The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1895-02-01
of the sheriff, with some as

uemdnueu Ol Tue SnerIi, WIFI SoIne dS-
perity.
by gummy, he's here or here
abouts." was the response, this by
word being the nearest to an oath that
Uncle Buck was ever known to utter.
He then explained how he had ridden
across tho country, while Lane had
walked, unattended.
You don't suppose, sir, that that
man has come here to be locked up for
two years when you have given him
such u chance as this to run away, do
you ?n asked the Governor.
."Of course | do" replied Uncle
Buck. land if you knowed Larkin
Lane as we'll as | do you'd think so,
too"
And sure enough there in the office
found him. He had arrived half a day
before the sheriff and sat there rest
ing and patiently waiting to be identi-
fed and committed.
The Governor was so struck by the
singular circumstance that he began
to inquire into the case.
Uncle Buck was a friend of Lane
and. in speaking OF the injury done to
McAvoy, said
Folks ginerally thinks he's better
looking sence he lost some o that flop
lip, though nothin' could a made him
mu ;h uglier than he was natchelly.'
Upon talking with the prisoner the
downright honesty of the man became
more and more apparent, until finally
the Governor was so impressed with
his good qualities that he determined
to pardon him, concluding that the
influence of such a man for good in a
community was more needed than his
presence in the penitentiary. And SO
Lane walked out of Frankfort u free
man. With a fleeter foot than when
| he first set out he trudged thankfully
| back to the mountains of Kinney and
the trout streams he loved 80 well ;
back to his home and friends, to his
wife and children, who received him
with open arms and enthusiastic re-
joiciug. He lived for years to enjoy
his liberty, though he finally met
death at the hands of an assassin. He
was found one Summer day in one OF
his haunts on the banks of a mountain
stream, with a bullet in his brain, his
fishing pole in the water, where it had
dropped from his lifcless hands.
The perpetrator of the dastardly y deed
was never found. Whether it was
some avenger of McAvoy or not no one
ever knew. The latter had died some
| years before.
AS for Uncle Buck, when his term as
sheriff ended, he moved to an adjoin-
ing county, where he was made jailer
and served as the same until his death.
On one occasion when instructed to
open court during the war, he took the
liberty of giving vent to his loyalty by
calling out: "Oyez, oyez, oyez, the
Circuit court of NJ County is now
open. God save the Union :" The
last words were shouted with the full
power OF his stentorian lungs. Hear
ing the same, the Judge, who was not
altogether in sympathy with Uncle
Bucks sentiments, rebuked him and
ordered him to change his appeals to
the regulation form of God save the
! commonwealth In much feebler ac-
cents was the divine protection in
voked upon the State.
The circumstance really took place
many years ago Sin the dark and
bloody ground" among people whom
we, with our fin dc steele ideas,
look back upon as not enlightened if,
indeed. fully civilized, and yet men
were to be found there then who held
their word dearer than liberty, truth
sweetcr than freedom from Disgrace
Chicago Record.