Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1890-12-05

] q NNAh iNtiNC luG ltlls anu lOl-
/ lowed by Garyey, who keeps his awful
eyes on them, they are promptly
sworn as jurymen by an energetic
young Coroner.
The women of the party, filled part
/ ly with indignation, partly with curl
Osity, and most OF them wholly with
sorrow, for up to this time they had
notheard of the death of any whites,
and had, with kind of moral atrophy.
imagined that the Indians were the
only sufferers, follow after.
The lady from the other Pullman
car has just walked to the local post
office and inquired II the postmaster
can give hef the address of a gentle
man living in the neighborhood named
Philip Everett.
Not gaining the information she de-
sires and seeing the thrOng pass in to
the cor0ner's investigation, she fol-
lows, and finds herself gazing on a
sight that holds her partly in horror,
and partly in sympathy.
Seated on one side Of the room are
the eXcursionists empanelled as jurors:
beside them Mr.. GarYey; in front Of
! them tie coroner; around the sides Of
! the room, sOs1e of the men smoking,
some chewing, some of the women
tanning themselves, are the adult pop
ulatiOn Of Lordsburg, mixed with cow
boys from the neighboring plains; min
ers from the adjacent mountains,
some OF Smyth x BabcOck's teamSters,
and few railroad hands and cOlOrtd
porters from the cars now detained
upon the. tracks.
Most of them are in theil shirt
! sleeves br dnsters, the sun being
scorching hot. Silence is upon them
all Their eyes are turned toward d
a little platform made with rough
boards.
Upon this dais are six quiet forms,
each covered with an ample white
sheet; for to the victims Garveys
party have brought in have been ado
ed the bodies Of some capitalists and
mining experts. who, having come to
this country to examine aud buy q sill
yer mine have been ambushed by
Nana's braves and shot down, as, un-
conscious Of danger, they rode chat
| ting and laughing along the trail.
So the murdered lie, similar and
equal in death. save that few wild
| flowers, cleaned from beside some irri-
eating ditch,s and .Splaced by tender
han Is upon the dead English lady,
show that she is of the sex they honor
IN reverence in the far west more
highly and more tenderly than in any
other land on this earth.
A little to the side of these white
forms are the witnesses, one a sun
burnt cavalryman from Hatchs
tklOpers and among them sits Arthur
Wllloughby holding on his knee his
| little orphan niece, who has tears in
her eyes for she knows she is in the
presence OF her dead mothers
In front Of all this, his eyes flashing,
his voice raised in inspired oratory, is
Hank JohnstsOn: ne knows the OPP
pOrmnity OF his lifetime has come TO
him and he is going to use it. For
this man. like poor Frank TilfOrd of
California, was one Of the few men in
the West who still held that almost
Il rEOtton but magic art OF oratory, the
last exponents of the subtitle power
by which Webster and Clay, and Doug
las and Prentice sWayed mems souls.
NJ man who hears and sees Hank
Johnston this day ever forgets the
burning elOquence Of his words or the
vivid pathos of his gestures.
He addresses himself entirely to the
excursionsts: he knows no words can
paint a picture to the New Mexican or
Arizona pioneer equal to the horror Of
his own experiences. He tElls these
sight-seers from the East of the awful
life of men who exist with the appre-
henBion of sudden and cruel death al
ways hanging over themas they pursue
their daily yocations of peaceful
industry-Of the mother shudderirg
for her offspring who has been borne
into captiyity-Of the husband reach
ing home at night from his cattle
range or his mine to find the wife OF
his bosom murdered and his children
slain and multlated amid the smoul-
dering ashes Of his frontier home.
you who call yourselves philanthrC-
Dists," he cries, 'have grasped that
mental will o. the wisp'-a half trpth.
You have sympathized with the In
dians' wrongs. Now behold his ven
geance-On the innOceptp' and he lifts
up the cOyesfng from tie dead.
At the awful sight thrill of horror
comes over the assemblage, and
Arthur Willoughby turns his face away
and buries it in his hands, and many
others look down.
Then Garyey says in a quiet but
death,y voice, "The jury will now in
spect the. bodies, ,oand uforces every
man Of them to gaze upon the work of
the Apache.
And they dOso with horror in their
shuddering faces, while some Of the
women come and bend over the dead
English lady and weep forsher and pray
for her. And to wOmen's tears are now
added thOsesOf men, for Aittle Flossie
suddenly cries out, Let me pray, too,
for my dear dear mother whe kissed
me yesterday, but now ls-in heayen!"
and throws herself beside the dead
face that seems TO smile on her.
This gives the lawyer an inspiration.
lie says quietly: ''What would my
words be to the elOquence Of this
child. She shall tell you Of her own
bereavem6As.
So they swear the little thing, Gar
yey in choking voice speaking the
solemn words to her, and holding a
worn-out Bible for her rosy lips to
kiss.
Standing up she gives her testimony
in childish pathos and baby voice and
tells how her darling mother, and her