Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-05-30
THE FREED PRISONER.

"It VIII establish bad precedent. The
rcrs will think all they have to do
k. ! sick so as to get Free" said the
Ntdh., SGstilv.
'It is but a question of time, and very
E@ort time, too, before a greater judge
even than you will give him his discharge,
and not only him, but good many others
besides, said the doctor, much provoked
'Eh, is that sop said the judge, ignor-
ing sarcasm, lis there really so much
sickness in the jail?"
"a good deal, and chiefly confined to
the United States prisoners. Spotted
fever RACES with fatal effect among
them"
"That is strange. How do you account
for it? Is illicit distilling an unhealthy
occupation
"When it reaches its natural result of
landing the operator into Jail, there to
sicken, it may be called decidedly un-
healthy. But, jesting aside, these noun
tain fellows suffer more than the other
prisoners for the reason that they have
always lived free life in the open air:
therefore the close confinement of the
Jail proves very irksome and they sicken
under it, This spotted fever is, think,
the result of lack of proper circulation
of the blood. 1t is a sort of epidemic
among the mountaineers. Some OF them
have died Of it and others are very low,
and they will die too if they stay in
that Jail. The thought of going home is
all that will save them now-Jack Big
by, especially; release is the only hope
for him."
''He has no one to thank but himself"
said the judge. "Why did he NEEDLE
with Illicit distilling:"
Il grant all YOU say; but death is a Sc
we're sentence for few gallons of noun
tain dew" said the doctor.
True said the judge after pause.
81 will suspend sentence in his case, and
let him go home. Here is his release"
said he, as he filled out blank; "talie it
to him-a new sort of physic, truly! But
tell him he won't get off so easy the next
time he mcddles with the revenue"
Thanks, said the doctor as he took
the paper "It will be many day, if
ever, before he will feel like playing
with edged tools. Judge, this is the first
time l ever envied your high position
when / see the mercy you can show"
'Is the sun a-shinin' outside. Pa?"
The sick man lay on his bunk in his
cell; his fever scorched tongue was stiff
and blackened 50 that he could scarcely
speak. 1t was difficult to recognize in
the wan shadow lying there the stalwart
mountaineer of a few months ago. His
blue eyes were SINK deep in his head;
his matted hair and beard were bleached
from a sunburnt yellow to a sickly straw
color, and over the hollow caverns of his
cheeks the white skin, blanched by pris-
on dank, was tightly drawn. On its
bloodless surface the red blotches of the
spotted fever showed with startling viv-
idness.
Could this be Jack Bisby, the man
who could outshoot, outride, outjump
and Guidance any of his comrades?
Old Bigby, otherwise Pap, as he sat
by the bedside of his sick son, felt dazed
and stunned by the change. He had
only arrived that morning, and, in the
few hours that had passed, failed yet to
realize it. Could that be Jack? He was
changed in his ways as well as in his
looks. How strange he talked.
set whar | kahn see ye, Pap" he
said, when his father had arrived. THE
sight of We is good fer sore eyes"
And, as he said it, all at once the fa-
ther had choked up and felt like crying;
he didn't know why. But he hadn't
done it.
"Hit war powerful curious Jes' ter
think o Jack a-sayin' sech a thing!
Rough an ready Jack ter wanter lay
thar an look at his ole pap"
Mr. Bigby, it is true, was not very
beauteous object, nor one on which most
people would crave to feast their eyes.
He looked as if the summer sun had
shone upon him very hot and the winter
rain had beat upon him very hard. He
could in fact, be called weather beaten.
His long, iron gray hair and beard were
guiltless Of barber or comb and brush
either, for that matter. The seams and
rugged lines of his face caused his coun-
tenance to look like bit of rolling land
scape. But all scanned and rugged as it
was, to the homesick eyes of his son it
was more beautiful than the face of
Adonis.
Mountaineers are not emotional people,
and so old Bigby sat there, his throat
swelling queerly under the strange gaze
of his son. Mingled with his emotion
was feeling Of wonder and horror at
his changed appearance.
"His hands," thought the father, "air
like chicken clawsw Could that pale,
shadowy thing be Jacks muscular fst2
SIS the sun shinin' outside, pap" asked