The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1896-04-23
THE WORLD AT LARGE
Miscellaneous Bits Of Information,
Gossip and Fancy.
their chairs and looked and looked. but

their chairs and looked and looked, but
they did not move or cry ont.
What will he do with the childT"
The two men working at the trip
hammer with Big Tom had fallen back.
He had control of the machinery which
worked it. The answer to the question
could be read in his eyes. Men had
wronged him under cover of the law.
He had been deprived Of liberty, de-
graded and disgraced. Death were more
merciful than such sentence as his,
and in dying he would secure revenge.
A piece of iron had been left under the
hammer. There was heard the sound of
crash crash crash as the mass Of iron
rose and fell at regular intervals-that
sounded above the monotonous hum of
the machinery.
"He will thrust her under the ham.
merr'
SO thought each guard and each con.
vict--so thought the father. whose feet
seemed chained to the floor and whose
face was whittier than the dead. One of
the guards could have touched a button
and signaled the engineer to shut off
steam. but he did not move hand
Either guard had a fair mark to shoot
at, but their pistols were not lifted. Up
and down--up and down went the ham
mer, but suddenly the belt was thrown
over ON the loose pulley and the mass
rested on the anvil 1t seemed to those
who looked as IL they had been looking
through q mist such mist ms rises
from earth Of summer morning 1t
seemed to them that this mist thinned
out-cleared away before the influence
Of rising sun, and by and by they saw
the child nesting ON Big Toms hairy
breast, one hand smoothing his cheek,
and seeming to come from a long dis
lance of they heard her childish voice
saying:
"No, you wouldn't hurt Nellie--you
wouldn't hurt Nelliel What makes you
cry? Have you got a little girl tooG
Won't they let you go home to see your
little grip
And the convicts advanced step by
step, and the guards crept forward, and
iol Big Toms tears were falling as he
Rugged the child more tightly and kiss
ed her fair hair and rosy cheek. There
was silence yet-silence as he walked
to and fro and wept and sobbed and
lifted the child till she could clasp her
tiny arms about his neck and rest her
cheek against his. Not whisper among
the convicts--not move from father or
mother or the guards. By and by Big
Tom placed the child in its fathers
arms, wiped the tears from his eyes ON
the sleeve of his striped jacket, and
with "God bless the little darlingl"
and "Thank ye. sirr' he returned to
his work, and the hammer was lifted
and held in waiting for the hot iron to
be placed on the anvil beneath.
The guards motioned for the other
convicts to go back to their benches and
FORCES, and a minute later the visitors
had gone and work was in full blast.
The long expected outbreak had come
and gone. For 30 seconds Big Tom had
felt such raging hate in his soul that
he was transformed into human devil.
The child had smiled into his burning
eyes--her soft touch had lulled him
her words had brought back his reason.
Was he punished? Mol A year later he
was pardoned, and today another fair
haired, blue eyed, smiling child puts
her arms about his neck and says
lyon are such great, big papa. but
you wouldn't never hurt nobody, would
your"-Detroit Free Press