Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-11-11
concluded from Tuesday,.

The swift pace of their steeds ha'
already carried the officers far Deyoh'
the reach of her CALL could it in an!
wise have been availing. Still she tiet
after them. crying wildly, desperately
until they disappeared in the mist!
valley and the sound of their horses
hoofs died out entirely. Then she hunt
herself upon the ground and shrieket
in hysterical grief and rage. 1t wa'
a mingled passion of uncurbed nature
wrath and the new soul of love tina
had been awakened within her.
Twenty years ago there was little
chance for a Federal prisoner under
ban of the revenue detective service
Too often a blanket process was ap'
plied to cases of all suspects, and once
sentenced, there was no hope until the
uttermost limit of the laws penalty
was met. Abandoned by his frlends
and kinsmen, who were perhaps too lg'
norant and too poor to render help mac
they dared come themselves into the
light of the law, Prince Bardwell wa:
quickly transferred from the prisoners
dock TO the penitentiary to serve
Federal court sentence of twenty years
The vicious system of farming ou'
Federal convicts to the state prisons
was then in vogue, and so the youthIu
mountaineer, under the weight OF az
unmerited Judgment which threatened
to blight the strangely rising promise
of his rustic soul, was herded with the
rua3ans and common criminals of the
open prison. Month after month"; as
he groped in the dark and bitter rouno
of his prison life of hard labor, he sa"
men-murderers and obdurate crlml-
nails. and some even with life sentences
called to liberty through clemency
and pardon. But these were STATE
prisoners, and subjects of power ac-
cessible to pleadings of mercy, ana to
nameless other influences. The FED
eral Jove is impervious to all pleas OF
advantage, and clemency Visits the
gloom of Caucasus but once in an age
Thus five years dragged themselves
wearily and cruelty on. Only one thine
saved convict Prince Bardwell from
the hardness and thought abandonment
which are the curse and hell OF prison
life. Forever there was with him the
memory of a mountain side at twlllght'
with tiny dew drops forming on the
laurel leaves, one clear white star III
the blue above, and in the midst OF all
the face of Tenny Lambert, set in the
frame of honey colored hair, her deep
wistful eyes following him, and her
voice saying: An you 'uns will hno
me sittin right here, jest as l am now
waitin' for you 'uns, Prince.
Was she waiting for him still? he
was asking every day. If he could
only be assured that she was, he could
bear the shame and the hardship oi
his lot, and bear it to the end; for Ten
nv knew as he knew and as no other
being save the God in heaven knew
that he, Prince Bardwell, was nc
moonshiner, nor outlaw. Yes, Tenny
knew il, and Tenny knew more, and
thought upon it every day in way
that Prince could not know-that his
disgrace and suffering were endured
for her and hers. In hundred ways
she had planned in her ignorant rustic
mind to get a message TO Prince IN MS
prison grave which seemed to her as
far away, as also it seemed as dreao
and unimaginable as Tophet tsell
But her efforts were vain during all the
dark first five years of Princes incar-
ceration. All these years no syllable
reached him from the outer world.
But time at last brings it's changes
for better or for worse. 1t was agar
a day in autumn, and the Indian sum-
mer sunshine rolled in seas of glor!
about the walls and over the turret'
and roofs of the prison. Through
grated window in the wall of wing
of the building, in which he toilet
amid the din and dust of the prisons
foundry, Prince could see, stretching
far away, the meadows and the distant
maple groves, and, further still, th'
blue line of the foothills, the very be-
ginning of those ever rising ledges tina
climbed and climbed through hun
dred leagues until they waved anC
broke away in the coves and valley:
of his native mountains. meadow
lark rose in the stubble not twenty
yards from the prison window, ant
Prince heard its song between the
descending strokes of the sledge whict
he was lifting over a bar of glowing
steel. He was strong and stalwart
and very cOmely of features. There
was no mark of crime on his brow
nor look of shame in his eye. Misfor'
tune had shut him off from the posi-
BILE temptations of freedom in the 9th
er world, and heaven had preserved
him from cOntaminations of the fou
and fallen spirits about him. The
when a prison guard touched him ol
the shoulder and said: Here Bard
well, is a letter for you. The turnke!
has vised it, and grants permission
for YOU to read it out of hours
Although this was the first lette
received ny gTlllCe uuIlllS HIS I'i ls'i
life, he had not failed to hold on to hi
imperfect knowledge of Chirography
and indeed had added a little To tina
and other rudiments each year. II
was therefore able to read this mis-
sive. which was in a female hand, ant
fairly traced. 1t was brief enough
but contained a world of meaning 70
the hungry soul of the convict. 1t ran
Dear Prince: If you still remembe
Tenny Lambert, be Of good cheer. Al
will soon be well. Tenny."
It's the good God" was all tina
Prince could say, as he wiped tea
from either eye with rough sleev
of his convicts shirt; but the guar
had already gone back to his post, an
Princes exclamation of thankfulnes
was unheard by any human ear sav
his own The lark in the stuhble sam
on. and Princes hammer rang loudl
over the answering bar of steel.
That brief note which Tenny Lam