The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1893-02-02
Idelia was driving the mules and cart

many q many day after.
Different accounts of the occurrence
percolated into the country papers, the
the chief of which read some what as
follows:
A Agang OF young ruffisus on Clay Noun
tain. ten miles from Hydesvilie, com mitted
| deed OF daring lawlessnsss the other day.
They ran away with the daughter Of a
mountaineer, whom they met driving q
teams OF mules alone at nightfall. The dos
peradoes constrained the young girl to
mount horse they had kept iu ambu sh for
the purpose, and with her rode many miles
into the mountains The men have been
caught and will be tried to-day at Hydes-
vile. The brothers of the girl aud young
| mountaineer, whom she was TO marry. hav
been carefully watched, as they have sworn
terrible vengeance on the miscreants.
|
The fire had been left to 90 out in the
stove Of the court room. but that pro.
duct Of partial aud makeshift civilizs-
tion still served as long suffering target
for the expectorated tobacco juice of the
habitues and assembled lounyers.
The wielder Ct the verdicts of the law
sat back tilted in q chair. his hat upon
the nspc of his neck, his brown Jeans
trousers disappearing in clay-coIored
boots. Facing him, on the other side
of the insecure table, sat the victim of
the olfense and the other plaintiffs her
brothers aud Budd Wayne.
To these the accused never turned his
eyes. Whether, without looking he
could see the slim, delicate brown face
Of 1delia under its yellow sun bonnet,
the young man himself probably best
krew. There was nothing in his aspect
which could be construed as indicating
repentance. lie sat stolid and uDmoved
and only once the suppressed fires came
TO the surface, and that was when Budd
Wayne stepped up, as upon an impro-
vised witness stand, aud made his CIR
cumstantial deposition.
"Ths hyar Rufe Pierson has been a.
hangin' round to Tennent's aud a.tryiu'
fur ter git Ileely ter choose him ruther'n
me this yere long spell. He lowed ter
me es how she didn't set no store by me,
but was a.bein' compelled into givin' her
cornsent ter marry me jst along o. Ike
an 'Lijah-them two brothers o. hern
a-settin' thar. An he war mighty vio.
lint an got PLUMB crazy onct, bekase
tole him | had a powerful pore 'pinion
of emmy man what couldn't git no gal
his own, but he'd to KEN a.querrelin
and a-fghtin' around fur them thet set
mo- store by him" ~
The prisoner started to his feet with
the dark blood swelling the veins in his
neck aud forehead. But he was con-
strained into his seat again promptly.
Idelia's brown eyes, IN whose depths
there was the touch of yellow one sees in
an autumn leaf, had been raised one mo.
ment in startled alright. Then they
had dropped again and tho yellow sun
bonnet framed a face as still as before.
The judge projected another jet OF
tobacco juice at the cold nd, A bag
OF apples was brought ia,ai layI Iten ulated
among the lawyers. Pie jurors sat in
bovine immobility. TIE trial went on.
II twss proven sstisfacto n that Rufe
Pierson was sufficiently reckless char.
acter; but then again it was proven that
he meant no harm by the girl, or by any
one else; that he had captured her by
main force because he wanted to marry
her, thereby also saving her from the
tyranny of her brothers. With these
brothers it was apparent that she had
had no particularly happy life. They,
too, were powerful no count critters"
supposed to be more or less given to the
continuous consumption OF ilIicitly dis
titled whisky and "applejack."
In view OF all these things the final
verdict consisted in fine of $500, which
Rute Pierson and his brother were called
upon promptly to pay.
Five hundred dollars meant the selling
Of one or two Of the Pierson "beastises"
and of much other "truck" beside; but
this could be lived through. This was
not what the Tennent brother aud Budd
Wayne, in his vindictIveness, uneasily
spiced with the corrosive tang OF jea-
lousy, had expected. They drank deeply
and talked late the following nights,
and the more they talked and drank the
hotter grew their disappointment and
Wcath. From this condition to a deter
mination TO take retribu.ion into their
own hands aud dispatch it more effec-
tually than the law had done the step
was but short.
Meantime great change had come
over Rufe Pierson. His iriendllness la !
given place to a dogged melancholy.
"T'warnt tn payin' o. the fines l
minds, he said to his faithful hench.
man aud brother. "But I've KEN to
see ez Ideely an me amt fixed ez
lowed we was. allus lowed she he'd a
notion O. keepin' company together with
me same Ell he'd with her. N
lowed ef | TUX her away from them
brothers O. hern she'd show me how it
war with her feelin's. But she amt
done it. Ye knows, l reckon, thet
never sot out ter do her no hurt, but
was jest meanin' to stop this yere fool
shnass 'bout'n Buld Wayne. But sh G
air been so cole an curious thet
doesn't see clar in this yere consarn no
mo Gals air quare an ef, ,ater all, Ideely
amt a.minded ter keep fer me, but air
a thinkin' o. that yere Budd Wayne
why, the mounting amt no place fer