Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-03-10

made gesture which forbade the at.
tOrney to speak to him and went to o
corner and sat down, with his head II.
his hands.
A sleepy young man had been
brought in. and he opened a notebooks
and shook photographic pen so that
the ink might flow freely. The law
yer. briefly and with unlegal agitation,
administered an oath, and then their
was silence.
Now, Mr.. HAIRLESS, If you please
said Barrett insinuatlngly. III you feel
like telling us as much as you can
about it."
He answered in low, rather indis.
tinct voice very deliberately. pausine
before almost every word 1t was
easy work for the sleepy stenographcr
Il understand. | don't want to &c
of my head again before finish. II
1t We're only for myself I should tell
you nothing, because if I am to lcav.
| should like it better if no one were
punished. But that's bad comnuni
~ over there. They are everlastingly
worrying our people. They've always
been Il bother to us, and it's time Il
was stopped for good. don't believe
very much in punishment. but you
can't do great deal of reforming with
the Crossroadcrs unless YOU catch them
young. before they're weaned. They
wean them On whisky. you know.
realize YOU needn't have sworn me fol
me to tell You this
lIorncr ard Smith had started at the
mention OF the Crossroads. but they
subducd their calculations. while Mir.
Barrett looked as if he had known it
of course. The room was still. save
for the dim voice and the sort tran
scribings of the photographic pen.
Il left Judge BriScoc's and won't Yves,
OH ;hc pike to a big tree. 1t raincd
and | stepped under the tree for shell
ter. There was Il man on the Other
side of the fcncc--Bob Skillet. He
was carrying his gown and hood
suppose it was that-on his arm. Then
| saw two others Il little farther east
in the middle of the road think
they had followed me from the Brs.
Goes or near there. They had their
foolish rcgalia on. as all the other,
had. There was plenty of lightnin.
to see. The two in the road were sim
ply standing there in the rain looking
at me through the cycholes in thcil
masks. | knew there were others
plenty-but | thought they were com
ing from behind mc-the west.
81 wanted to get home the court
house yard was good enough for me
so l started east toward town. pass
cd the two gentlemen. and one fell
down as l went by him. but the other
fired shot as a signal, and | got his
hood off his face for it. stopped
long enough. and it was Force John
son. | know him well. Then | ran.
and they followed. \ little ahead OF
me | saw six or eight of them spread
across the road. l knew Id have n
time getting through. so l jumped the
fence TO cut across the fields. lit in
n swarm of them. 1t had rained them
Just where jumped l set my back
to the fence. but one Of the fellows in
the road leaned over and smashed my
head in. rather-with the butt Of a
gun, believe. | came out from the
fence. and they made little circle
around me. No one said anything.
saw they had ropes and saplings. and
l didn't want that exactly. so | went
in to them. | got n good many masks
off before 1t was over. and | can swear
10 quite number besides those I told
YOU
He named the men slowly and care
fully. Then he went on: II think they
gave up the notion OF whipping. We
all got into bunch. and they cOuldn't
get clear to shoot without hitting some
Of their own, and there was lot OF
gouging and kicking. One fellow near.
ly got my left eye. and tried To teal
him apart. and he screamed a good
deal. Once or twice l thought ! might
get away, but somebody hammered me
over the head and face again. and | got
dizzy, and then they all jumped away
from me suddenly, and Bob Skillet
stepped up and-and shot me. He
waited for furry of lightning. and
was slow tumbling down. Some one
else fired n shotgun. think, | can't be
sure, about the same time from the
side. l tried to get up, but | couldn't,
and then they got together for con-
Sultation. The man ha,f hurt-I didn't
recognize him-came and looked at me.
He was nursing himself all over and
groaned, and laughed. think at any
rate my arm was lying stretched out
on the grass and he stamped his heel
into my hand, and after u little of that
quit feeling.
I'm not quite clear about what hap
pened afterward. They went away
not far, think. There's IN old shed,
cattle shelter, near there, and | think
the storm drove them under it TO wait
for slack. 1t seemed Il long time
Sometimes | was conscious, sometimes
] wasn't. | thought might be
drowned, but | suppose the rain was
good Tor me. Then remember being in
motion. being dragged and carried a
long way. They carried me up Il steep,
short slope and set me down near the
top. | knew that was the railroad en-
bankment. and thought they meant to
lay me across the track. but it didn't
occur to them-thcy are not familiar
with mclodrama long time after
that | felt and heard Il great banging
and rafting under me and all about
me. and it came to me that they had
a ,,f, i.sti t,,r ;,,,a