Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-05-09
CHAPTER XVIII.


q ing sun. The few people who
moved about the streets went languid-
ly, keeping close to the wall on the
shady side; the women in thin white
fabrics; the men, often COatless. carry
ing palm leaf fans and replacing col
lars with handkerchiefS. In the court
house ward the maple leaves. gray with
blown dust and grown to great breadth.
dropped heavily, depressing the long,
motionless branches with their weight.
so low that the four or five shabby
oilers upon the benches beneath now
and then hiclicd them slcepily with
Whitfield spriCs
The doors and windows Of the stores
stood open. displaying limp wares %
trade. but few tokens of life. the clerks
hanging over dim counters as far as
possible from the glare in front, Cos
jiping fragllcntarily, usually about the
Cory murder and anon upon n subject
suggested ~ the sight of an occasional
pedestrian passing pcrspirlng by with
scrooced oyclids and purpling skin.
From street and sidewalk transparent
hot waves swan up and danced them
selves into nothing. while from the riv.
err bank half mile away came a
sound hotter than even the locust's
midsummer rasp, the drone of a plan
ing mill.
Greater heat than that of these blaz-
ing days could not have kept one Of
the sages from attending the conclave
now, for the battle was on in Canaan.
and here upon the National House cor
ner, under the shadow of the west
wall. it waxed even keener. Perhaps
we may find full justification for call
ing what was happening battle in so
far as we restrict the figure to apply
to this one spot. Elsewhere in the
Canaan of the Tocsin the conflict was
too one sided. The Tocsin had indeed
tried the case Of Happy Fear in ad-
and every day grew more bitter. Nor
was the urgent vigor of its attack with
out effect.
Sleepy as Main street seemed in the
heat, the town was incensed and rous-
ed to q tensity of feeling it had not
known since the civil war. when, on
occasion, it had set ont 10 hang half a
dozen "Kuights Of the Golden Circle"
Joe had been Kissed on the street
many times since the inimical clerk
had whistled at him. Probably dem
onstrations of that sort would have
no l,n M IN
but for almost a month he had been
absent and his Office closed, its thresh-
old gray with dust, There were peo-
pie who believed that he had run
away again, this time never 10 return,
among those who held to this opinion
being Mrs. Louden and her sister. Joe's
step-aunt. Upon only one point was
everybody agreed-that twelve men
could not be found in the county who
could be SO far persuaded and befud-
died by Louden that they would dare
allow Happy Fear to escape. The
women Of Canaan, incensed by the ter
rible circumstances Of the case, as the
Tocsn coored it--a man shot down in
the act of begging his enemy's for
! glvencSs-clamored rs loudly as the
men. There was only the difference
that the latter vociferated for the
hanging Of Happy; their good ladies
| used the word punishment"
And yet. while the place rang with
| condemnation OF the little man in the
jail and his attorney, there were voices
here and there uplifted OH the other
side. People existed. it nstonishngly
appeared who liked Happy Fear.
| These We're for the greater part OBJ
scure and even dGrkling in their lives
yet quite demonstrably human beings.
able to smile, suffer, leap, run and to
entertain fancies; even TO have, ac-
cording to their degree, a certain rudi-
mentary sense of right and wrong, in
spite of which they strongly favored
the prisoners acquittal. Precisely on
| that account, it was argued, an ac-
| Quttal would outrage Canaan and lay
1t open to untold danger. Such people
needed lesson.
The Tocsin interviewed the towns
great ones, printing their opinions OF
the Nervousness of the crime and the
character of the defendants lawyer.
1.-THE Hon, p. J. Parrot, who SO ably
represented this county in the legsla-
ture some fourteen years ago, could
scarcely restrain himself when ap-
preached by a reporter as to his senti
ments anent the repulsve deed. 4
should like to know how long Canaan
Is going to put up with this sort OF
business were his words. 4 am law
abiding citizen. and | have served
faithfully and with my full endeavol
and ability to enact the laws and
statutes of my state, but there is q
point In my patience, ! would state
which lawbreakers and their lawyers
may not safely pass. OF what use are
our most solemn enactments, may
even ask Of what use is the legislature
Itself, chosen by the will of the people
II they are to ruthlessly be set aside by
criminals and their shifty protectors
The blame should be put upon the law
yers who by tricks enable such rascal.
to escape the rlgors of the carefully en-
acted laws, the fruits Of the solon's
labor, more than unon tho criminal: