The Colorado statesman., 1907-08-31

been extended to the widest and most
obscure part Of the county. And one
night just after supper the central
at the county seat answered a ring
from that line.
Hello, hello. Yes, this is the county
seat. Speak up, please. Now who is
it you want? The sheriff? All right,
I'll call you"
The officer looked up towards his
shotgun when told that Shumake
Ridge wanted to talk to him. 81 won
der now what on earth they want this
time. Guess some fellow has got
drunk and broke up dance"
Soon the high officer was in connec-
tion with Shumake Ridge.
well, this is the sheriff. What
is it?"
Come down here, Mr.. Sheriff, a
dead mans been found. He amt been
dead long. When you git here. come
to my house. This is Pritchard Gull
pepper talking. Say, send the coroner,
too"
By ten o'clock that night the sheriff,
one of his deputies and the coroner
were on the road to Shumake Ridge,
lying In the far southwest corner of
the county. Down there the people
were uneducated. They lived among
| themselves. Their houses were of
logs and rough lumber, located on poor
soil. The ground in several places in
that community had been soaked with
human blood.
The sheriff and his party travelled
toward the Ridge at a steady trot, and
just as the grayness of a new day
spread over the Kentucky hills they
approached their destination. The Of
f1cers smelled meat frying as they
passed the cabins, and saw the lank,
rough-looking men going toward the
horse-lots to feed.
| The cabin home of Pritchard Gull
pepper was found, located on the side
of hill behind large walnut tree.
Several men stood in silence in front
of his house, others leaned against the
fence, whiting. The moan of a girl
came from the house.
Who is the dead mani" the sheriff
asked.
IVY, hits Onas Gray"
where's the body?"
Hits up yonder in the woods.
Hain't no one teched 1t. My two boys
has been gyardin' it all night to keep
the hawgs away"
The horses were fed and after the
officers had swallowed a cup of the
sloppy coffee in the kitchen, they fol-
lowed Culpepper up a path through the
bushes. A crowd came along behind.
Up in the stunted woods on a ridge
they found the body. The two Culpep-
per sons sat, one at the head and the
other at the feet, each with lantern.
A girl, whose face showed marks of
weeping, followed the officers, and
when she halted near the body she
threw her arms around a small tree
and cried, and the tenderness of her
weeping told the crowd that these
tears were coming straight from her
heart. The coroner examined the
body. Two pistol shots had gone
through the breast. There was no evi-
dence of suicide. No pistol was found.
We'll" spoke the sheriff, "go ahead
now, Prichard, and tell me all you
know of this case"
We'll, sheriff, Onas Gray is the
mans name. He has been amongst us
about nine weeks. He came from over
on Ash creek to learn the people of
Shumake Ridge to play the fiddle and
sing. He seemed a good feller, and
was thought right smart of by ever
body. Befo' he had been here a week
him and the girl there by the tree took
1 fly;, To
goin' together all the time. She lives
over yonder across the field with her
daddy, and Onas went there all the
time
"Onas Gray had some habits that
sometimes us folks couldn't under
stand, but hit was just because we
hadn't been around his class of people
before. Last night he got up from the
| supper table, tuck his fiddle and
walked up the path. We didn't know
where he was goin', as it was a differ
ent route from the way to the girls
house. The last we seen of him he
was goin' into these woods.
Sometime after dark l heerd two
pistol shots, about second apart, and
then l heerd noise that sounded like
somebody runnin' off through the
woods-heerd bresh breakiD' and
leaves rattlin'. Me and the family
hurried up hero, and Onas was layin
here, dead, but still warm. We looked
for the fiddle but it was gone. l put
my two boys here to gyard the body,
and went to the store down the road
and telyphoned you"
The girl knelt by the body ard took
hand and wept over it, moaning, and
from her walls came these words, all
the while: "Oh, he's gone! He's gone
forever! I'll never see him any more.
l don't keer to live now cause he's
| pOnafn