Nevada County picayune., 1890-11-27


 the city, and at first his neighbors were distrustful of him.
 But this soon wore away, and nothing could be done on the noun tain side in which he did not take the most prominent part. He brought a young wife with him, and together they lived in their cabin. The years passed by, and the storekeeper grew ! to be wealthy man. He was nat ural athlete, and could run faster. leap faster, shoot straightcr and ride better than any man in the country. 1 For years his life was happy one and little daughter was born unto tue young couple. In the morning and evening Wilson's cheery whistle could be heard as he epassed from the cabin to the store and back again. As the baby grew, he use to take her on his back and carry her to the store. But one day day stranger appear on the mountain. He was well dressed and the simple noun taineers regarded him with suspicion. The next day he was gone, and John Wilson's wife had disappeared, nev CT to return.
 No one knew anything farther ; but the storekeeper no longer whis- tied as he went to the store. An al- most savage tierceness came upon him, except to little Susie. If she hid behind the boxes in the store, it was pathetic to hear hm call Susie, my babp." And the child would run out, throw her arms around him and laugh, while the tears would come unbidden to the strong man s eyes as he stroke her hair. When she was older they would sit in the cabin door, and he would teach her to read. Never for a moment were they separated, and as the years passed by some of the old time gae- ty came back to John Wilson.
 His daughter went off to school, and when she returned, had grown into womanhood She was a beauti- ful glrl, and in her pretty dress seem ed strangely out of place among the simple mountain folks. She still went with her father to the store, for he could not bear to have her out of his sight, The mountaineers, how ever, continued to come to the cabin.
 ''Why do these men come here, father?" his daughter asked.
 II have business with them, my child. I am rich man here, but 1 would be poor man i'll the city. Next year will have enough and we will move to the city"
 1 She was content with this but she learned the truth and begged him to stop. "Only few weeks now, my child" he would answer.
 One night two men came running to the house. She heard her father go after his rifle. Dressing quickly, 1 she ran to catch him. She had learned where the stlll was, and she diyined that there was trouble there.
 Approaching the still she saw the revenue officers riding up the creek just behind her. Never needing the rifle barrels resting in the crevices between the logs of the still house. she ran on, when the sharp crack of q rifle rang out on the night air. She threw up her hands and fell on her face, shot through the heart. It was her father who had fired, and as she | fell, and he saw who it was, he fell by the side of his gun. After the fight, in which no one was wounded, the officers retreated.
 His companions picked John Will son up and carried him to the nearest cabin. They did not know what the trouble was until, going along the creek, they found the body of the girl. They buried her the next day.
 For weeks the father lay in deliri- um, and when he got well he went to the grave of his daughter, and placed the headstone that l had seen there.
 He now lives in cave. He never speaks to any mortal, and lives on wild berries and the game that he kills. His rifle is his only compan- ion, and to this he will talk as if It understood him. Every day he yis- its the grave of his daughter, His steps are growing feeble, and It will not be long hcfore he, too, passes ln- to the unknown beyond.
 The simple mountain folk say that
 l. thrntanh h.