The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-03-27
A POINT OF HONOR.


vania, and there was naturally some Gu
riosity. if not to say excitement, over the
affair
The circumstances of the case were like
this:
Jack and the Pennsylvania were hav-
ing little game of cards when the for
mer noticed a slight deception on the part
of his adversary in the way of dealing
himself from one to four cards too many
and concealing them in his coat sleeve.
'tSich proceedings are entirely foreign
to the customs of this yere camp finally
remarked Langworthy and at the same
time sent bullet into the 'tenderfoot's"
head.
The rude law of Scratch Gravel took
cognizance of this fact, and Jack was ar
rested. A few weeks later he was ar
raigned for the murder and pleaded guilty.
The judge sentenced him to be hanged.
Then Jack made speech. He said:
Il killed the man, l know, and perhaps
it's fair enough that / should die too.
Leastways I don't set up my judgment
agin that of the court. The laws of Scratch
Gravel should be enforced, but Just now
I'm sort O. sorry the enforcement is nee
essary. The deal is hard one, and the
worst of 1t all is that the roughness is not
agin me alone-oh, no, not agin me, but
Sally and the twins.
Il don't care for myself-just as soon
go as not-but when I think of the twins
/ tell you I can't stand it. YOU see, the
twins are boys-both boys-they are a
rafting pair and no mistake. 1 alters
reckoned on the twins mounting to some
thing in the world, but if their father is
to be hanged-that settles it. What would
the twins ever mount to then?
NOW, If I could go some other way, it
wouldn't look so bad-the twins might
pull Throughout to be strung up like
common thief, it would be a weight on
'em ERE twins that 'ud keep 'em down
forever. So you see, it amt for myself
that / care, not for me and not for Sally
so much either, although 1 do kinder like
the old gal, but the twins. Well, it breaks
me all up to think of leaving them, it
does, for certain fact. ledge, when will
the performance take placer
The unfortunate man was informed
that the 10th of July was the date fixed
for his execution, and that he should
make preparations to be on hand at that
time punctually SO as not to delay the
proceedings
g You see, Jack, said the judge famil-
iarly, I'VE amt going to be mean enough
to lock you up, not you-it wouldn It be
right-not with an honorable man like
you. 1t ain t for any dislike for you or
bad feeling that we'r going to hang you,
Jack, but it's the law, you know, the law.
So you'll make 1t point of honor, Jack,
to be on hand when the time comes.
For the next week Jack staid at home
pretty much all the time. Occasionally
some of his friends would drop in to ask
about his health and the health of the
twins. The slightest mention of the lat
ter would set his tongue in motion, and
somehow he seemed to think there were
no other children in the world worth talk
ing about.
''They'll pull way ahead of their old dad
in a few years. he had often said.
maybe one of EMIL be an auctioneer or
bank president and the other a steam
boat captain-who knoWsf Them boys
are smart
One evening, just week prior to the
date fixed for his execution, he seated him
self ON bowlder near his cabin door and
took the twins in his arms. They were
little fellows and climbed all over him.
One of them got his little brown arm
around the paternal neck and pulled the
grizzly beard with his chubby fingers.
Then, looking into the upturned face, he
said sorrowfully:
"There's wasser in your eyes. dad.
What'yr matter?''
Jack put the child down rather rough
ly, and remarking, as he brushed his eyes,
that it we're mighty hot that evening"
he walked into the house.
The 10th of July arrived. In the morn
ing, quite early, Bill Drake, an old time
friend of Jack, came to see him.
Seems to me thar ought to be some way
to get out of this, - remarked Bill. you
wouldn't slip away, would youf''
II don't want to shoot you, BILL he
said fiercely, ''but I'll do it, sure, if ye re-
peat that insult. Thought ye knew me
better than that. I'm ashamed of yel''
But ye don't understand mel' ex-
claimed Bill exoitedly. ''ListenI TIL
jedge sentenced ye to be hanged the 10th
of July, but he forgot to name the yeari
The 10th of July ten years from now will
do, or longer. He only said the 10th of
Julyr'
But he meant today, y said Jack, trem-
bling in every limb.
But he didn't say it. Yer may suit
yer own convenience about the year, Jack.
Fer yer own sake and fer the sake of the
twins, skipl''
There was much disappointment that
afternoon among the citizens of Scratch
Gravel when it was discovered that Jack
was gone. Search was made of his cabin,
but there were no signs of Sally, Jack or
the twins. They were gone for good.
And now comes the strangest part of the
story. The 10th of July five years later a
gray old man, bent nearly double thrust
his shadowy form into the presence of the
chief magistrate of Scratch Gravel and de-
manded hearing.
"Ia am Jack Langworthy, he said, land
have come back, according to my prom
Use, to be hanged. You see, the twins are
dead-both dead-and Sally, she's gone to
run away with another man, and now
I've come back to meet the requirements
of the law. There has been some delay,
III admit, but was bound to come back
some time, and here am
The laws and customs of Scratch Gravel
had changed somewhat since Jack depart
ed the place five years before, and as the
affair in which he was interested was no
longer a sensation of the day he was sim
ply told to leave the town as soon as pos
sible. He went at once, and when last
seen alive he was tramping slowly out Of
town, with his face toward the setting
sun.
A little later in the year. when the
bushes began to shed their leaves and the
vines that tumbIed over the gray rocks