Year: 1872

West


Riding out above Julesburg, a


rock was pointed out to me, at the


foot Of which had been enacted a


tragedy, the mere recital of which


made my blood run cold. The


place was in a deep canon, sur.


rounded by high bluffs, aud there


was a lonely silence in the


frowning rocks that oppressed every


visitor, and made them glad to has


ten their departure from the gloomy


dell. Many years ago two young


men came from the East, and as


cending the Missouri, engaged in


the fur business. They were bosom


friends, ana prospered in all their
undertakings money flowed in
their Golfers, and they became veal
thy still they stayed in the West,
that had been SO generous to them,
and finally determined to make it
their permanent home. One Of the
young men had a fair sister, who
lived in st. Louis, where the parties
went annually to sell their furs and
divide the profits of their business


The girI, infatuated by the tales of
adventure told her by her brother,
longed to visit the great West, and
begged 50 hard that her brother fin
ally consented. For a whole year
she lived at the hunters rancho on
the headwaters of the Missouri, and
when the time came for the part
ners to go down the river to sell
their furs, one OF the brothers was
sick and could not 60. The
girl was 10th to leave her brother,
but he urged her to go home and see
their mother, saying he would soon
be we'll and follow after her. In
trusting his darling to his friend
and partner, the two set out in
a Mackinaw boat well manned and
provided with every comfort. The
brother grew worse, and the sum
mer wore away before he was able
to travel, In the meantime the
partener returned, bringing him
news from home and division of the
annual profits, which were larger
than ever before. The brother,
pleased with the manner in which
their business had been managed,
readily yielded to the suggestion of
his partner to delay his visit home,
devote the winter to active opera
tons, and 60 down in the spring
with furs. All went well until md
winter, when the brother received
Il letter from home thst nearly
crazed him. The letter was from
his mother, and gave a long and
circumstanttal account OF the seduc-
ton and ruin of his beloved Nina
by his partner. The girl had con-
fessed everything, and told how he
had seduced her while bringing her
home down the Missouri, and then
abandoned her. The poor girl un-
able to bear her shame, had become
a maniac, and soon would be a
mother The first impulse Of the
brother, ON reading this letter, was
to seek out at once and kill the vii
lain who had ruined his family, but
he thought the momentary suffer
ing inflicted by q ball was rot
enough punishment for such
scoundrel, and 50 devised a plan OF
revenge that no Indian could have
outdone for cruelty. keeping the
receipt OF this letter profound Sc
cret, he went on with his business
n3 usual, and every day met lis
partner ON the same terms OF friend
Iy intimacy as formerly. When the
skins were packed and all in readi-
ness to go down the river, the broth
er went to Fort Benton and there
had executed a will, leaving the
name of the person who made it
blank, after which he returned to
his camp on the Jefferson Fork.
He then represented that on the
Platte great profits were to be made
in the fur trade, and proposed to
his partner instead Of going down
the Missouri they should so over to
old Fort Kearney, and intercept
their boats at the mouth of the
Platte on the Missouri. The in
ducement was that if they found all
as represented they would estab-
lish branch Of their business at
Fort Laramie, and thus increase
their profits, The partner readily
assented to proposals so manitestly
for the advantage Of both, and alone
they set ont, taking with them only
a pack mule to carry the flour and
bacon to be used on the journey.
They travelled for many days, and
finally came to the Platte, down
which they followed the overland
trail to Benards Branch. Under
some pretense or other, the brother
induced his partner to accompany
him into the lonely pass, where dis
arming him, he securely tied him
hand and foot, and then bound him
to the rock. At first the partner
thought it was some cruel joke, but
when he produced the letter and
read it, the poor man knew that bis
time had come. He confessed all
and asked to be shot. But the
brother had another fate in store
for his victim. Coolly he sat down
by the rock to see his partner starve
to death. On the third day the
ill-fated man signed the deed be-
queathing all his property to the
injured girl, and the brother attach,
ed a fictitious name as witness Of
the instrument, by the terms Of
which he was made the executor of
his partners estate. He then wrote
letters saying he had fallen very i'll
of fever on the plains, and if he did
not recover, these letters would be
!. - L., b;a haIOvn1