The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-02-15
A MESSAGE IN STONE.
Novel Way in Which Joe Brought
His Grievances to Notice.


In very plain house in an obscur,
village in Georgia, lived Robert Hurle,
and his wife Ann, natives of the villag,
of B. They had started life hanC
in hand some fifteen years before, will
good health and nothing more. Goo
had blessed their union with three
children, two boys and girl, aged re-
spectively fourteen, eleven and four. The
boys attended neighboring school al
which Joseph, the elder, being of q
studious turn of mind, among other
things, had CLEANED some little knowl'
edge of photography.
At the time in which our story opens
the mother was grievously i'll. She
soon died and Hurley broke down, took
Co drink and became Indifferent to the
welfare of his children. Gradually he
absented himself from home night after
night, passing his evenings at the pub
lic house or wherever he found the com.
pany more pleasant than at home. Mat
ters went on thus for several months.
AT length Hurley began to "spruce up
bit, and before long the children had
a step-mother who was of different
disposition from their own mother.
Household matters that formerly were
barely tolerable now became decidedly
unpleasant. The step-mother was a
woman of ungovernable temper. She
seemed from the first to have an intense
dislike to her husbands children and
took every occasion to manifest it.
IL -. ,l,. L.
came restive: complaints to the father
brought no interference from him and
increased the wife's anger. Joe, being
tho eldest, seemed to come in for a
larger share of unreasonable abuse; like
begets like, and the once quiet lad an
swered the step-mother with disrespect
and anger.
Once, after the boys had gone to
school, Mrs. Hurley, noting the absence
of the little girl, called her impatiently.
There was no immediate response, and
The woman softly crept up the garret
stairs, and finding the child, she rough
iy accused her of heedlessness, and seiz-
ing stout billet of wood, was about to
infict on her condign punishment Just
then the elder boy, returning from
school, entered the house. At the sight
of his little sister pale and trembling
and the passion-distorted face of the
woman, he unfortunately gave way to
anger. All the real and fancied insults
and ill-treatment he had suffered came
to his mind, and his blood boiled.
LET my sister aloner he cried, in a
frenzy. Let that child go, Or"
His dreadful threat was followed by a
look of hatred from the step-mother as
she raised the stick to strike the child.
He rushed to the rescue, his only inten-
ton being to protect the girl. While he
was striving TO take the cudgel from the
enraged woman disgraceful hand-to-
hand struggle ensued. Mrs. Hurley
tripped on some obstacle, and, in falling
heavily to the floor, struck her head
against the stove. AT that instant ped
dler, who had been silent witness of
the occurrence, seeing the unpleasant
termination of affairs, rapidly left the
scene. The woman lay gasping and un-
conscious, with the blood slowly oozing
from dreadful cash in her head. The
boy retained the weapon from which she
had released her grasp, and for brief
instant he stood over the bleeding
woman in this guilty attitude. He was
a-one. Early in the struggle the little
girl had run ont, crying. "Joe kill" Her
cries and the noise of the struggle
brought the neighbors into the room.
They observed the lad in the compro-
missing attitude referred to.
Scarcely knowing what he said, Joe
uttered wild cry of, 'Oh! what have
j done?' and STOPPING down, attempted
to raise the woman's head on his lap.
To his intense horror she was dead, and
her limbs were rapidly growing cold
and stiff.
The neighbors gathered about, utter
ing wild cries of alright. But, shocked
as they were, no pen or tongue can de-
scribe the speechless, CHASTITY terror of
the boy. He was deprived of utterance
and reason almost, by the awful occur
renee. He jabbered Incoherently, while
the bystanders, who had heard his threat
and the noise of the struggle, looked at
him askance. and shook their heads.
The coroner was notified, and with h.m
entered the father, to whom the by
ISLANDERS attempted to explain the aw-
ful occurrence. The boy stood leaning
against the wall trembling with fright
and apparently guilty. lie attempted
mo explanation, but looked from one to
the other in helpless, beseeching way.
The noise Of the scuffie, the position Of
the parties when seen, his excited APP
pearance, the contour OF the wound and
the shape of tho cudgel the ill-will sup
posed to have existed between the step
another and Joe, coupled with his loud
.and angry threats, were all circun-
star IS against any theory but the worst