The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-07-20

guilty. but il Was felt by all that he
ha,, At least been indis,reet. and 1t
va, determined to administer prop
er .ni~hmeut and send him from the
! Cove.
Had the proofs been sufficient Jed
Baker would have been put to death.
As it was the punishment was to be a
whining and Punishment. He had
been sized UP for a man without
sand 1t was believed that he would
cringe and weep like woman. They
looked to see him 60 white and fall on
his knees and beg for mercy even as
! the punishment was announced. He
had astonished the Cove by his calm
dem, amor during the examination. He
astonished it again by saying:
You can whip me and you can
drive me out. but you cannot make an
iniormer of me- The charge is false. "
Who could 1t have been If not
you" was asked.
Jed shook his head and stared at the
blank wall and made no answer. At s
O'Clock that evening he was tied to a
tree and whipped and cast loose and
told to disappear before sunrise. There
were those who felt sorry for him, but
all felt that the punishment was due.
After being cast loose he sat down
on log for an hour with his head in
his hands. While he was sitting there
the widow Carson was going about In
her cabin with tears in her eyes. Tom
| Beardsly came In to tell her Of the
whipping, and she detected the ex'
ultation in his tones. Then she In
stantly remembered thing or two
He had been in town during the two
days she was. She had noticed him
In company with man she believed to
be an official Of some sort. In passing
the hotel she had caught a fleeting
| glimpse OF him as he lodged out OF
sight. Her womans intuition helped
her to a conclusion in moment. and
wheeling on the young man. she ex
claimed:
Tom Beardsly, you did it-you did
II"
You must be crazy" he replied.
You did it, and know you did
What did ye have aSin him. How has
he eyer harmed your
Don't talk nonsense. wilder. I'm
tellln you here and now that I've beer
thlhin heap Of you for right
smart While hack. and"
Tom Eoardsly, who give the still
aW.,I
TalAkn' 4 heap of you, wilder
and ri.ht how I'm askin you to be my
Nifc. Yon know how I'm fixed, and
The women of the Cumberland shoot
as well as the men. They do not hunt
bears and wildcats, but they kill
squirrels and gama birds. The widow S
shotgun stood in a corner of the room
She walked over and lifted 1t up and
wheeled on Tom to say:
Not another word from you! Out
you go. You was jealous and YOU did
It."
lie went without a word. Ten min
utes later she was kneeling beside the
man who had been whipped and say
ing:
"Oh. Jed. but you never gave tbs
still away
NO" he whispered.
ut was Tom"
"Mebbe"
"And you knowed It all the time"
"Mebbe"
but why didn't you say SO? Why
did you take the whippln'?"
"Kasc- kase thought you loved
him and you two was gwine to
marry
Then another woman knelt dowr
and. with tears running down hei
checks. she said:
Jed. didn't hear that they was
gwine to whip you TIL It was all over
| If | had heard I would have told the
| men that | give the sui away.
would have lied to save you. I'm akin
your pardon. Jed I'm sayin' that
am the sorriest woman on all this yere
mounting"
Jed put a hand on the shoulder Of
each woman and rose up with painful
effort. He realized that both loved
him. One knew the truth-the othe.
would have lied for him.
"Goodhy." he said. as he moved
off into tho dark woods.
He had been whipped in public He
had teea disgraced forever in Laurel
Cove. And on the door Of the humble
schooihou>e ncNt morning Uncle Jim
Henderson affixed a paddock and then
wrote IN onairt characters in chalk: