The advocate., 1894-05-23

6AuSD buOuBuI
Overton stopped, stammered, hesi.
tated and sat down. The exposure
was so utterly unexpected; thing he
had not dreamed of as remotely posi-.
bic. Slick, exclaiming, "It's one OBJ
desc heah GOO fo' muffin republicans, !"
Sprang from his seat in the carriage
and was soon lost to sight in the dense
throng. The farmers, who had been
Intensely interested in OVerton's pow.
erfully logical speech, were stupehed
by this odd interruption and its telling
effect upon the speaker; for not one Of
them had the slightest notion what it
all meant. Kate's face, pale at the in.
stant of the interruption, had become
liVid with a righteous rage at such an
attack upon so noble and so good
man as she knew him to be; and spring
ing to Overton's side as he sat down,
she took his place, and, as one of the
farmers afterwards expressed it,
turned herself loose"
s.NO, yOu ill-bred Wretchl John Sher.
man wasn't never in Sing Sing! Nei-
ther did John Sherman ever drink hem.
lock in an Athenian Jail. He is not q
Socrates. John Sherman has never
been cruciied between two thieves.
He is not a Christ; and no thieves could
be found sufficiently depraved to make
him more ign0minlous by their asso-
citation. No, John Sherman was never
in Sing Sing, and he never will be if he
gets his deserts; for he should be
hanged"
The crowd went wild. Cheer after
cheer went up which could be heard a
mile away. 1t was some time before
Kate could proceed.
"Let me paint scene. 1t is a street
In New York at evening. A poor
woman stands on the sidewalk with
her arms about a frightened little
daughter whom rutfisnly policeman
has violently seized. The rufian raises
his murderous club and deals the
Woman's arms a vicious blow, but her |
mother instinct makes her still cling to |
her child. The club has fallen upon
the little girls head, too, and it begins |
to bleed. The policeman has once more
raised his club; another instant and it
will descend with murderous force upon
the poor mothers head. Just then a
soldier, fresh from the great muster at
Washington, aims pistol at the official |
brute and peremptOrily orders him to |
desist. The soldier was not John Sher-
man. Oh, no. John Sherman wasn't |
never in the army The policeman
drops his club and attempts to draw
his revolver. The soldier fires and the
cufian falls dead. The little girl es.
,apes during the confusion, but the
mother and the soldier are roughly
seized by the police. There is a trial
Ill on one side, and the woman is sent
10 prison for twenty years-the soldier
s sentenced to die for doing a manly
Iced. His comrades get his punish
nent c0mmuted to Imprisonment for
ife, and he is sent to Sing Sing. The
wife and the little boy he left at home
when he joined the army three years
Igo eagerly expect his coming, but he
lOes not come. Twenty-Five years
ave passed. 1t is 1887. One day the ,
warden comes to the soldier and tells
i'm he has been pardoned-that he is
rec. He flies to Wisconsin, but the
title girl he protected has become I
nature woman now, and she sits here 4
pointing to the ex-aSylum attendant,
nd that soldier who suffered long
ears of separation from those he loved q
that soldier who was thus punished q
n account of a noble deed for which
II manly men will praise him, was the
entleman who sits here"
Cheer followed cheer. Men and
romen wept in excess of feeling. Those d
earest the platform began climbing
p and shaking Overton's hand, and
)On the whole assembly was in motion,
to get near the hero of 8
,ate's story. But she resumed her a
oeech and the people grew silent ?
yain