Rocky Ford enterprise., 1902-03-14


draft on their imas,nations and hopes
and enforced his text with lights OF
religious fancy that may seem out OF
place In these prossie days. Il Is still
permitted for us To hops that the an
gels did take the place of the birds of
evil strain and bear the suffering Mary
to that other world. where the wicked
cease from troubling and the weary ss-
at rest,
Years rolled on.
The Law had given . companion TO
the gtbbef BY the plantation nesr the
abbey. The man Foster had yeniur~d
to return to England. and. being con-
asmnsi for some petty onenss. vas
taken sick in prison. Under the i'm
preston that ne Was dying he con-
sess-d to the murder OF Squire Bsliins-
han:. and related the circumstances of
the crime exactly as they had occurred.
Whether II WAS malignant and
asenkinE fate that had prey~d upon his
fears to bring him To this position.
and then to restore him to health. II
Is not for the historian to say: he has
simply to chronicle events ns b. finds
them In the evidence before him.
Foster confessed To the Jail chaplain
that IL was he who shot B-ilinsham.
and he also narrated the details OF the
tragedy to tho ~aTd-r. As u the load
on his mind CAV. his physical nature a
niiip. he began To recover. and IN. du.
course he Was arEaisnei n York as
sizes ton his own oonfrssionl. upon
the charge OF highway robbery and
murder. his confession b-ins fully sup
ported by such evidence as could be soi
together.
lie died. as he had lived. a coward.
struggling with his fate to the last.
calling himself fool. swearing he had
been trickcd by the Jail doctor into
fear of death. and at the last u.om.n,
denying his guilt and having To be sup
ported to the scaroid. n miserable cxhi-
bition OF judicial s,ransulation: but he
was quiet enough when they made
sign OF him near the rafting chains Of
his fellow criminal. the remainder of
whose wrctchcd body had almost dis
appeared between the assaults of the
wind and the rain. and the birds OF
prey and the human relic hunters.
One calm autumn evening many u
year afterwards. there came an old
man to the Star and Garter.
He was tanned by wind and weather.
wrinkied with age and travel. his hair
sparse and Of an iron-Srcy. He had
bright blue eyes. white teeth. strong.
bony hands. carried stan like an
nipcn stock. and wore . struggling
beard.
He arrived by coach with pair OF
great brown icathcrn trunks. covered
with curious marks and letterings. as
II they had seen n marvellous amount OF
service. Hc settled down at the Star
and Garter. ordered n sitting room.
commanded a lire. spoke in calm but
very decisive tones, and asked many
questions about men and women who
had been dead and gone for years and
years; the Meadowscs. for instance:
old Morley. and Mary. the Maid OF the
Inn.
There was nothing odd in his inquir-
ing about Mary. because she had. rs II
were. become everybody's property.
famous poet had made u ballad about
her, and 1t was a common thing for
foil; that were gifted that way to recite
| Il. Other less illustrious ballad mong-
ers had done the story of Mary's nigh:
in the abbey into verse. and the chap
men at the fairs had long been selling
the "last dying speeches and confess
sions of Richard Parker" copies OF
verses written upon his last interview
with Mary" and other literary remi-
niscences OF the tragedy.
1t was. therefore. as have said. not
surprising to have stranger ask about
Mary: but this particular stranger ask
ed all kinds OF curious questions. and
youchsafed now and then pieces of
curious information about events they
had heard of at the Star and Garter
from their fathers and grandfathers.
matters which seemed to them now to
be parts of stories in books. or things
that belonged to the age OF "once upon
n time" or incidents that the news
papers reprinted from old chronicles.
The stranger became particularly
interesting person when he obtained
permission at his own expense to erect
a special gravestone to Mary Lock-
woods memory, and people touched
their hats to him all over the place
when it was known that 1t was through
his influence the two gibbets had sud
denly been removed. such of the rags
and tatters of the poor wretches who
had been hung in chains being buried
decently. and few Christian words OF
hope said over them.
The old man was fond of rambling
about the abbey. He set UP distant
branch of the Meadows family in the
lx,.l ,.,.
smoked a pipe with Jack Meadows and
his wife at the farm-the young Mead
ovs. who had inherited from the son
of the Mrs. Meadows. who was tn.
mother of that Jack Meadows who left
kirkstall and was drowned at sea OF
worse, because Mary, the maid of the