The Van Buren press., 1895-03-16
o,,,a l,,Ht sinr something talab hns


The noise at the di,inltinr and piay-
ing lsegsm aaain,, and Henderson saw
that he was losing the advintzTe he
had gained. IN a moment he faised
his i,andarnrs psica onsa more and be-
gaals
will Sing yu,t a SONG OF t1Iat lsautfsii iand,
| pis fIrsway iems az tins soui.
WfteisB no storms eper beat un tliat aiitterenq
| strand,
I WfiiiB tiie years or eternity ruil
| Agzain at the frst note all eyes were
turned toward him and all galnes were
suspended BY the time he had reached
"That unchangeabe home In for you
and for me-" m.tA of the cards had
been laid face downward on the table.
The attention was breabhless. By the
time he had reached ''0h, how sweet III
will be, in that beautif,il l;ind, to meet
one another again,'" many of the play
ers were in tears AS the song cDn~
ciuded with the repetition. ITO meet
one another arain," one old woadeur
legged fellow in the cnrner broke into
a perfset storm OF sobhinH He had
heard Henderson an he sang but prob
abiy he had also heard in fancy the
voice. of a mother as she had sung the
same song for him in his infancy
"aere, pardner,r shouted some one,
''you sung something that time Herc's
a hper for you.'
In a. moment the hat went round,
and over hftg dnilars was 6alren into IL
"'f'hanlts,, gentlemen said Herder-
SON.. There's to, be a funeral and
bu,ying out at the graveyard at 4
o'clock Tomorrow evening. I wish
you'd all cnine.'
will you sing that same song for
us againa" shouted some one.
Certainly, if you wish it,
's'fhen, you bet there'll be a crowd
outs
The next morning Henderson, Ieole-
ing rather pale, wallred into the bar
sapm and asked credit for pint OF
Whisky.
Credit Great gunsi What went
with all that cash you took IN last
nigii6"
'''You didn't think Z was Begging for
myself, did youa That went Go pay for
tlie little girfs coffin and funeral
things"
well, will" The bariteeper starred
at him moment, IN an;tzsment.
".No,. \ lsaint credit you NO more; but
IN tell you what Fll do. gll give you
five dollars and all the whisky you can
drink to-day If Yeu'M promise newer to
sing that darme1 song nor nothing else
like 1T Within earshot of my place here
no mere"
why DON'T gou want me to sing
hereas
why don't r. That's fine question
for yeu to ask You nearly busted up
the whole outfit last nigft. A man
can t sell whisky to do no good when
such singins as that is soin' on. The
fslIers played out the game they was
on Last night, and then they MOSTLY
pulled for home. One darned fool got
so tore up that he laid his cards down
face up What do you think about
that, now2 Ibleeve IL qeu was to sing
once day for a month"; the whole dog
goned town would vote prolli bibion."
That evening an immense crowd att
tended the burYing, but is did not
have the pleasure of hearing Hender-
son sing. FIFE was not there at the
tfsne; he was in the back room of the
saloon, dead drunk
Henderson mast have had high IDEAS
as to the dignity of his art, for he
could never be prevailed ON to use it
for his own peeuniary advantages He
could easily have made in shis way the
money to settle his board bill, but he
resolately refused to do so. Accord
ingly, no one blamed Mr.. BIIbo when
his patience gave out, and he finally
attached Hendersonfs trunk and books,
and had them sold to satisfy his board
bill One might be lenient with a good
man In distress, but with drunken
scamp, who could pay If he would, the
case Is different Accordingly, the
goods were sold, as has been described.
He left BelcherviIle before the day
of the sale. Nobody ever heard Of him
again until one day when 1T was
learned that he was living at Pinhook,
little hamlet off the railroad, some
forty miles west of here How he man
aged to live there do not know; no.
body seems to know, except that he
hung around the saloon at that place a
great deal Nobody In Pinhook ever
heard him sing until the night of the
18th of last February. 1t was the worst
blizzard of the winter. That evening
he had got little drunken than usual,
and had been elected from the saloon,
with the command never to return
That night, as the players sat In the
weIl-warrned barroorn and listened TO
the storm rage outside, they heard a
powerful bass voice borne down ON the
night wind in song, Again, from the
few words that the hearers could dis
tin9uish, think it must have been: Il
show you mystery; we shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed"
''Confoundr" calculated one OF the
players, emphatically. That fellows
got fine voice. It's a pity he amt got
sense enough to select a better chune,
and better place to sing 1t. He'll
freeze to death ont there
The sand and slcct ratified In sheets
against the little shanty used as a
saloon, but through it all the mag
nificent roar Of the deep voice Of the
singer could be heard. Then pause,
and crack! A pistol shot.
Next morning they found him ON a
little elevation in the open prairie
dead by his own hand
IL Is not a tragedy I have written Of,
only the stab end of one. The real
tragedy, for the most part, must have
occurred before he came to Texas.
What 1t was God knows know only
broken fragment of his life. know
x.L.4hixa1e 81 The LIZ he Led bcfcre. lssIt [