Licking Valley courier., 1921-09-29

shore l'arned purity d--d we'll. 1t must
ha' been yOre third shot at got |!
ADAM"
II fred only once" disagreed Dale.
"Your' son fred first; fired second; |
and somebody else, haven't the
slightest idea who. fired the other +,
shot"
"Aw. shet up! Ye can tell 1t at the !
trial." grOwled old Ball. Then to his
kinsmen.
"We'll hold Dale right here, boys
Ontel the shuriff he's sent after comes.
And we'll not move Adam, which same
Is accOrdin' to law. I reckon Shurif
Tom F!owers'll find different Job
from what he expected to find; won't
he, boys? Say, / wisht one o you
fellers'd gi' me good, big chaw o
tobacker. Be burned eff don't. Adams
death, 1t has made me feel sort o
bad, by comics, and tobackers allus
a consolation
bill Dale, you hain't got chaw O.
tobacker on ye, have ye-bought to-
backer, store tobacker? It's q burned
sight better'n homemade, says. Ye
say ye don't chew! Chew-h-ll
Whyn't ye say 'chaw,' like mani /
allus knowed ye wasn't no count, no
how. Nobody at don't chaw tobacker
amt no count. :. All right, Jim
Ike," to his nephew, 'Ill take chaw
O. yores, then. And I'll take tol'ably
big chaw, Jim Ike, cause Adams
death has made me feel sort O. bad,
and tobacker's allus consolation"
The sounds Of the shooting had car
rled far, and 1t wasn't long until ths
scene of the tragedy was crowded with
Balls and Torreys, Littleforls and
Morelands. Major Bradley and Hayes,
too, were there. Every man Of them
was armed; a very little thing might
easily turn the place into shambles.
The major saw this, and he was
afraid. He drew the leaders Of the
Morelands and the Littlefords aside,
and finally prevailed upon them to do
their utmost toward keeping peace un.
til the coming Of the sheriff.
At first John Moreland and Ben Lit.
tleford were for taking Bill Dale from
the Balls and T0rreys who guarded
him, II they had to depOpulate the
whole Ball settlement, Jerusalem Cove
and HattOn's He'll to accomplish 1t !!
Happily, the majors counsel prevailed.
Sheriff Tom Flowers was a tall and
1.-the, smooth-faced man. He arrived
with Luke Moreland at noon, after
hours of hard riding. He saw the high
tension, and Immediately steeled him
self to handle the situation. After
riding straight to the center Of the
gathering and there halting his horse,
he said evenly:
''In order that / may know who to
arrest, must know something Of the
circumstances. Only one man must
speak at a time. No playing bad with
me; and remember that, gentlemen.
I'll certainly drop the fellow who
starts playing hoss with me, II It's the
last move make on earth, Now some.
body gently use his powers Of speech
Major Bradley, more soldierlike than
ever, went forward, "As the attorney
of Mr., Dale, who stands accused Of
killing Adam Ball." he said to the Of
feer, " beg leave to state that my
client will do no talking at present
Dale understood, and he did NO
open his mouth.
But old Ball had something to say
and he proceeded to say II:
"He killed my son Adam" pointing
to Dale, "in cold blood. Me and abou
q dozen o my kin was on our wa!
over Long ridge to look at q bee tree
when We heered three pistol shots, w
was right UP thar" pointing to tn
northward, "aud we come a,runnin
over here 10 see, by comics, what wa
! the matter, Well, by gonnies. We fOunC
Bill Dale thar down on bis knee
, aside o my son. ADAM who was a
!, dead as. Ill OF deaters aud Rili Dal,
|, was A-sNbbin' and a-sobhin' about II
And II be never killed my son Adam
what was he a-sohbini and a.sohhlp
I about ! AZ you thatt And my Sol
Adam, he had q rife, BY eonnles. bu
he never shot none at ell, He wa
with Us up to q few minutes before. an
he hadn't shot none all mornin
" Shurifr Flowers. wisht ye'd gr me
r good. big chaw O. tobacker. by gor
MES. cause my son Adam his deaf
1t has made me feel bad"
Major BRADLEY stopped caresslng hi
well.kept gray imperial, walked over
the dead mans rifle, picked 1t up an
, put Its muzzle to his nose. He scente
J fresh powdersmoke. Then he face
old Ball with a strange. hard glltte
In his blue eyes,
| "You are o liaR sir" be said with
peculiar politepess
A stir ran quickly over the Bal
and Torreys. Sheriff Flowers calle
A QUIT
\ "QulVt, therep u and there was Qule
4 He eantinueds Where Ii Mr. Dale
II revolvery"
The Balls had 1t. They produced
/ 1t had three empty chambers wht
! 1t should have had but one
\ "Pass It to me butt arst," order,
1 the laws representative. He kne
| that many man had been shot Will
| taking revolver barrel first, and
n was taking no chances,
i Old Bah obedieAtly turned the wea
n on around.
i "say, sheriff" he ehlttered, "ha
N We plumb fo'got about me AKIN ye
4 chaw o. store-boughtl BY gonnl,
n Adams death"
n Flowers turned to Dale.
y ~ have heard through Luke Mo-
land" he said with more or less
"a. feeling In hls voice, "a good ma