Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1909-07-15

HSS III IHS CudIG. w uGu Tie
routine business was fin
1shed the chairman rose and said:
We now will hear from Judge
0toakes who we trust has a story rela-
tive to circumstantial evidence. Judge
Stoakes'
Judge Stoakes, a large man of dig
n1t1ed presence, whose silver hair
alone bespoke his 70 years. rose and
began:
MY story is of the troubled DAYS
IN Missouri following upon the civil
war, when factional rancor still ran
nigh and the conqueror and the con
quered lived together in outward
amlty but with secret suspicion. [
had just hung up my Single in a
little town in the southern part of
the state which had been the hot-bed
of factional warfare, now captured
by Lyon, now held by Price. and re-
peatedly preyed upon by the rowing
bands of irregulars of either side.
Among the most noted leaders of these
latter was Col. Jim Farrar Among
the northern sympathiZers he was
classed with Quartrell and the Youn-
gers, but when the struggle was over
he settled down quietly in the little
town OF Chester, and his tall form,
HIS flowing moustaches, his campaign
hat and long coat became him as the
costume did many another warrior of
the lost cause.
Col. Farrar'S household consisted
of but one daughter, II years of age,
and of that rare type of beauty which
so often crops out in an adventurous
and warlike stock. Her name was
Lucille and she soon set the heart of
every young man in a flame l N.Y.
self fell at the first glance, and as |
look back down the long stretch of
years I can see the black hair, the
rosy lips and the flashing eyes of Lu-
cile Farrar as I watched her in silent
alteration in the meeting house, upon
the street or flying along on her pony
which seemed as full of life and
spirits as it's fair rider
1T was silent alteration upon the
part of us all, for never a glance did
the fair Lucille have for any of us.
But when Melvin Leisure came to
Chester it was different Something
in her woman's heart must have
drawn her toward him, for all the in
difference and all the scorn were
gone and they gave themselves up
willingly to love that quickly ran the
inf
sionate devotion.
The very mention of a sutton for
ais daughters hand was sufficient to
send Col. Farrar into a rage terrible
witness. He noted the growing
intimacy of Lucille and Leisure with
ealoL~ anger. But he could not watch
Ter always, and many time when he
was away looking after the interests
# his extensive plantation near the
own we less fortunate youths saw
.essure starting on long walks with
he fair Lucille.
Melvin Leisure inherited all the
frey impulsiveness of a long line of
French ancestry and was not the
outh to brook long this uncertain
ntente of his lovemaking. He had a
ig plantation several miles from
hester and had moved into town for
.e social advantages that looked
rye to us then. He was amply able
support matrimony in style equal
the best in the community. He
rs handsome, studious and courtly
his manners and seemed to be
igible from any point of view. The
cal Madame Grundy could find no
ason why Melvin Leisure and Lucille
rrar were not a perfectly matched
1ple.
But the rock on which their happi-
IS seemed destined to break was
1t of factional rancor. Col. Farrar
S OF the south unreconstructed and
,econstructable. Gaspard Leisure,
WINS father, had cast his lot with
north and had died at his own
rway defending his property
inst the enemies of his adopted
Melvin Leisure was no match for
Jim in Drawn or buster, but he
1taCe0 not 10 80 10 nih VIII HIS
:, and the storm he provoked | give
as it was later reconstructed
ough the searchings of the law.
Never, by the Almighty, never!
red the colonel. Before | would
my daughter married to one of the
ursed assassins of my country
lid STAY her with my own hands
out of my sight and never dare
raise your eyes to a daughter OF
Farrars.'