La Junta tribune., 1899-01-21
A Mar KomnnrN.

Fifteen years seems long time to
wait for bride, and yet were it not
for the late Hispano-Amer!can war.
Carroll Hume, of Company l., of the
Rough Riders, who was welded TO
Miss Mabel White in Wichita, Kan,
short time since, would STILL in all
probability, be waiting tn claim. his
promised bride, writes correspondent
of the Philadelphia Times. They were
married at the residence of the brides
father, and that event marked the final
chapter of story stranger than fic-
ton, which required fifteen years to
consummate-fifteen years OF ro-
nance, bravery. constancy, crime and
tragedy before two loving and faithful
hearts were made one.
In 1882 Mabel White was charm
ing little lass of Is. with skirts ankle
high and heart full of love. hope and
happiness. Hume was 20 years Of
age. a sixteenth part Cherokee, and
his father was member OF the Cher
okee legislature. This mattered moth
ing to the little maid. His skin was
As white, ciear and smooth as her own
and he loved her with all the flush OF
a first passion and she worshiped an
trusted him.
Her father was a clergyman who
had spent many years among the
Cherokees, teaching them of "the
peace that passeth understanding" and
lnstrumentally aiding them in the at
tainment OF the high standard of civ
llization which this tribe has today
ha
taught her that 1t was not always the
race that makes the man. and in this
she had a perfect exemplification in
her handsome, straightforward and
upright Indian lover. They would
wander of among the trees and flow
ers in her fathers grounds and plan
as all young lovers do. or happy fu-
ture. Life seemed so sweet. so dear
to them, the sky so bright and the air
SO pure. Then of a sudden all was
changed.
In an evil hour Hume succumbed to
the one curse of the Indians existence
Liquor. There is that in the blood
OF the Indian which boils and bursts
from control under the influence of
fire water. A Cherokee plus quart
of whisky Is human fiend One
night Carroll Hume was invited
while under the delicious influence of
loves intoxication to drink to the fu-
ture health Of his future bride. and be-
fore the evening had passed he had
imbibed a score of toasts. Then trou-
BILE began to brew. The natural sus-
picion of his Indian nature was arous-
cd apc u,ffh
Ford. fellow-tribcsman, whom Hume
accused OF being too attentive to Miss
Mabel. There were few angry, pas
sionate words, quick exchange OF
blows. a pause and an agreement to
go out in the open and fight It out
like men,"
In the moonlight they silently pass
ed from view, and after measuring OF
the agreed distance two shots were
heard following almost instantaneous
Iy. Hume was unscratched, but Ford
lay still and cold on the damp ground.
with a bullet hole through his heart.
The shock sobered Carroll Hume.
and, with realizing sense of what he
had done, his first impulse was to sur
render himself to the authorities; but
with a realizing sense CT the severity
OF the Cherokee laws, he determined
that fight was his only recourse. He
had killed man in a fair and square
fight, but justice would rot look at 1t
in that light. Before leaving the coun-
try he slipped to the parsonage. and,
sounding soft signal whistle, told
his little sweetheart the whole story
of the duel and begged her forgive
ness. Amid tears. she instantly gave
1t, and after plighting eternal vows. he
skunk away, with the mark of Cain on
his brow. an outcast on the face Of
the earth. His little sweetheart was
heartbroken, for he bad passed CON-
p,etely out Of her life. and for fifteen