The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-11-01

John, is it Uou?'
Of the sherif,s presence, and the hand
on the sheet made formless motion
which Horner understood, and he took
the pale fingers in his own very gent
" and then set them back. Smith
turned toward Meredith, but the latter
made a gesture which forbade the at
torney to speak to him and went to a
corner and sat down. with his head in
his hands
A sleepy young man had been
brought in, and he opened notebook
and shook a stylographic pen so that
the ink might flow freely. The law
yer, briefly and with unlegal agitation.
administered an oath, and then there
was silence.
Now, MIR. Harkless, if you please"
said Barrett insinuatingly, 'if you feel
like telling us as much as you can
about it.'
He answered in a low, rather indis-
tinct voice very deliberately. pausing
before almost every word. 1t was
easy work for the sleepy ssenographer.
Il understand. don't want to go
off my head again before I finish. If
it were only for myself I should tell
you nothing, because if am to leave
I should like it better-if no one were
punished. But that's a bad communi-
ty over there They are everlastingly
worrying our people. They've always
been a bother to us. and it's time it
was stopped for good. I don't believe
very much in punishment, but you
can't do great deal of reforming with
the Crossroaders unless you catch them
young, before they're weaned. They
wean them on whisky. you know. l
realize you needn't have sworn me for
me to tell you this"
Horner and Smith had started at the
mention of the Crossroads, but they
subdued their CALCULATIONS. while Mr..
Barrett looked as if he had known it.
of course. The room was still. save
for the dim voice and the soft tran
scribings Of the stylographic pen.
81 left Judge Briscoe's and went west
on The pike to a big tree. 1t rained,
and ! stepped under the tree for shell
ter. There was a. man on the other
side of the fence-Bob Skillet he
was carrying his gown and hood
suppose it was that-on his arm. Then
I saw two Others a little farther east
in nf fhn i,,l-
they had followed 1le from the Bris-
Goes or near there. They had their
foolish regalia on. as all the others
had. There was plenty of lightning
to see. The two in the road were sim
ply standing there in the rain looking
at ne through the eyeholes in their
masks. knew there We're others
plenty-but I thought they were COM
ing from behind me-the west.
Il wanted to get home-the court
house yard was good enough for me-
so started east toward town. pass
ed the two gentlemen. and one fell
down as went by him. but the other
fired a shot as q signal. and | got his
hood off his face for it. stopped
long enough. and it was ForceN John
son. I know him we'll Then | ran.
and they followed A little ahead Of
me saw six or eight of them spread
across the road. knew I'd have a
time getting through. so jumped the
fence to cut across the fields. / lit in
swarm Of them. 1t had rained them
just where jumped. 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
gun. I believe. came out from the
fence. and they made q little circle
around me- No one said anything. I
saw they had ropes and saplings. and
l didn't want that exactly. so I went
in to them. got good many masks
off before it was over. and I can swear
to quite a number besides those 1 told
you"
He named the men slowly and care
fully. Then he went on: Il think they
gave up the notion Of whipping. We
ali got into bunch, and they couldn't
get clear to shoot without hitting some
of their own and there was IL lot Of
gouging and kicking. One fellow near
" got my left eye, and l. tried to tear
him apart, and he screamed good
deal. Once or twice thought l might
get away, but somebody hammered me
over the head and face again. and l got
dizzy, and then they all jumped away
from me suddenly, and Bob Skillet
stepped up and-and shot nle. He
waited for furry Of lightning. and l
was slow tumbling down. Some one