The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1889-02-22

dead!"
| "Naw!"
"Jed Judson?''
aye don't mean it?'
"Whati"
"Jed-Judson-deadi"
! The speakers all spoke at once, the
poker players dropped their cards,
some of the men rose hastily to their
feet.
"Whatever allied Jedf'
"What allied himY' repeated the
man from Camp Fairview; che was
well an hearty as you and be three
hours ago, when an ornery cuss from
Poverty Guloh that Jed caught cheat
in at cards, and told him of it, put a
bullet in 'im--that's what allied jed"
San ye hung the fell,r that did it?"
asked 81 Sharpe.
"We amt yit, but we cal'late on
dom it fore mornip', and that's the
party come up to give you bid to-
Thought ye'd fell slightedif noneo you
got pull at the rope thst'll swing the
chap that killed Jed-a whittier mann
Jed never drawed the breath o'life."
oyer right thar" said 81 Sharpe,
heartily; san it'll do me good to git
pull OF that rope when you git the fel-
Ter that shot Jed to the other end of it.
Who is he, anyhow7"
"Don'U know. They don't any of
the boys know, an he won't tell whar
he come from nor who he is; but we all
know whar he's goin' to, an that
mighty burned quick, too. He's a
youngish sort of chap, not more'n 80
with three fingers off'n one hand and
scar over his left eye. We reckon his
names Hobbs-Henry Hobss-anyhow
he's got ring on with that name on it,
an that's the name on some letters we
tux from i'm, an also on a big, old
fashioned silver watch he's got. How
many of you going down to the hangin
with me! It'll come off at midnight
Nearly every man in the cabin rose
| TO his feet, and while all were pulling
on hats and coats the door of old Mrs.
Dill's room suddenly opened and Mrs.
Dill herself, ghastly and trembling,
with her thin gray hair falling to her
bony shoulders, walked swiftly across
the room, locked the door and stood
! with her back to it, her bleared eyes
dim with tears and her shrivelled lips
trembling.
Boys she said, in her shril cracked
voice, Eve amt goin' down 10 Camp
Fairview to hang that feller-I tell We,
ye a'int! Ye shan't!" She drew an old
pistol from beneath her apron as she
spoke and held it aloit with trembling
bony arm and wriDkled fingers. ''I'll
shoot the first fel,er that tries to go out
this door. I'll do it, Ill"-Her head
dropped suddenly to her breast, her
arm to her side and the pistol to the
floor. She put both her bony hands
to her face and sobbed aloud With
her head still bent low, she said;
"Boys, lookee here. Some of you
hev knowed me fer twenty year, an ye
knowed my man that's dead an gone
There's men in this cabin that I've fed
an keered for when they was homeless
an sick. In all the twenty-nine year
that Mis- Dill has lived in the
mountings the latch string O her cabins
hung out free to all. Nobody want
ever turned away, as some of ye
mighty we'll know. I've gin favors
wherever l could, an amt never asked
none back. I've had my tribbylations
--God knows l have!-sn' the wust of
m all has come tonight; fer boys,
that man yer goin' out ter hang isis
my boy-the only baby ever had,
an it's ten long year since | seen himl
"Dill want my fust husband. His
name was Hobbs an the boy was
named after 'im-Henry Hobbs. Some
o you may mind O seeing him fifteen
and twenty year ago at our cabin down
in Cinnamon Gulch-a purity, black
eyed, ourley headed boy. He got that
scar down in the gulch, and them three
fingers came off in bear trap Dill had
set and the boy fell into it. He allus
was a w1Aturesome boy an, never
stopped at nothin'. Some of ye
mind the big excitement they was
down in cinnamon Gulch fifteen year
ago, when they was asaloon under ev'ry
tree an' they want no such thing as
law an order. 1t want to be wonered
at that a-many boy went astray then,
an my Henry was among 'em. He
hadn't never had chance to be diff
rent. He didn't know how decent
folks lived, an I-I-wa'n't fit to learn
him, cause didn't know how myself.
He took to gamblin' an to drink, with
plenty to coax the boy on, an when
the excitement died away he ran off an
| amt ever heard of i'm but once since;
an he's the man they want ye TO go an
help hang. Ye won't do it, boys, will
YET
Her voice had changed to one of
earnest entreaty and her old apron
was held to her streaming eyes.
Boys she added, ''couldent ye git
em to give the boy another chance3
Tell 'em he's my boy. Bring i'm here
to me an let me go away with i'm.
Can't ye, boys' Cant ye do it for the
sake Of old times' Go an bring nv
boy to me. Hang me if you must
have life for the ons my boy took.
won't say word ag'in that; only let
me see my boy first
Every man in the cabin filed silently
out of the room and disappeared in the
darkness, going huriedly down the
trail. 1t was almost daybreak when
they came back. silent and stern, a
white faced, slender, trembling man
with them, his arms still bound and the
fear and horror OF death still in his
face,
Old Mrs. Dill met them at the door.
They led her son to her little room and
left her alone with h,m.
eyed better be ready to start by
daylight" was all 81 Sharpe said as he
closed the door of the little room, and
went back to the fireplace where the
other men sat looking silently into
the glowing Goals,
The next day had hardly dawned
when the gray haired old woman and
the tall, handsome young man came
from the little room. and. with n briaf