The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-14

tainted, and for a moment BOD
glanced tenderly down at the white
face on his shoulder. Then he look
ed at the circle of unrelenting faces
and said quietly: II am innocent.
I'll go back and prove it.
OF course Colonel Ike Stebbins,
as the handspring of the social ma
chinery Of Lone Star, presided at
the trial It was always he who
stood at the head Of the new made
grave, with reverent face and up
raised hand, while the clods fell dull
ly on the pine coffin; he it was who
sat with ease and dignity in the
chairman's place at public meetings;
a bale without the colonel to lead
was like the play Of Hamlet" with
that gentleman represented only by
his regrets, and it was admitted
without discussion that no one but
Colonel Stebbins could properly inn
personate the austerity Of Judge
Lynch.
From the beginning there seemed
no doubt of Atkinson's guilt. Ed
gerton testified to the quarrel Of the
morning, and Bill Simpson loqua-
ciously related how he thought
something was up when Bob sold
his claim to him at half its value,
explaining that he was in hurry
to leave. Then Jerry and johnson
told of the meeting on the hillside,
and each of the posse swore, with
due appreciation of his own impor-
tance, to Atkinson's guilty actions
when they came upon him in the
fog. Hezekiab Smith of the hilltop
clinched the evidence by testifying
that he saw the prisoner standing
before Scroggins' door at noon.
The jurors had ceased whiting
toothpioks and exchanging jokes
Their growing solemnity foreshad-
owed the verdict Colonel Stebbins
had with a sigh dismissed the last
witness when Ezekiel str oiled calm
ly in through the open door. He
nodded familiarly to two OF three
acquaintance and then addressed
the judge.
Colonel, /" he said easily. "guess
I'd better straighten this thing out
little. Where dye plant the wit
nessesi"
Colonel Ike, surprised, looked at
him. LET the witness be sworn, I"
he said. "Well, what do you know
about thisi"
II know all about it. ("
"Who killed Scrogginsi"
"I did, said Ezekiel calmly.
For ten seconds there was silence,
and then smile that broke. into a
ripple Of laughter ran around the
room. Ezekiel was maintaining his
reputation. The colonel raped an
grily for order with the muzzle Of
his revolver upon the head Of the
sugar barrel. IF you are trihing"-
II amt triflin," protested Ezekiel
earnestly. "I never told a lie in my
life. It was jest after dinner, an I
was lookin for jeremiah. AS ! went
by scroggins' door he came out,
lookin ez smilin ez an undertaken
with the toothache. Seed my gal
latelyg' sez he, foolin with his gun
I didn't want to hurt his feelin's by
tellin him I'd seen her ten minutes
before with Bob. so Isez, politelike:
.Sartinly ;saw her last week. Look
in well, amt shei' Std Of bein
pleased, the old man was riled an
used language that would have
checked wheat in a harvest field.
But l didn't care until he said he
could git more music out'n wealth
erboarded house with club n I
could out'n my fiddle an bow. Then
Twas mad an talked back After as
surin me that I'd disfggered the
landscape long enough. only addin
to them plain words some onneces-
sary trimmin's, he shot at mo an ]
shot back, an this is what killed
him with. "
Ezekisl drew out an old horse pis-
tol and handed it to the foreman OF
the jury. A murmur of interest ran
through the crowd, and tho jurors
whispered among Themselves
Just then little red faced man
pushed his way through the crowd
at the door. "There he isl" he
shouted excitedly. There's the
man that stole my mule"
We followed his finger with our
eyes He was pointing at Ezekiel,
who regarded him philosophically.
"We:l, ! didn't say I didn't. did II"
he asked mildly.
The newcomer threw his hat in
the corner and danced with excite
ment. 1T was this way. jedge:
T'other day / tied my mule down at
Ransome's Ferry while went inter
Pixies place to git some refresh
ments. When l come out, little
later, the mule wuz gone, an new
er seed him again ontil today, when
I stumbled on him, accidental like,