Show THE TWO GRAVES A Tale of Passion and Frontier Justice No I BY Q1EKELL Upon the prairies of the west men are more given to righting their own wrongs than wailing for tbe flow pro ecu of common law There law is oftentimes but a name and might ia Iookcdtupon by tbe rude borderers as righl and indeed it is almost universally uni-versally acknowledged tan same by the most civilized and enlightened of nations ffherever interest BO points oat that is judging by their practice and that of individuals But even upon the borden there ia a certain amount of protection Ie be found for tbe weak and unfortunate and that security and immunity from danger which cannot be purchased by in oflensivenee or from the good nature of the powerful is often wrung from their fears Security is not EO great as in densely populated countries where every man 10 to sneak among the vast multitude is known to the police yet do we find that even in those border regions punishment bag followed swift and terrible upon trans gresiion In the absence of law and proper officers to administer it bodies of well dispoaed men for their mutual protection and for the condign punishment pun-ishment of come flagrant outrage form themselves into societies and according to their ideas of justice mete it out to tbe offender In this manner although terrible end unconstitutional un-constitutional tbe culprit meets with a most speedy check to bis guilty acts Chore is something terrifying in thus placing face to faco the nsssnin and bill victim before perhaps even bit lore the damp cold of mortal elcop ha fallen upon the latter recounting in stern language to him his misdeeds mis-deeds measure out to him she penalty pen-alty of crime It i iq fearful and summary sum-mary in character yet patriarchal in its simplicity There is no superabundance super-abundance of frothy eloquence nor of words but an overwhelming array of facts confound tbe guilty and release re-lease the worthy though at times mistakes occur and tbe innocent are punched instead of the guilty There aro no technicalities cr subtleties of law to give plausibility to a doubt or leave a loophole for the escape of the guilty There ii nothing but facts to meet facts persistently and unmercifully unmerci-fully put forward by stern and unrelenting unre-lenting judges who feel they have an ULthankful and distasteful duty lo periorm but one nevertheless which must be attended to not only to ce I euro individual safety hut likewuefer the public good The custom oi thus I taking into their own hands tbe execution I exe-cution of justice without being legally authorized may eeetn strange and I barbarous but as strange diseases at I time require strange remedies and if it has a beneficial effect it cannot beat I be-at rthpr deplored It is ol thi kind of justice called in the UiicuAce of Ute frontier Lynch lw from the name of the man who eat as judge in the first of these felconstituted court we have any account of that we now write Our attention was fint attracted to the subject of the present itory by seeing in our travels on the Overland Over-land route before tbe advent of the Pnoifio Railway two graves pide by side of which we were told the hiu tory For tbe gratification of our readers and as an instructive lesson of human passion and punishment wo reproduce the story It was a tale of intemperance wild passion uncurbed un-curbed desires and retributive justice not without warning to tbe unwary and instruction to the good Told as it was by the flickering i camp fire while the graves of both slayer and his victim were in sight made it more impressive leaving a memory upon tbe mind never 10 be forgotten It was a beautiful moonlight night and the genial breezes of dying spring aroma laden with the fragrance of wild flowers fanned oir cheeks The rude joke followed by the good humored laugh had passed around the circle but arose not again as the tlo was telling for serious reflections were engendered aa the destructive oflects of evil passion and unbridled desires were related Robert Deere and John Carson bad been brought up from childhood together The father of the former had at one period of life been engaged en-gaged in mercantile barter and speculation spec-ulation bnt a series of disastrous ventures with the pressure of a financial I finan-cial crisis had reduced him to poverty pov-erty and be left tbe home of his childhood and journeying westward had taken up his abode in tho State of Iowa But this was in the early childhood of Robert and of his eiut ern home he had the faintest possible recollection He had formed the acquaintance of John as he went to the vilage school signaled in a wood close by Jho clear but deep rolling waters of tho Miiitsaippi River a mile or more from their home In the times 01 recess the boys both of a bold and fearless disposition would wander through the forest or bathe in the liquid wave striving to outdo each other in their trials of skill and asrdihcoJ They ware both of quick comprehension and found it easy to learn the tasks set for them to perform per-form while lets favored laggards were poring anxiously and laboriously to get the lesions so easy for them They were however of opposite temperaments tempera-ments though equally sanguine in their way and at times in consequence conse-quence of this difference they came into collision but though occasionally opposed to each to eath other they would quickly make it up and be ready to lead in championship any plot lor fun and frolic the occasion might suggest t Bat they were not similarly blessed in the home training they obtained Robert Dacres bad a father and mother who bad been brought up in the fear and admonition admoni-tion of God They were not bigotedly religious nor obstinately bent on making others believe as they did They believed the Bible and they practiced its principles to far as possible pos-sible but bad joined themselves to nobody no-body religious worshippers They believed rather in being religious and Godfearing than seeming to of being truly Christians than of bearing the name and by an outward out-ward appearance of sanctity of being noted for holiness His mother looked pan homo the true protector of virtue and its joys as the promoters and instructors of our morale There are happily many such as her though unseen their actions yet are such a mothers teachings imperishably recorded re-corded on the heart tablets of her oS spring On the contrary John Carson bad no such teaching nor any each place of comfort and calm enjoyment to return bj for the publio street or I the open field was bEtter to him than tbo bittsr disagreeable scenes constantly n et with in his home His father at one period of his life bad been an honorable upright man trusted and esteemed by his friends And looked up to with love and afleo tion by an amiable wife In an unthinking un-thinking evil hour he raised the lufing wine cup to his lips and in EO doing routed a passion a demon we may say in bit heart that bad till then slumbered and he knew not he possessed He did not descend i de-scend the ladder of respectability all at once Long and fiercely did be struggle against the enveloping fjlds and strive to break the merhes of the fatal vice He would form resolutions resolu-tions resolution of selfdenial but to break them In tho gloom consequent con-sequent upon the suffering incident to the awakening from a debaucti when assailed by the tears and entreaties en-treaties ol his loving wife he would promise anything But the customs of society the jeering but kindly meant remarks of his friends would cause him to take one glass just one for mere companionship be sociable so-ciable with them nothing more He would weakly accept the invitation and appetite inflamed would hurry him into intemperance once more It is not for ns to condemn the usages oi polite society nor of any society yet we look upon many of I them as tbo real source of crime and sin The boy just entering into life wishes to ba I thought a man The thoughtless older ones play upon hit credulity and make light of his simplicity sim-plicity At the modest diffidence he exhibits and at the blushes retiring timid nature sends to his cheeks they laugh They teach him to ba I more beldto quaff the ruby wino for that will give him confidence The cigar casa is pasted to him and though oftentimes repugnant to his feelings be nearly kills himself to be as his friends would bavo himA fool The elegant and high toned accomplishment accom-plishment ot swearing is i next added to his store followed by the desire to shine in the eyes of the fair eex A laughing grinning hideous and mocking devil is unchained aud he hurries onward towards perdition This is no overdrawn picture for we have seen the brightest intellects the moat generous spirits and tbe noblest minds debased lost ruined just by first giving way to the flppant nothings and tbe careless tel satisfied satis-fied air of society Insidious in approach proach gradual in its advance to mastery vice first idunta the moral feelings of a seuEititei nature blinds its perceptions ci virtue and after undermining thE once pure temple of the scul finally lye all in ruins around Prospects blighted life darkened and heaven obscured existence exist-ence becomes a constant never ceasing ceas-ing disgrace to himself and endless vexation to rtldives and friends In the midst of such influences John Canon could scarcely be expected to bo as consistent as upright up-right cs contained and as virtuous vir-tuous as was the more favored Robert Dacres His mother had dieddied of poverty of grief and affliction and pi shams and her loving guiding influence was no more experienced leading ever towards tbe good In fits of gloom despondency and desperation des-peration boy as be was ho would drink sometimes to drown care just as many an older and more respon tible person has done time and again His friend Robert would talk seriously I seri-ously to him and be would acknowledge acknowl-edge the error of such a course awl would make up his mind to amend For weeks perhaps for months he would be consistent and steady then a lapse would come and he would plunge again into dissipation He did not lack for understanding nor did he ever strive to palliAte or hide the errore into which he fell Ho did not commit them unknowinglyat least in his sober moments but a leeling of desperationa wish to be rid of thought of life even free of e ery restraint would come over him and he would plunge once more into tin regardless oi consequences Had calm peaceful circumstances and refining influences been around him hAd example as well as precept been ever before him what a different fate might have been his He possessed pos-sessed every qualification necessary to make a smart and intelligent man as well as an ustful one In this manner tbe two young men grew up opposite in almost every quality and leeling excepting courage and generosity Excess was fast wearing out the nobler qualities of the nature of Canon It seemed as if all the evil passions of his bosom inflamed in-flamed under the influence of drink Repentance bitter sell upbraidinga scathing but ineffectual would follow but of what avail are such feelings unIcorn followed by reformation oi action and a new and better life He was beginning to have an unenviable reputation and his friends were one by one forsaking him despairing of a favorable change But Dacres stood to him through it all counselling him and trying to get hIm to loreaSe his usual haunts and vices and by acton striving to set him an example ol temperance and frugality About this time the gold fields of California were discovered and wild wonderful and fabulous stories were in circulation about the new El Dorado Men could go there and with only a spade could turn up the yellow ore and make fortunes in the shortest possible order Stories were going the rounds of the press of men who had gone there and in a few short months had returned rendered independent in-dependent for life by the fortunes they they bad made Society was gone mad Young men before engaged en-gaged in honorable and remunerative employment forsook all to follow after this delusion By hundred by thousands aye by scores of thousands thous-ands they left home and its loving tiesils endearments and its protecting protect-ing influence lo go alter an uncertain uncer-tain venture Nothing ventured nothing won was their motto and the desire to obtain gold bright glittering glit-tering gold toofcpwseision of many a heart before peaceful and satisfied with its privileges and ourroanding Thus it ever is when fictitious wants are given birth tomany one rUEd in more than sackcloth and ashes of suffering the mistake they made Arriving at the mines they found they had to labor hard to obtain the gold Iheir food was of the coarsest and scantiest kind and obtained only by great toil and exorbitant pi ices I Working in the beds of rivers by day under a broiling ago sleeping in a blanket on the around at night hardships hard-ships and exposures different kinds told fearfully on those unaccustomed to euch a life Dscaso smelled their illled rver1wor1ed WEakenEd frame Dysentery andjfevers carried them oil by thousand Soarcoly a tithe of of thcse who perished will ever be known These who recovered the shadows their former selves were willing and anxious to return home many of them aa poor as they went I with broken constitutions and ruined health But youth will not learn from the sage experience of age and the same follies are enacted over andover and-over again A few in comparison to the many who went did return with money and all who went looked and hoped to be himself one of the foitunate ones Thus the infatuation in-fatuation continued spreading until it bad enlisted the sympathies and claimed the attention of all ranks of society When this feeling was at its height it seized upon Robert Dacres and John Carson and they determined to venture ven-ture on the expedition in quest of fortune for-tune hoping to be mode happy in obtaining what they sought High spirited and youthful t > iey bad not yet learned to moderate their desires and with the lightheartednesa and inexperience of hope they though they had but to venture to be successful success-ful The parents of Robert Dacres tried bard to dissuade him from leaving leav-ing home more however from a conception of its wisdom than from any fears of his being led away from the path of duty and virtue They might have wished him to associate with a less impulsive and more sober minded companion but upon the consideration that it might possibly do Carson good they made no serIous Opposition As to Carson he bad no one to cars particularly what became of him and nnen the news spread abroad among those who knew him that ha intended going to the mines there were many who felt glad thai such was the casenot however thai ho was going to the mines but thai be was going away A talented wild young man who baa cast off moral restraint brilliant in conversatiojal powersrefined in intellect except when under the fires ol passion and wine exerts a baneful influence over his young acquaintances For this reason parents were thankful and glad when Carson gave out his intention inten-tion of leaving home as thus the meretricious connection would be levered and their ions would no longer have a leader But it is not always youth that leads in these excesses Grayheaded age at times plunges into folly and verily example has much to answer for hereafter To be Continued |