Show STORY 0 o and ad been out of bourt twenty four s and d glood cle clown on to one tho ile vas plain at least wo we olean ight so A murder of peculiar city had 1 boon committed ami anil agh DO no oyo eye had witnessed tho the doud dow pointed to tho the prisoner prison ces I 1 walh ith unfailing certainty 0 o rocus recusant ant juror had stood out i tho 0 first ho ile acknowledged tho ncy of tho the proofs confessed its allty to reconcile tho the facts with fondants fond ants innocence and ot at on f voto oto went steadily for acquittal conduct induct was inexplicable it I 1 not at refill from a lack ik of intelli c for whilo while ho he spoke but little words ads wore well chosen and od a tho thorough laugh of ough gh still in tho primo prime of manhood acke g wore prematurely whito white and buco wore a singularly bad sad and ful expression ue ile might bo be those who entertained scruples ho a right of society to inflict tho the donalty on alty but no it was not that i reply ply to uch such a suggestion ho be admitted that brutal men like q ous brutes they resemble must nt rolled trolled through fear and that of U death the supreme terror is ny y cewos the only adequate relo rolo prospect of another night of u imprisonment we began to 4 impatient and expostulated I 1 r against what seemed on an un ablo le c and some porno not bou nd remarks were indulged la as th impropriety of trifling with an ko that under which wo we were d yet yot 11 the man answered as communing with himself rather ep polling the imputation ik it Is aco that hinders my concur in a verdict approved by my lent w can that bo be queried several I 1 science may not alwa always 9 daro dare to 11 judgment 11 hero she can know no other co ice would have said the same what changed dour our opinion er ienco 11 h speakers manner was visibly 1 1 and wo we waited in silence the alon tion which ho he seemed ready mastering his emotion as if ibre er r to our looks of inquiry ho he wai i ity nty yo years irs ago I 1 was a oung t t beginning life few had th prospects and none brighter 0 an attachment dating from 3 1 had ripened with its object aws id been no verbal declaration t otance of love no formal co of troth but when I 1 took my ba t to seek a home in the distant 0 xa aa 9 a thing understood that ht A d found it and put it in order 00 Is 0 f haro it IL life in the forest oli lutary ll tary la is not necessarily tho the kinds of society at af a nature depends muen on As for me I 1 lived more in I 1 3 that in the present and a ever cheerful companion the time camo came for makina adment on the home which I 1 t it would henceforward b t and in a few more months abw au 0 a dwelling which I 1 had bad mau 9 pains to render inviting paced by its mistress e land office which was that fa HF v miles off I 1 met my old gage C he ile too had art k hla his fortune in the west of 0 ero ere both delighted at the bat ba t 12 he had brought with him r feea urn of money which he detest gitig as eat I 1 in a land on which it wat 3 to settle I 1 expressed a t i to have him for a neigh IL ivo to him a cordial invitation my me home giving it aa na ach ld hat ho he could nowhere make 3 ejection so lection than in that vicinity r anti CB consented and we set out LY vve 10 had lla not ridden ra many georgo george suddenly recollect tha it assion he had undertaken which would rb QuIre his A t a public land ble on tho the ay y exacting a promise id not delay hla his visit long 1 lessary ana and having given chions ct ions as to the route I 1 y way homeward while bo he 1 H out retiring to bed on tho the return when a summons k called me to the door asked shelter for himself for the I 1 invited ough it stranger his face he ile was ho he men I 1 bad seen at tho the place at th at timo time much him A eat amt I 1 As horse TU poor ani riar y 4 an well as I 1 could by ho the starlight seemed to myo been hardly used ilia ills panting aides boro bore witness of merciless riding and a tremendous ous alir Lri aking laking touch belay being a of recent fright on ro re the bous bouso I 1 found tho the stronger avei not there them lile his absence excited ia bur surprise prise ho he would doubtless eoon soon return it VIM a little singular how over ever that he should havo have left bli his bateh lying on tho the table at the end of half an hour my guest not returning I 1 went ent 4 again ain to tho the chable thinking bo he might havo have found bis bla way thither to give glo personal loa to the wante wants of his il horse llo foro fore going ou from more force of hubet for wo we were ns as bet ot by ather lt hr thieves or poll I 1 took dm the precaution of putting tho the stran gorli atch in a drawer in w m bleb I 1 kept my own valuables I 1 found the borso as I 1 bad had left him and aavo him the food which br hn w aaa ae now sufficiently cooled to bo be allowed to cat but his master was nowhere to bo be oan seen an I 1 approached preached pro ached the house a crowd of men on horseback dashed up and I 1 was corn com mandod in no gentle tones to stand fAndt a in another moment I 1 was in tho the clutches of those bo ho claimed mi as their prisoner onor 1 I woe was too much stupefied nt at first to aek ask what it all meant I 1 did so at laet and tho the explanation camoia came it waa was my bly friend with whom I 1 had so lately sot out in company had been found mur murdered dorod and robbed beor oar the spot at which I 1 but I 1 alone knew wo we bad had I 1 was tho the last person known to bo be with him and I 1 ana now arrested orro eted on suspicion of bla his murder A search of the premises vae was immediately instituted tho the watch woe was found in the drawer in which I 1 hod had placed it oud aud waa was ae as the property of tho the murdered man ule his ham too was found in my stable for tho the animal I 1 had just put there waa was none other I 1 recognized him myself when I 1 BOW taw him in the light what I 1 eald said I 1 know not my contusion confusion v ana as taken aa as additional evidence 0 and when at length I 1 did command language to gl gho a an intelli giblo statement it was received with sneers and incredulity atho tho mob spirit is inherent inhere nt in man at least in crowds of men it may not diva always a manifest itself in physical violence it sometimes contenta contents itself with 4 aching a character but whatever its form it ie is always alwa a relentless relent lebs pitiless cruel 4 ae As the proofs of my guilt one after 1 another came to light low gradually grow into a clamor for vengeance and but for tho the firmness of one man the tho officer who had me in charge i 1 I would doubtless have paid the pon pen 1 alty of my supposed offense on the spot it was not P sympathy that abed my protector his ills heart was as ft bard hard as hie his office but ho represented tho the majesty of the law and took a sort of grim pride in the position As much under the glance g ance of his eyo eye as va before tho the muzzle of his pistol the cowardly drew drow back perhaps they were not sufficiently numerous to feel the full effect of that mysterious reflex influence which makes a crowd of men so much worse and at times so much better than any one of them singly at the end of some sime months my trial came it could havo have but one result circumstances too plainly declared my guilt I 1 knew they lied the absence of tho the jury was very brief to their verdict I 1 paid but little heed it was a single hideous word but I 1 had long anticipated it and it made nu impression As little impression was made by tho the words of the judge which followed it fund and his soken invocation that god might have that mercy upon me which man waa was too just to vouchsafe sounded liko like the bol lowest of hollow moc mockeries mock eries kerles it may bo be hard for the condemned criminal crimin nl to meet death it is still harder for him who is innocent taj th 3 one when the first shock Is over acquiesces in his doom and gives himself to repentance the baart of the other filled with rebellion against mans injustice can scar scarcely coly bring its self to nak ask pardon of god I 1 had gradually overcome this feeling in spite of good irritating efforts whit h were mainly directed toward ox a confession without rit hout which he assured me he be had no hope to offer on the morning of the day fixed for my execution I 1 felt measurably re ro thadeo I 1 had so long stood face to faco face with death had so amus accustomed tomed to look upon it ae as only a momentary pang that I 1 no longer felt so 0 o save that ay my memory should one ono day be vindicated she for whom I 1 had gone to prepare a home for had already found one in heaven the tidings of my calt calamity mity bad had broken her heart she alone of all tho the world believed me innocent and she 4 died with a a prayer upon upun ho bw lips that the truth might be brought to light all this I 1 had heard and it had soothed so if sweet incense my troubled spirit death however unwelcome tho the shape waa was now a portal beyond which I 1 could see one angel ov alting to receive me I 1 board heard the sound of approaching pro aching footsteps and nerved myself to meet the expected summons the door of my cell opened and the sheriff and hia his attendants entered ho ile hold tin his hand a paper it was doubtless doubt leea my death warrant he ile began to too reed read it my thoughts were busted elt where the words full and free pur par dou were the first to too my pre plod senses they affected tho the bystanders et more than meola yet it woe was I 1 rae was pardoned for an off ouchie ergat I 1 bad had no nour vr committed tho the real culprit nono none other it U aa 1 needless to may than ho he rho thu WAI nought sought and abused my hospitality boon yam tally wounded la in a idt antray la in a distant city but ciul llred lived long enough to mitko a disc losum which had been laid before tho the pov gov arnor barely in timo time to save me from a death and condemn mo we to a tho orless and burdon somo life thie this Is my Ver lence my judgment a os i oura ours la in tho the cana a before us loada to but ono conclusion that of ahn prie pris onor B guilt allt but not loss less confident and ap apparently parenti unerring was as the judgen Jud grant nt that falsely pronounced my own wo we no longer importuned our follow juror but patiently awaited our die hai ifo on tho the ground of inability to agree which camo came at last the prisoner wae was tried and convicted convict ocl at u term and at ai tho the las moment hie his crimo on tho the scaffold |