The Opelousas courier., 1893-09-23

COulQQ lucy uuOSIStE1u WHY uS
had remained silent when asked how
he happened to be there? Surely, any
one could see that he had discovered
his brothers plot and had striven to
thwert it, but was nowtoo loyal to i'm
plicate them. The idea that Tommy,
her gentle, true-hearted Tommy, would
c%onnive to slay the only brother Of the
girl he lovedl And yet, when he Mad
refused to answer, the Judge, who
surely should be impartial in action as
we'll as word, had swung around m
patiently in his chair, and the District
Attorney had smiled, oh, SO ironically
and shrugged his shoulders and said;
sYou see, gentlemen. see?"
The case which had occupied me
Aberdeen Oyer and Terminer tor me
past week, was, as the District attorney
had said in his opening, lawful IN the
simplicity and directness of its proof:
A. the further end of the county, amlo
the arid sand plains, the Earrings ana
The Knowleses had occupied adjacent
SONS for many years. The railway
ran in front OF their dwellings, and the
Young men had grown up half farmers,
half linemen, cleaning from the two
occupations livelihood and recreation.
There had been a constant feud be-
tween the two families, sprung from
some forgotten trivial cause, but en-
HANGED into bitterness through paucity
Of daily interest.
There were three Barring boys, Of
whom Thomas, the defendant, was the
Youngest, and one Knowles, the brother
of Patty. This latter had encountered
one evening the two elder Barlings at
the village tavern, and q quarrel and q
scufle had ensued. It was the follow
ing day that a wildcat" train, Of
which young Knowles was engineer,
was derailed and he thrown from the
cab and killed. Thomas Darling was
seen running away from the place
where this accident occurred. His
brothers disappeared, but the detec-
tives, melted by liberal rewards, caused
the arrest of the lad, claiming that it
was he who had set the obstruction on
the track.
His pre- ence, his fight, his terror,
certain incoherent words which he had
uttered on his apprehension, oonsti-
tuted the main points of the case against
him. His defense had been necessarily
brief, consisting of his youth, good
character, and his own story slightly
| corroborated-that he had been en-
gagged in removing the distinctions,
when the "wildcat," of whose existence
he had not been aware, came around
the curve and struck. But on the
question of how he happened to be
there at just this time he had remained
silent.
Solemnly the great clock in the
courtroom beat out the dragging mo-
ments. The bailiffs droned stories and
yawned. The clerk scrubbed on the
back of papers. The crier slept the
sleep Of childhood and smiled over its
reyiving The old woman sat
erect, motionless, intent like another
Sphynx, awaiting the elimination Of
burning desires. Perhaps she alone
could explain that ancient feud; per-
haps when that bosom had been ten
der and that arm softly responsive to
caresses, an injury to her beauty had
been the dragons tooth of this future.
Perhaps the past now returned to her:
for expectancy hath its panorama of
spent, but not dead, emotions. Ger
tainly little Patty, as she saw the grim
face growing grimmer, grew faint with
dread, for in its lines she read ven
geance upon Tommy and woe for her
self.
There was q sharp, demanding rap
on the door of the jury room. It's
drowsy guardian sprang to his feet and
unlocked it. There we're whispers, and
then once more the door closed, the
bolt was shot, the sentinel sat at his
post. Once more, but with a differ
ence. The man NO longer lolled, He
was big with the consciousness that
every eye was upon him, big in the
possession of a secret which he had no
right to know.
The great clock licked warningly,
for the hours of excitement are mo-
ments. It was nearing the time for
the Judges retusn. Tho clerk set
dockets and pen and paper in order.
The bailiffs shut windows and opened
doors, and turned up lights and took
their stations. There was n whose
post was by the door at the end of the
gallery leading to the jury room,
which opened upon the main stairway
Of the building. The guardian Of the
Jury room was his friead, and, as he
passed, whispered a single word. The
bailif stepped to his place and beyond.
He leaned over the rail and gazed
down into the gloomy corridor. The
front door swung open, a digniied
form entered. He recognized it, and
in an instant was leaping down the
stairs. And in another instant Judge
Greengoods knew at what verdict the
Jury had arrived, knew that the solemn
words which he had mentally arranged
during his walk thither had not been
marshaled in vain.
Many sharp eyes had noticed the
passing of that single word from officer
to officer, and ere the crier had begun
his sonorous proclamation, bailiffs and
attorneys and Sheriff and prisoner
knew that the verdict was guilty
Patty knew it, too, for she had watched
that guardian at the door as if he held
the portals Of her happiness. Patty
knew it, and a great sob swelled in her
heart and hardened into a resolution.
In this moment of extremity, when
human and Divine powers had
coalesced against him, she would be by