Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-07-11

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The prisoner had noted the return o.
the jury, and listened to their verdict
as one in q dream-as q man stunned
by a thunderbo.. watches the destruc.
tion of his home, wrought by the same
from heaven, dazed and un-
nerved. As the sound of the Judges
voice beat upon his dull ears he turned
his head slowly. and looked at him
wonderingly.
"Have you anything to say?"
The man gathered his feet beneath
him, and with an effort rose. For
long moment he gazed about him-at
the jury in the box, the Judge on the
bench, and the dense and waiting
crowd behind him. Then an ugly
smile spread across his face, and q
fierce light burned in his heavy eyes.
''Hev I anything ter say? Yes; !
dare ye all to do yer worst! Do you
think Red Jim is afeared er thet We kin
COW him? Ye don't know him! Muir
der, is it, fer a man to save his own
life an ye threaten ter hang me? Do
it! Go on an read out yer sentence.
I defy ye, Sheriff, an all! Red Jim
never squeals - and, with a snarl like
that of an animal he waved the man
acled arms above his head.
81 know the trouble; ye're all afeart
of me, an ye better be, fer eff the devil
let's me live, I'll be the curse of this
thin -blooded town an every one in it
I hate it! Curse ye one an all, root
an branch, young an old! What hev
We ever done fer me? Nothin' but ter
foller me an drive me out o decent
livin' an make me an outcast an a
criminal as am! When 1 asked feI
work what did yer give me? Jail
When found a place we told my boss
thet I'd rob him, an he turned me
out! When tried to be decent every
mans hand an every woman's tongue
in this black town was agin me, an ]
curse ye all"
The man had worked himself into r
fury. His eyes glared, his face was
white as death, and his shackled hands
swung to and fro excitedly, clanking
the heavy irons as though they were
bells.
His listeners were stunned-all bu,
Sheriff Jack and the Judge, and when
the former would have seized the
prisoner and conveyed him from the
room, the justice stopped him.
As Brownel paused for breath, tn,
dull roar of the wind sounded louder i'll
the ears of the people, and the dark
ness, unusual except as the forerunner
of storm at this time of the year,
thickened momentarily. The Judges
granddaughter had crept into his arms
and hidden her face.
eye hev forgot thet was ever bel
tr'n the dogs at yer doors, er the
snakes at yer heels; but hev not !!
Who saved you from the Injuns thir-
teen years ago, Tom Bodoin?" he
shouted, turning suddenly toward one
Of the jurymen and stretching his
manacled arms in his direction. "Who
saved ye an yer family up on the
Rios? Red Jim! But he's wuss nor
an Injun now! Who caught the man
thet tried to steal yer daughter, Dan
O'Neil?" he continued, pointing to an
other juryman, ''when he he'd shot yer
horse under ye, an the girl had tainted
in his arms? Who? Red jim? But
sc don't remember it! Who went in
to the engine-room O the Last Chance
Mine an shut off the steam when every
coward had run, an the biler was Mt
the point of burstin' an the cage with
fifteen men would have gone to the
bottom o the shaft? Red Jim? But
that don't count! He's q desperate
uow-hang him! Hang him"
| His voice was raised to a shrek, and
sounded thrill through the gloom
above the deepening thunder of the
i storm
| "And you, Jedge Gary, thet are to
sentence me to hang by the neck ontil
I'm dead, 1 talk to ye with yer grand
child in yer arms! Who refused her
father drink times without number an
cared fer him nights without number
, Who druv him back to ye when ye
couldn't git him yersef an tried tc
make man O. him? Who saved him
rum the hands O. the men who would
\ torn him in pieces the last night o
his life fer his devilish work with hi'
knife when he he'd no friends? Red
Jim! Who gave yer son bed to die
in, old man, when ye he'd refused il
yerself? Red Jim! An now he braves
| ye an curses We, one an all! Curses,
double curses, ten thousand curses
on"
! A sudden mighty blow, bursting tn.
side of the building, hideous roar,
ike the voice of an angry ocean, c
crash Us if the heavens had fa len, inky
olackness blotting out everything, and
amid the rending of wood and iron
The shrieks of victims, and the wild
rumpeting of the storm, the cyclone
wept on, leaving a mass of ruins where
.he court house had stood.
half dozen hours later, as the res
uers labored. they came UPON al
| opening, q sort OF protected chamber,
IS it were, in front of the desk where
ihs bar had formerly been, made by
The great beams falling one upon the
,ther And within it were found three
oersons-Judge Gary stretched apor
:he floor, stunned but breathing, and,
bending over him, Red Jim holding il
ais shackled hands, sheltered close to
+ his breast, the little form of the
Judges granddaughter, living and un'
hurt
But the central iron support of the
.ourt house dome had fallen directly
across this group, and Brownen had
yielded his life in the effort to protect
and save the others. oi
Short Stories.