The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-07-21
A sad Killing.
Mrom Corahfli.1

The rumors of gold necessitated, Arst,
| telegraph stations, and then the establish
ment Of outlying posts OF civilization
the nucleus OF what are already turned
or turning into fiourishing towns. have
always declared that when there were
three white men in any Of these distant
spots, the first thing they started was a
race-meeting, with a Governors Cup or
Purse (value about e5), and then next
would come q Rifle Association, with q
Literary institute to follow, to all OF
which H. "a would be invited to sub
scribe. However, the outlying settlement
speak of had not-attained to these lux
uries, for 1t consisted Of only one white
man. He combined the offices of warden
and magistrate and doctor, and several
other duties as we'll; but he must have
led truly Robinson Crusoe sort OF life,
poor man. ] should mention that these
settlements had always to be close TO the
seashore in order to keep In touch, oy
means of the little coasting steamers,
with a base OF supply. This gentleman
for he was man of unblemished char
acter as we'll as of education ana refine
ment-had not a creature to speak to
beyond a few half-tanned natives. except
when the steamer tiuched-once month,
I believe-at his little port. He was a
splendid shot and a keen sportsman. but
there was not much scope for his gum
ming" talents. and seagull shooting form
ed one Of his few amusements.
One fine evening he was lazily floating
in a light canoe about the bay, with a
native to paddle, while he looked out for
q difficult shot, when the man suddenly
pointed to an object on a rock some nifty
yards from the shore which he announced
was "big-fellow" gull. 1t did look rath-
er large for a gull, but the sportsman
thought It might be some other sort OF
strange seabird, and, after carefully adj
justing the sight Of the rife and taking
most accurate aim, he red. To his hor-
ror the crouching object gave a sort OF
upward leap and then fell fat. Poor Mr..
seized the oar and padded with all
speed TO the spot, TO nd white man
lying dead with his bullet through his
heartI
One can hardly realize the dismay Of
the involuntary murderer. OF anything 50
unexpected as the presenceof any human
being at that lonely spot with darkness
coming on, and a difficult path, from rock
to rock, to be retraced TO the shore, can
not be imagined. But there was nothing
for It but to take the body into the boat
and return home. The most careful tnqIi-
ries carried on for months failed TO elicit
the slightest information as TO that lonely
victims identity. He had not mark OF
any sort on his clothing. nor a scrap OF
pdDGE ABOUT HuiCn SOhlu AAkiO" taaS
least light on his name or history. No
one knew that another white man vas IN
the district at ALL II he had dropped
from the sky on TO that rock he could not
have been more untraceable. 1t was sll
tragic enough. but what made me smile
In the midst OF my horror at the details
OF the s.Ory-of which / first saw the
outline In q local newspaper-was to hear
that sir. - had sat as coroner on the
body, also fulfilled the duties Of the jury.
then became police magistrate. and finally
brought himself down to Perth as the au-
thor Of the ''niisadventure." OF course.
there was no question Of. the trial. for
Il was the purest and most unlucky ac-
cideut, regretted by Mr.. - more than
by anyone else. No advertisements or
amount OF publicity given TO the story
ever threw the least light on the poor
mans name or antecedents. OF course.
here and there letters came from indi-
viduals who thought they saw their way
70 exploit the government and extract
some sort Of money compensation for the
death OF their hastily adopted relative.
but as their story invariably broke down
at the very outset-fn which case they
generally lowered their demands by next
post from EI.0O0 70 1es.-no ray Of light
was ever thrown on the mystery % how
that white man came 10 be sitting quietly
on. those rocks az sunset that evening.