The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1897-05-14

In cloud of steam the train pulled away,
leaving Lambert and his trunk to look
after each other as best they might, and
as the cloud lifted the young officer
looked curiously around him.
He was standing on rude wooden
platform whose shrunken planks left
black, gaping seams between their up
per faces, now, at least, beautiful in
their thick cost of sparkling white. Ex-
cept where the footmarks of the train
men married the smooth eXpanse, and
where in two Or three places the planks
were gone entirely, this cleaning sheet
stretched the length of the platform to
where the white bulk of his trunk stood
| on end at the eastern edge. The charred
and blackened relic of flight of stairs
| led from the platform 20 the sloping
| ground some five feet below, but not
even a hand-rail warned the unwary
| against a breakneck plunge into space.
| Part of the platform itself had been
burned away, and some charred and
blackened posts, sticking bolt upright
! from the ground in the shape of a mar
row rectangle. showed that a wooden
building of some kind had formerly
stood along the rear of the rickety
staging. Midway along its length, on
the southern side. shed with sloping
roof had been loosely thrown together,
! and the ends nearest him. boarded in
and pierced for a door and a couple of
windows. bore over the threshold in
black stencil tho legend "'Eicllet Office"
| Under the shed were a couple Of
plows and some boxes. Out on the
bare slope, midway between the track
and SNAKE" fence that paralleled it
some twenty yards to the south, u dozen
bales of cotton were huddled, three of
them partially covered by old war-worn
'paulins and poEchos, the others en-
tirely exposed to the rain of sparks to
be expected from any passing engine
when the wind happened to blow from
the track; and all of them, evidently,
defenseless against the predatory
hands of pilferers, for jagged rents were
torn in the coarse sacking of each, and
huge fistfuls OF the white staple had
been dragged from a dozen gaping
wounds in every bale.
The red soil, showing here and there
through the scant and withered herb
age, was scanned with mule and wheel
tracks, and few rods away a broken
down farm wagon lay with a spoke
bristling hub close by it's shattered axle,
while the tire, rolling away from the
general wreck, seemed to have crawled
off to die by itself, and leaned rusting
against one of the charred timbers.
The southwark view was limited to a
long, low ridge of ugly, white-fecked
cotton stalks. Eastward the sun was
breaking a pathway through the fringe
Of trees along another ridge. and faint
line of mist, rising sluggishly in the in
tervening low ground, with the hollow
rumble of the train crossing an invisible
bridge, told of the presence of some
: slow-mOving stream. Westward the
, track came into view around thinly-
wooded hillside, with clearing here
and there. in which some low cabins
were scattered.
With this cheerful outlook to greet
him at three points Of the compass
: Lambert turned him to the north. There
| was a siding with a switch at each end
but, as three or four rails were missing
: opposite the west end of the platform
: il stood to reason that the railway com
pany found the other all that was neces
sary TO the traffic of so bustling place
| as Tugaloo. A brown freight car stood
S on the siding with wide-opened doors
; and some household goods doomed il
t plain sight. There is more honesty
! States marshal would give us to believe,
thought Lambert, as he recalled the eX
\ tract from a recent report which wa:
shown him at department headquarters
d He laid his satchel and sword upon The
platform, and, wrapping his blue cir
Z Cular about his shoulders, took a few
1 steps forward and a peep into the in
! terror of the car. From the midst O
bedsteads. bureaus and cheap oldfash
: toned furniture, quantity of bedding
had been hauled out upon the floor, anC
: from the midst of the bedding a WOOL
: head protruded-that of a negro fas
> asleep.
=, Beyond the car stood a dusty opel
' square .,ordered on three sides by ding
wooden structures, some Of two stories
:, but most OF them only one in height. 4
wooden sidewalk framed the square il
some places, and in others only indica
= tons Of its former presence were to b.
seen. The sidewalk was hordered by
rude railing, to which, it was evident
" foFses end mules were tethered during
business hours, for at one of the rails
even now, sprawled upon the soft, hoof
paved dust. long-eared quadrupe'
} was hak hanging by the bride rein
( while the dilapidated saddle had WORKED
around during the night until it set
tied upon the animals side.
> Judging from such signs or legend
u as were visible over the doorways o
1ugaloo, Lambert's impressions wer
that the vending of intoxicating drink
:. was the principal industry, as Their
were three saloons to one store devoted
II 10 general merchandise which estab
il I:cbp,aDt r,ointo6 white and wit n nm q !