The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-17

Keep your pistol handy" said the old
man. following him out. IT'S awful hard
TO tell who's who in these woods at night.
and you might be took for a Howard
The hull ridge'll be just wild tomorrow
Knowles laughed and sprang on his
horse. "Oh, my pistols always handy,
these times" he said, and rode rapidly
through the shadows, his keen mountain
eyes keeping his horse to the narrow trail
without a seconds DETECTION. He can.
tered along easily for four miles, then
turned his horse at a cross trail and urged
1t up a steep grade. In a few moments
he came upon a large clearing, in the
fore ground Of which was a spacious log
house, surrounded by flower garden. Be
hind were wheat fields, an orchard, and
vegetable garden. In an enclosure on
slope close to the forest a number Of
cows lay in their first sleep. 1t looked
the home of a prosperous farmer. a bright
oasis in the black wilderness of pines.
A number of horses were tethered to the
fence that enclosed the little garden of
geraniums, fuscias and roses. Knowles
sprang to the ground tethered his horse,
and went rapidly up the walk. The door
opened and a girl looked out.
rs that you, Tom Knowles?" she asked
coldly. The coroner has been here twenty
minutes, and everything is waiting for
yous''
You don't mean it? I'm that sorry.
nine
Wen, he did. Please go into the par
lor"
Knowles held out his hand, but she
turned her back and walked down the
hall. He opened the door of room on the
right and entered. 1t was a large room,
with a set OF red plush furniture ranged
sutfiy along the walls that We're papered
and further decorated with framed litho-
graphs from Christmas weeklies. All of
the chairs and the two sofas were occu-
pied by men dressed in the rough garb of
a mountaineer. Some of the faces were
pale; all were stern. The room was lit by
three smoking lamps. On a long table in
the middle of the room lay dead body
covered with a sheet.
Knowles saluted the coroner, and stood
against the wall; there was no vacant
chair.
The coroner rose and cleared his throat
Seeing as Mr.. Knowles has come" he
said, we might as well get to business.
If anyone present has any Information to
communicate about this outrageous af-
fair will he please rise and communicate
the same?"
There was no answer. Two Or three men
moved uneasily.
mo; thought not You're all too afraid
of your precious skins"
One of the men sprang to his feet. He
was man of middle years with frank
eye and powerful jaw.
There ain't no cowardice about this
we're matter, Mr.. Coroner. We amt tellin'
nothin' because we amt got nuthin' to
tell. But we propose TO have a good deal
to tell later. This feud between cow
punchers was bad enough, but we KEEP
out of it because it was none of our bus
mess and all we've been askin' hereto
fore is to prosper a little and raise our
1.-Two and a In ant
now that one of us, and as good a man as
ever came outer Round Valley has been
shot down at his own door by one of How
ards murderin' blackguards, we've come
TO the conclusion it's time to get a move
on. In short, Mr.. Coroner, we propose
TO take this investigation in hand, and we
don't need the assistance of eoroners, nor
of sheriffs, neither. Akin yer pardon sir,
but that's the way we feel about it, and
It's only kind to tell We, fer you waste
valuable time every time you come up
here, to say nothin' of the fact that the
corpse is usually decomposed. This time
it amt as you happened to be visltn' on
the Divide, but it don't tell you nothin' all
the same. Tomorrow night we alls goin'
to take Ike down to Round Valley and
bury him; and after that no work'll be
done on Long Ridge until the murders
found. That's all,
The coroner smiled slightly. but looked
at the big mountaineer with some defer
ence, And may l hope Mr.. White" he
asked, that when you have found him
you win turn him over to the authorities
of Weaver"
There was a low murmur, and White
stood up again. NO. he said grimly
The less you hope the less you'll be dis
appointed. There's too many murderers
unhung In California now. When we git
our man, Wen attend to him without
troublin Weaver"
but l hope" said the coroner hastily
that you will do nothing rash. Pray be
sure that you have got the right man
before you lynch him. You are taking a
fearful responsibility"
Were equal to it. And we'll take blam-
ed good care were not hangin' the wrong
man."
The coroner shrugged his shoulders. He
was not sorry to be rid of the case. He
had been called to Long Ridge too fire.
quently of late, and would not have been
sorry II its inhabitants had taken the
whole matter of the feud into their own
hands, and kept their proceedings as dark
as their forests.
VERY we'll" he said Mr.. Thompson,
as foreman of the jury, will you kindly
bring in the verdict"
An elderly man stood up, glanced about.
and upon being treasured BY many en-
phatic mods, said: There amt but one
opinion, and it's this: Ike Brandt was
murdered and as there's only two parties
as is murderin' these days-Howards and
anti Howards-and as he was a anti-How-
ard there amt no doubt about his havin'
been murdered by Howard That's all"
Thanks. The deceased. Ike Brandt.
met his death at the hands of an enemy
at present unknown. Good evening. sirs
] hope you may be more fortunate than I
have been. l will send the certificate in due
course"
"Evnln', sir"
He left the room. Knowles looked over
his head into the passage, then closed the
door and walked to the feet of the cornse
For moment he did not speak, but stood
scanning each face in turn The men
stirred uneasily In the squirting flames
of the badly trimmed lamps the cornse
seemed to move. Through the omen win
dow came the low monotonous chant of
the pines.
Fellow citizens" said Knowles impress-
lively, Il see that l am among friends
have an important communication TO
make"
II.
At o'clock next morning Sally BRAND,
let herself softly out of the house she
went 10 the barn, saddled a mustang and