The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-10-12

There was lots of snow that winter and
it come early. Oh, how 7 hate the
winter! The snow lyin' out there
in the prison yard brings the hull
thing back to me, and how happy Jase
and me was, worl1in' and talllin, about
what we was goin' to do I can most
see the cabin now, with the doer open
and the snow all around as it looked
that winter mornin
'Jase and me was goin' out huntin'
that mornin'. [ took my gun and
started out, leavin' Jase to follow. I
walked out little ways and then
looked around to see ii ,jase was com
in. He warn't, and [ waited and hol-
Tered until | got all out of sorts with
him. A crazy idea struck me, and
JUS thought I'd shoot toward the cab
in for fun and mebbe that would fetch
him. Godknows didn want to do any
harm. wus jus great big foolish
boy and [ got tired OF waitin' and L
thought I'd shoot for fun, and mebbe
that would fetch him."
L looked at the man and he was as
one in agony. His face was drawn,
and a pallor was there which added to
the prison tan and made it ghastly.
His voice, puerile from the disuse OF
twenty years, had sunk into q hoarse
whisper. He was staring at the great
stone wall in front of him with dull,
vacant eyes. He seemed oblivious to
everything and kept repeating, II
didn't mean any harm. / only thought
I'd shoot for fun, and mebbe that
would fetch him.
have looked into murderers' faces
on the verge of eternity while the
death warrant was being read, in or
der that might tell the public next
morning whether the lip quivered or
the eye grew dim, butas [ gazed upon
this picture of weakness and misery
on the wheelbarrow in front of me it
made me sick. The victim of an act
done in 'sfun'' n''-and this was fun
The man presently came to himself
and went on:
GAS [ shot, Jase came into the door,
and, when the smoke cleared away, L
saw him lyin' just outside in the snow,
face downward [ member pickin'
him up and carryin' him inside, and
then startin' out to Pauldin' for help.
After that | don't remember nothin'
until found 1 was lynn on the ground
and crowd of men standin' round
me- I heard one of 'em say: He
must have tripped up on that grape
vine and hit his head on the root of
the tree. 1t pears as if Washburn
and Scott must have had racket
over that girl most likely-and Wash
burn killed Scott. [ found out after
ward that huntin' party had stopped
at the cabin and found ,Jase lyin' on
the floor dead, with my bullet through
his heart. They looked for me and
finally saw my tracks in the snow and
followed them. They found me
couple of miles away in the woods,
lyin' at the foot of tree where L fell.
"Some believed my story and some
didn't. Them as didn't b'lieve it said
'twarn't likely il what [ said was true
that / would "a tried to run away.
All I know is meant to set out for
Pauldin', but it pears as If I'd gone
wrong some way.
THE Jedge, as he said, wanted to
low me fightin' chance and give me
the privilege of enterin' plea OF
manslaughter. l said it was all along
of my bullheadedneas tl' M here
now, and so it was. My pgr want
ed me to plead guilty oi tha charge
the Jedge offered mt asked nm
what it meant. He s.,d Il oeant hat
I killed Jase in a rack. 9uG then give
me long lingo abo',t nel.ee sfore-
thought, or somethine .a that, but
I didn't understand il Z My new
they wanted me to say murdered
.Jase in racket. / warn soin to
say I done thing when didn't 1
fiared up aud wouldn li-ten to no.
body.
81 couldn'tse see things ght Ven,
the trial didn't take long Everything
went crossways for me [ told my
story and pleaded guilty to nothln
except that I didn't mean anythlng'