this here chap ought to be
hanged, by good rights, and only but
| Buck Hanks offered his rife t'other
day for seventy-five dollars, he'd be
stretched. This yere's the miners
law
| Then he proceeded to read this,
(which have always kept a copy of:
BANNER DISTRICT. March g. 1861.
Sect Q. ResoIred, That any person who shall
be tried for stealing before tho Miners Court,
II found guilty, shall receive notless than TWEEN
ty, or more than one hundred lashes. And for
stealing yoke OF oxen horse, mule, or pony
he shall be hung by the neck until he is dead;
and in all cases the party having the property
stolen shall be made good by the party guilty
of stealing, il in his power. And in case the
value OF the property stolen be over a hundred
dollars, he shall be hanged by the neck until
dead. The president will In all cases appoint
the person to whip, and the whipped person
shall be banished from the mountains forever,
and not complying within two hours, the whip
ping to be repeated
by dint OF much persuasion in
duced the court to reopen the case, and
placed the miner who owned the rifle
upon the stand. made him admit
that the gun was in his possession until
the early morning of that day, thus
proving that Japhet, il out of camp,
could not have stolen it Next had
old man Bunker swear that Japhet had
been over the mountain with him all
night. couldn't resist the tempta-
ton to get off spread-eagle speech,
in which 1 cited Chitty, Blackstone,
Kent and a lot of other authorities to
show the invulnerable character of an
alibi was young, and that was my
first case. l didn't know as much
then as now.
"When was spouting the president
exchanged glances with the commit
tee, and at the conclusion of my mas
terly harangues spoke something like
this:
"It pears, pards, as we've been
leetle hasty bout this here Jep, who
owns alaber. But ther best man in
ther diggings is likely to got strung up
by mistake, and we shouldn't harbor
no hard feelin's. We didn't have no
grudge against Texas Pete when we
hanged him for shooting the United
States marshal 1t afterward turned
out that another feller did the
shootin', but every body lowed that
Pete didn't have no kick comm,
cause he'd shot nigh onto a dozen
fellers just as good as the marshal.
Accerdents will happen in the best
regulated families, as the Bible says,
so we pass on this here lickin we were
a-goin' to give Jep, and the order OF
the court is to release him, an ef he
wants any satisfaction out'n any body,
he'll find me ter hum most any time
after sun-down, most any day
''Jep wanted to embrace me, and
signified desire to treat the crowd;
but the court was not through, for the
president resumed
"'Young man, that war a mighty
handy bit of preacbin' yer Civ us just
now; be yer lawyer in disguiseP"
"That is my profession / replied,
proudly.
81 thought as how yer wuz,' re.
turned the president. The orders OF
this here horrible court is, that We be
taken hence by the committee of one,
an given the full extent of the law.
fifty lashes.' Then addressing the
committee: Amy body agil them there
orders of this hon'r' able court?'
II was thunderstruck. Nobody lift,
ed his voice against the cruel indigni-
ty. attempted to expostulate, but the
president gravely read to me the fol-
lowing section of the miners laws:
Resolved, That no lawyer shall be permittel
to practice law in any court in this district, un
der penalty of not more than fifty, nor less than
twenty lashes, and be banished from the dis
trict.
Prayers and entreaties were OF nc
avail, and the utmost clemency that
the court would yield was to deter tho
whipping until the following morning.
You may imagine my sensations as
l lay under guard that night with the
certainty of an ignominious punish
ment by daylight. The guard outside
gave me no chance of escape, and at
length resigned myself to my fate with
all stoicism | could summon, and final
ly fell asleep.
"Along toward morning was awak-
ened by a touch ON the shoulder, and |
recognized Japhet. He had crawled
through the window and speedily cut
the ropes that bound me.
81 followed him through the window,
and skulked after him through the
camp. A mile down the gulch he had
a horse for me.
Il couldn't see you suffer for me,
old man, he said.
II wrung his hand and fed, nor did
| stop before / had put a good seventy
five miles between myself and Banner
Camp. and did not show up there for
five years, when I went back as United
States District Judge.
Then / learned that poor Japhet
had stolen the horse on which es-
capped, and that, after giving up the