The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-08-21
POLICE CHIEFS
COW INTRUD
A Modern
Miracle
Breaks Up Rehearsal of NJ;
of Seasons on CoIIeqc
Campus.
EUGENE S. WATSON
CCopyrightD

''-ppc * H.
zen, sheltered from observation
d. upturncd roots OF a forest 81
~ lirming uneasily upon his earthly
seeking relief for his swollen
Front by tenderly lifting from il the
mr.. r: of its encircling iron band, at
Il to which through the medium
short chain was a heavy iron
st, vi. %" was convict anu "'' .
during that hay autumn day he
=, eluded the vigorous search of the
Ids from the iron mines where,
other convicts of the state of
gui,
was not his fault that the first
Y breaths OF frost-kissed autumn air
Ways filled his being with an unc0n-
)llable appetite for backbone and
areribS Nor could he be blamed
,. ,cause just upon the first day that
lis appetite was irritating his syS-
I'M the cOlonel'S brother from up
forth had carelessly left his new rifle
Gaming against the porch, where
3en's eyes could not help seeing it.
And after that, while crossing
through the timber to his little cabin.
he had nearly run over half dozen of
the finest porkers In Marion county,
escaped from the plantation of the
Judge and enjoying their new-found
freedom in the woods. Under this ir-
resistible chain Of circumstances, how
could he be blamed for taking the rifle
and forgetting to return It IN the eX-
citement following a lust for slau%h-
ter which eliminated in the death OF
four Of those porkers?
The jury that found him guilty"
could not understand. They had said
be was a thief and branded him a
felon. But they did not know. no one
knew except nanny" and sisters.
AS his thoughts dwelt upon his tribu-
latiOnS, there came to him vision of
his old NANNY" and her early teach
ings of the strength and comfort to be
derived from prayer and with this pic
ture before him he bowed his head,
knelt with hands outstretched, and
fervently exclaimed:
"Oh, Lord, | never done nothing. I
Cont deserve all this trouble. You
knows how good / been, so send me a
file quick SOS l kin take off desc
irons and go home to nanny"
And hardly had the silent words
been mentally formed when before him
noiselessly appeared an angel, in the
guise Of white man mounted upon Il
white horse.
Without word or slightest sound this
angel placed in Ben's outstretched
hands Il small, green box containing
six new files, and silently disappeared
from view.
It was "Hoo-hoo" night in st. Louis,
and the corridors of the Planters ho-
tel were thronged with well-dressed
men, each wearing that mystic insig-
MIA denoting the owner a devotee OF
lumbers' cult and worshiper at the
shrine of the black cat.
1t had been a very busy day and eve
ming, and in the short time remaining
before the noise and reverberatiOn of
a large city awoke was TO change into
the drowsy. echoing, audible silence of
the same city asleep, a few of the
prominent brothers in forestry had
seated themselves round a table in
anecdote, experience and "reminiscences
The conversation had slowly drift.
ed into those higher ideals and planes
Of thought so frequently found most
highly developed among those whose
rearing has been close to natures
breast, and the opinion was expressed
by the Nestor of the gathering that
naturally all men We're good, and the
bad in them resulting only from edu
cation and environment. In support
Of his argument, he stated that in his
experience every unconscious vOlun
tary action by a human being was
based upon a good impulse and In
evitably resulted in a kindly deed
These sentiments were warmly in
dorsed, and the silence which followed
left each to his own reflections until
broken by one Of the party.
Speaking of unconscious impulses,
he said, reminds me Of an incident
which happened to me down in Ten
neSSee.
Il had been cruising around amons
some timber in the southern part OF
the state, and was temporarily staying
at a mill owned by friend Of mine
near the Sequatchie river. | was mount
ing my horse to go to small towr
near by, when the superintendent
asked me If | would bring him bach
a box of files.
Upon finishing my business,
bought the files and started for the
mill late in the afternoon. 1t had beer
raining hard, but had stopped, and t.
save time | took short cut through
the timber My horse. a pure white
PAGER, stepping noiselessly along: hi!
hoofs made no sound upon the cushion
of damp leaves.
Suddenly. upon rounding the up
turned stump of a fallen tree. I almos
ran upon a negro convict hiding behinC
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