Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-04
SECOND EDITION
SOME ROMANCE
An Exile for More Than Forty Years
Tells the Story.
Dea TIL Bed Disclosure With Startling Incl
dents-An EIopement, Shooting and
Hypodermic Injection.

romance and love that had its inception
IN North Middle Tennessee more than
forty years ago.
The relator is young druggist, upon
whom the degree of doctor of pharmacy
has been conferred.
he is jug, now returning from trip
through Oklahoma, and this story
which was an incident to his trip, is as
strange as any fiction, though 1t may
lose some of its oolorinE through q lack
of the scribe's genius to properly delin-
cate its vivid scenes.
The Young druggist ana salesman,
through whose fundamentally the facts
were made known, was travelling by pri-
vate conveyance with party of gentle
men through the wilds of Oklahoma last
June, making their way to the settle
ments on the Texas border. They Gov
cred sixty miles the first day and struck
camp near a little settlement deeply i'm
INJURED in the solitude of that almost I'M
inhabited portion of that beautiful coun-
try.
There were only few families living
in the settlement, but its wild and
picturesque surroundings were so fascln-
ating to the travellers that they con-
cluded to remain and spend few days
cunning with the hospitGble squatters,
who had inflamed the imagination OF the
travellers with their well-told narratives
of the chase after the antelope and
buffalo upon the broad plains.
During the three days sport by the
travellers among the natives, the young
druggist was never addressed by any
other name but that of doctor, - and
the acquaintanceship among all parties
became very general. One OF the set
Tiers an old man named Oliver johnson,
was sick in his bed in his cabin, and
although the travellers had frequently
heard his name mentioned by his friends,
they had never seen him. They under
stood by the reference made TO him,
however, that he was an old man, and
that his malady was somewhat alarming,
but that was all, except that they were
led 10 believe that old man johnson was
q remarkable man among the rugged
yeomanry of the country, and that his
life was one of mystery, not TO say
doubt.
On the last day of the hunt, when the
travellers in their tents at night were
packing their baggage for an early start
on the following morning, messenge.
from the settlement rushed in, and air
most breathless in speech, said: NJ
God, doctor, cid man Johnson is dyingy
Won't you come TO see him?' The
young druggist told him that he would
not, and advised him TO 60 for physi-
clan.
"But there is not a doctor nearer than
100 miles, - said the messenger, land l
implore you to come and see if you can
not do something to relieve the old man S
suffering.
Under this statement of the facts the
young druggist repaired with the mes
senger to the cabin of old man Johnson,
taking such drugs from his sample case
as he thought he would be likely to need.
He found the patient in an unconscious
condition, suffering with chronic dysen-
tery, The young man knew the general
a accepted treatment in such cases
and went to work with will, admins
tering finally brandy and quinine hypo-
dermically.
Under this treatment the patient was
soon restored TO consciousness, and he
asked the young man, addressing him as
doctor, what he thought for his chance
for life or death.
''To be frank with you," said the
young man, 'tyour chances of living are
very slim.
"Thank you, thank youi thank you
for your candid opinion.
Then the sick man commanded every
one except his doctor to leave the room,
including his aged wife, whose careworn
and tired expression plainly indicated
that she had kept the vigils of the night
during his illness.
''believing, - said the patient, "that 1
am going to die, and that talking to n
physician is like talking to a priest, l
want TO make q confession to you, and
ask you to communicate the fact and
circumstances of my death back TO the
hauuts of civilization, of which l was
once a part.
''My name, then, air, is not Johnson 4,
but Daniel Payne. nm man of some
education, and in my younger days had
some acquaintance with the usages of
polite society. My home was in North
Middle Tennessee. fell III love with ,
wooed and won my present wife forty
wears ago. Her parents were opposed TO
the match and we eloped together. We
were followed by her irate father, whom
shot and killed just before reaching
the Mississippi river. His name was
Amos Pike. l have lived in this wild
country under an alias for forty years
and if any poor mortal ever suffered the
torments of the damned under the OPP
preston of banishment and whipped
conscience, have. Never stranger
has come near my habitation since that
time that have not regarded him with
suspicion aud fear. Every man ha:
seemed to me to be an officer armed
with the authority for my arrest. -
ITO interrupt your story said the
Young man, who was playing the role oil
doctor, "where did this Daniel Pay ne
live?''
The answer was promptly given and
the young man, whose acquaintance ii
co-extensive with the states and terri
tories of the Union, said; ''Why, he'I
not dead. He is living, though aged
and infrm, and his son, who keeps {
drug store in the village, is O customer
of mine.
THANK God for that!h said the sici
man. 81 thought l had killed hin
when / saw him fall from his horse
Young man, if what you tell me is true
/ shall live to return TO the scenes of N!
childhood, and live again, if only brief
Iy in memory of the happy past
When the young druggist left him
three days later. he was in Q fair way Il