The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, June 29, 1898, Image 8

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\ jj BY hS?BE '% far one,** said the yerang gradu ?ntentious?y, "think that the vrb fury system is a relic of English t I"' terian, and the sooner we gat rid of Jc^ia t^^ for ii Ss tipped his chair back against * pine boards and drew clouds enoc ant of his brier wood to obscure 1 naosfc ludd argument L It was a party of fonr, made np of fcydraulic engineer, -a captain in 1 lavy on a furlough, a graduate of H ?ard going to stnay law in .the -fs < tad an nude of the yoong man, Juc Qhambers, one of the justices* of the i perior court of Connecticut. The juc was the patriarch of the quartet, t owner of the camp and caught m< fish than ali of the rest of the men iBgether. He took off his glasses, and as wiped them he scrutinized his nepi* with fond contempt. The hydraulic engineer spoke quit ly and systematically, like the pun: pi of coe of his own motors. "I myself think the juryman is t most outraged free man I know < While the criminal is receiving U qnets from silly women and feedi ?like a gamecock the poor juryman deprived of wholesome air, of dece iftfcod, of exercise and always of sleep u til a verdict is agreed upon. I won like to know what sort of verdict a mi . is going to give whose whole rou ti .tif life is changed and who iscoero .lbj the lack of food or sleep. " J**We dbnH think of patting the of eera of a court martial under guard . ? in irons until they bring in a verdict, ? the captain observed with the nncoj scions intonation of superiority in which the seaman always falls when : presence of the landlubber. The judge took his cigar ont of h .mooth, and the rest turned to him .wit deference. The young man started 1 say- irreverently, "Oh, you're preji diced,*' but for once held his peaci The judge was not a talker, but whe he opened Ms mouth ms friends respec ed his well digested experience, if nc bis arbitrary opinion. > ^TJhe jury system, " he said judicial ly, "is an abomination as practiced i England and in most of our states. W in Connecticut passed an act of legisl tare so that the juryman serves as th other officers of the court and goes fro: the jory room to his home as I do nr ; sell To pot a juryman, like a school boy, on honor is to get the best results I have known of but one case where jory penned up assisted justice mc?? titan it would have done had it bee: free. But in this case justice was servo in a blind, haphazard way at a terribl cost. It happened in my own circuit 2 -let me see-it was 23 years ago, ar.< a fri m fiar case might not happen agaij in the century.*' Bain had now set in. It was chill; on that Hay evening, and the fire ar.? the tale to come tempted the company to draw their chairs in a closer circl around the chimney, for a leaf from th? judge's ponderous volume of experience that covered S5 years of fighting at th* bar and ruling on the bench was sure t< need no further illustration to hold at tention than his owu genuine elocution. The tale is paraphrased a little inU ^continuity by one of its auditors auc will not be given precisely in the frag - ; J?entary and conversational form of it; original narrator. Broadfields is one of the most pictur esque. one of the oldest and one of tnt loveliest villages in Connecticut It con Gists of two streets, each about a mile - fang, intersecting each other at rigit angles. A double row of elms plant?id in King Charles' time guards each ave? nue. The town reminds one of old Had -./. ,3ey, famous for its stately streets, its colonial homes and undisturbed peace. On the 26th of May, 1872, Broad nelda awoke out of an insensibility that had lasted for over 200 years. What pol? itics, crops, war, marriage, debt or in? heritance could not accomplish had now come to pass. At 9 o'clock at night, or perhaps a little later, Mrs. Burns, the wife of the richest, the most crabbed and the most feared man in this ancient community, electrified her next door neighbors by a cry of "Murder!** Then Broadfields, lethargic asa stone hitching post, awoke to new and awful responsibilities. The people of the town were all in their beds, and Mrs. Burns would have been had she not stepped out to the barn, ?00 yards or so back of the house, * to look for her husband. He had taken his lantern and had gone out there alone about an hour before to do some simple chores, and his wife, actuated possibly by some subtle influence like that with which detected crime is able to draw a crowd out of the bowels of the earth, felt anxious about him for the first time in her life. When she found Mr. Burns dead in his own blood, she ran to the front gate and uttered into the blackness of the unlighted streets her memorable cry. It took Broadfields no little time to awake to the consciousness of a crime of such high degree, but at last a group of leading citizens stood about the wid? ow in the anxious light of their sway? ing lanterns. These good people were as much perplexed about what to do as ?white cat with a litter of black crows. It finally occurred to the minister that Deacon Luke Bassett, who had forgot? ten the fact himself, was town consta? ble, and that, as the sole representative cl the law, it was his duty to see if NATUUR9| fT!JuDGE r^; Cr tfERRERT f> WARD I Mrs. Bums' story were true, and ll so j to apprehend the murderer. j By this time there was a throng of at least seven persons, and .these the dea [ cen authoritatively ordered into the ? yard. Mrs. Burns' sister, who was their household drudge, had in the mean? while caught up a kitchen lamp and conducted the bereaved woman into the j front parlor, as befitted an extraordina? ry occasion. In the meanwhile the con? stable had impaneled an impromptu coroner's jury consisting of the minis? ter, the doctor and the storekeeper. Then, trembling, the good deacon led these gentlemen into the barn where the deed had been committed. "We want no mistakes here," said the constable slowly, with the air of a man treading ?he edge of a strange precipice and glancing with perturbed shrewdness about the barn. "God forbid I" answered the minister devoutly. But the physician, who was growing gray in the narrow occupation of helping children into the world and the aged out of it, inspected the body eagerly. It was his first notable post mortem opportunity. Indeed there was no possible room for two theories as to how Mr. Burns had met his death. He lay crossways in front of the stalls where the cows wer e kept, between the rolling doo! and the empty hay wagon. His head was gashed with three clear cuts, any one of which ought to have produced instant death. "It must have been a hatchet, " said the debtor slowly. "The murderer stood right in front of him when he hit. See !" With an imperturbability which struck the other men as almost more than pro? fessional the doctor swung an imaginary weapon at the constable, and then, bending quickly, he pointed out a ver? tical gash across the forehead of the corpse. This cut seemed to penetrate the bram. "The man was if anything taller than he. Mr. Burns could not have possibly been conscious after such a Wow." "But he was!" The men were star? tled by this abrupt interjection. ? soft voice, precise and measured as a metro? nome, gave the agitating contradiction. Death always invests the chief mourner with an unassailable dignity, or, at least, it used to do so before the modern craze for arresting the nearest relative in default of a clew. Tall, slen? der, with head bent forward, a yellow silhouette against the black open door, and, for the moment, chastened of a little native or acquired shrewishness, the widow of the dead man compelled instant reverence. Weather beaten heads bowed instinctively before the embodiment of violent bereavement. The minister made a delicate motion as if to cover with hay the body from the woman's view. As he did so, his hand struck a hard object He pulled it out- The men uttered exclamations of horror. Any woman might have fainted at the sight of the murderous weapon. But Mrs. Burns had New England nerves. She stolidly watched the con? stable take the hatchet, inspect it gin? gerly, and then hand it over to the doc? tor. The edge of the hatchet correspond? ed to the length of the gash, and dis? membered gray hair on the blade match? ed that of the victim. So far, the cir? cumstances of the crime were as plain as the barn floor. One could almost see the fatal blows fall "I don't think there is anything more here to da " The constable spoke slow? ly. "We can safely leave the body where it is and lock the barn for the night Bring the hatchet along, doctor, and if you have no objections, Mrs. Burns, I will spend the night herewith my wife, and we will ask you a few questions before we go to bed. " The minister took the widow's arm with tenderness and led her into the kitchen. Mrs. Burns then rehearsed the facts quietly. "It was about 9 o'clock-just an hour ago;" she glanced at the moon faced clock. "Thomas went out about 8, to do some chores and lock up as usual. I thought I heard a cry, and being un? easy I ran out. I found him where he is now. His e;, es were open, and I heard him say distinctly ' Williams. ' He tried to speak further, but he passed away without another word. That was all. I did not see or hear a trace of any liv? ing soul." "Let us see," said the clergyman, with what he considered to be judicial suavity. "Who is there you connect with, the name of Williams?' ' "Only George, " answered the widow easily The men exchanged grave glances. "Thomas didn't get on well with folks, you know. I remember he came to words with George Williams because he put potatoes into a damp place in the cellar. That was in March, and George left on the spot, saying that he never would work for us agaiu. 1 shouldn't think that was enough" "Any one else by that name out of the town?" interrupted tho constable compassionately. The widow shook her head after some deliberate thought Then the deacon's wife came in and carried her friend away to the shocked and desolated house. Everybody in Broadfields knew George Williams. He was a farmhand who had drifted into the town a year or two before, when the crops were heavy. Of him there was little known, except that he was a good worker, but surly for his rights. He was evidently an Englishman, and he was as hard to deal with as most of the lower class of ais countrymen who seek their fortunes in America. People had expressed no wonder when he failed to "hitch horses" with old man Burns. The emancipated islander could ill brook i authority as gruff as his own resent? ment. But there is a long step between surliness and murder, and the old or? thodox churchgoers were slow to suspect the Englishman. "George! "Why, everybody knows George "Williams !" Besides, the dying man might easily have wandered in his mind. The pro? fessional detective might not remember this, but common sense and common sharity must Broadfields gossiped quickly, but moved slowly. It was 8 next morning, after breakfast when the impromptu jury met for the second time in the Burns mansion. The undertaker was already in imperious possession, while the premises resembled a miniature samp meeting. Teams were hitched here and there, and many people moved about languidly, talking under breath. The distant clang of a blacksmith 's hammer sounded impiously. It was as if he whd wielded it had desecrated the Sabbath. "It can't be him, " said the m/nister. with the easy disregard of grammar that comes from living among uneducated parishioners. "If he'd done it, he'd have run away. He's in my orchard now trimming trees. He's been there at work these last three days." He looked about him with benign triumph. "Then I will go and get him, " begab the deacon constable. "No," said the minister with gentle firmness; "I will ga It is a terrible blot on a man's character even to con* nect him with a crime like this. No one suspects him as yet " The blacksmith seemed to be about the only person in the town undisturbed by the moral convulsion. He was a stal? wart man, deliberate of action and cool of speech, a contrast to his fussy forge. He was, moreover, a freethinker, the only one in the broad valley, and slight? ly feared as such, as plausible rational ists are apt to be by ignorant believers. He was a disciple of Emerson, the phil? osophic dread of the community. It was whispered that even the minister dared not cross swords "with the only re? spectable man in town who belonged to no church. No one ever knew the man of the forge to accept an unproved state? ment as a fact No one ever knew him to lose his temper. No one ever knew him to be otherwise than scrupulously honest He seldom gossiped. He de light I ed in dry, intellectual disputes and in getting his opponents angry. His favor? ite topics of argument were the futility of religions and the exclusion of pauper emigrants. He was known to look upon George Williams with disfavor because he was not an American born citizen. It was William Worthely's habit never to let any one suspect that he was possessed of the information that others were eager to give him. Therefore he never had the detestable custom of interrupting tellers of stories just before the point was reached. This self possession gave him the reputation of being a good listener. It also gave him a real advantage in a conversation of which he was not slow to make use with native adroitness. Therefore when, on the morning after the murder, the village gossip stopped eagerly before the door of his shop the blacksmith did not even raise his eyes from the shoe he was fitting with expert care. "Thomas Burns"- began the gossip, halting for the expected inquiry. "Well?" said Worthely dryly, will? ing to gratify his neighbor's eagerness to impart exclusive information. "Haven't you heard?" "What;" "He was murdered last night I guess they suspect George Williams. Here's the minister bringing him down the road. He looks scared enough. " The blacksmith dropped the horse's hoof easily from his leather apron and went to the wide door. By this time every one seemed to have divined the minister's mission. Looks cf inquiry and of aversion were cast by eager and curious farmers upon the unhappy la The men uttered exclamations of horror. borer. The blacksmith looked at the Englishman compassionately, and took his pipe out of his mouth. "Don't be too cocksure," he said dryly. "It's a serious business, " he con? tinued loudly so as (to be overheard by several others, "to accuse a man of murder." The minister looked up at the speaker with a gratified nod. "Amen to that," he said solemnly. The two passed by. Others followed, straggling. The black? smith gazed after them intently, until they turned into Burns' yard. Then he bent over to the gray's off hind foot, as if nothing unusual had happened. But there had. His pipe was out. Suspicious, sullen, frightened, defi? ant George Williams glared from one to the other, as the minister, with a whispered word of encouragement, ush? ered the farmhand into the presence of the constable, the doctor and the store? keeper. The teacher of the town acade? my had been added that morning to the impromptu coroner's jury, and he sug? gested that Williams should be imme? diately taken to the barn. "I don't see why I should go. What have I got to do with it?" pleaded the unfortunate man. The five turned pale and nudged each other nervously. That indefinable in? stinct which is the gift of great detect? ives and which incisively points out the guilty person with occult force possessed each bystander. This feeling increased when Williams hun*; back, pale and trembling, upon the pastor's encouraging arm. The good man now had serious doubts, but his Christianity forbade him to express them to the man's face. When Williams was brought into the presence of the dead man, by aU t he recognized laws of circumstantial evi dence he hopelessly incriminated him self before a question had been asked. "I didn't do it!" he cried. "Why am I brought here? I am innocent Before God, I am innocent. " "No one has questioned that yet' said the constable rather coolly. "We have proof that Mr. Bums saw you on ly a little while before his death, and we want you to explain the circum stances." This shrewd random shot, fired because of the prisoner's perturba The blacksmith looked at thc Englishman compassionately. tion, was a great success. Williams turn? ed livid. He stammered like a man sen? tenced to a terrible doom. "I-a-let me go-I will go." He started as if to force his way through the barrier of sturdy men. He was caught in a trap. 44 Where were you last night between 8 and 9?" The laborer shook his head vacantly. All sense had left his eyes. He was in a stupor of fear. His fate had entangled him. His mouth had dropped open. 4'Do you recognize this hatchet?" the confab- asked sharply. ""H o severe?' ' whispered the cler gyn-" x> his deacon. 4 4 There is yet no proof against him. " "No, " said Williams feebly. Sudden? ly he shrieked: "I am innocent ! I will not be tortured!" Then 1 ^ collapsed. All the bulldog had gone out of him. As the constable held the hatchet up before the prisoner's eyes three marks were noticed-finely crossed lines, cut into the end of the handle. "Why, it is my hatchet!" exclaimed the parson in innocent surprise. 4 4My little boy cut thosw marks with his jack? knife. How could the hatchet have got into Mr. Burns' barn?" At these words Williams fell upon the floor in a dead faint It only needed the scantiest cross ex? amination to bring the fact ont that Williams had used the marked hatchet all the day before in the orchard. Then the woman with whom Williams board? ed felt called upon tc volunteer the in? formation that her lodger had not come in until after 9 the night before. "It seems to me, gentlemen, " said the constable with the gravity that the situation demanded, 4 4 that I had better hitch up and take him right over to the county jail. It is a pretty plain case. Will you go along, doctor?" Low murmurs of approval followed these words. "I don't see any mystery about it ! yet,99 said the graduate, filling his pipe i for the third time, *4and I don't see where your jury comes in either." "It was my first important murder I case," the judge resumed, ignoring the interruption (at this point I quote the ! old jurist exactly. He was evidently living his famous case over again), "and I remember well the charge I gave to the jury. I practically instructed them to retire and immediately to bring in a verdict of murder in the first degree. It was a neat case of circumstantial evi? dence, and the defense did little more than throw itself upon the mercy of the court." j The jury was an average one. The foreman was a choleric, hatchet faced, sandy complexioned farmer who had served as foreman before and was im? pressed with the importance of his own views as well as of his own position. Perhaps William Worthely, the black- ? smith, was the most intelligent as well ! as the most disinterested member of the jury. He followed the evidence with keen attention and listened to the charge with independent courtesy. I happened to notice*as he marched out that his great jaws were firmly closed, while the faces of the rest of the jury were re? laxed. , The jury filed cut. The court took a few minutes" recess only, expecting to sentence the murderer in a few minutes. The spectators remained in their seats. "Well," ?aid the foreman easily, stroking his sharp chin, "hay is about ready to cut, and there's no use of our staying here any longer. There's no two ways of looking at it. I guess we can follow the judge. For the sake of for? mality we'll drop our ballots in the hat. We're um-jiimous-guilty, of course. I've got three miles to ride and have got to be home to supper." The vote was hurriedly taken. Then all but one eagerly rose. Worthely alone remained seated, smoking his pipe stol? idly and looking out of the wiudow, while curious lines of amusement played sround his eyes and mouth. TO BE CONTINUED ----?? ? ? . ?M? Good Sewing Machines from $10 00 up ?t Rundle's. EARLY MELONS. How They Have Been Satisfactorily Grown on One Small Farm. A Niagara county (X. Y.) correspond? ent of American Gardening, who has ? been successfully working up a trade in the Emerald Gem melons, tells how he grows them: Our early melons are started about ! April 15 in cold frames. We have boxes I about four inches square, without bot I toms, and usually after taking a crop of early cabbage plants ont of the cold j frames we will fill the beds with these boxes, then fill the boxes with sifted compost, plant the seeds on these, cover lightly and put the sash on. We have been particular to do the planting on the 15th of April so as to have them seither too early nor too late. When the plants appear, we thin to two plants to each hilL It is necessary to ventilate carefully on warm days, as the plants are easily injured by getting the frame too hot About June 1 the boxes are taken up, put into fiats, thoroughly soaked and taken to the field. The plants are taken out of the boxes by setting a piece of 4 by 4 scantling on end and slipping the box down the scantling, thus pushing the plants with adhering soil out of the box and carefully setting them in the cavities prepared for them and packing the moist, rich dirt close about them. In this way they scarcely feel the trans? fer and will be far ahead of those plant? ed outside. Besides, if the plants are large enough, they will be out of dan? ger of the striped bugs, while they will literally eat up those coming up in the open ground, often in one day, if they are not closely looked after. For a crop of Gems in the open ground we will hereafter sow the seeds in drills instead of planting in hills. Considerably more seed is needed in this way, but the bugs do not stand nearly as good a chance to carry their work of destruction to a successful end, for if they eat half the plants there will be enough left yet, and they can easily be thinned with a hoe, leaving the best plants. The Gem is a short growing kind anyway and can be planted closei than other varieties. We have the rows four feet apart and hills about three feet apart in rows. The San Jose Scale. Professor Slingerland is reported by The Country Gentleman as expressing the opinion before the Western New York Horticultural society that the rep? utation this insect has gained as the most dangerous of all insect pests rises from the fact that we did not know neither do we now, how to get at the insect most effectively ; so thus far it has been mainly a series of experimental tests to determine which is the best in? secticide, and, as all fruit growers know, such experiments result in many failures. Again, in the east the insect in nearly every case had full sway, with practically no other enemies to check it for three years before the war of ex? termination was begun. This is au ex? ceedingly important phase of the situa? tion which many zealous experimenters seem to overlook when they find the in? sect is not exterminated with three or four attacks of the spray. The fact ia the size of the job has not been fully realized. Allow any one of several well known pests to have the same freedom as the San Jose scale has had to breed unchecked, and, he thought, it would be an equally difficult task to exterminate them. An Excellent Japanese Pl nm. The Chabot plum, also known as the Bailey, Chase and Yellow Japan, is, according to Professor L. H Bailey, deserving of much praise. The tree is a strong upright grower, productive, and the fruit is handsme, very firm and of CHABOT PLUMS. good quality. In general appearance the fruit is much like Burbank, but it is more pointed and from one to three weeks later, and the tree, which is an upright grower, is very different Last year it ripened at the Cornell (N. Y.) station from Sept lo to 25. There seem to be two things passing as Chase, the other one being an earlier plum and perhaps identical with Doug? las. Professor Bailey can detect no dif? ference between Chabot, Bailey, Chase and Yellow Japan, and the same also ? passes as Hattonkin, but Chabot, being j the oldest name, must hold. Best Ten Russian Apples* The Dominion horticulturist of Cana da who has had long and intimate ex- j perience with the many varieties of | Russian apples is credited with the j following list of the best ten of these: Summer-Yellow Transparent, or j Thaler (Charlottenthaler), Pointed Pip- ; ka (Oldenburg type), Lievland Raspber- i ry, Switzer (late summer), Sim brisk j No. 9. Fall-Golden White, Ostrekoff, An- j tonovka, Longfield (or Good Peasant), ? Hibernal (or Ronina, or Cross). Winter-- Arabka, Royal Table. The trouble in buying stock of Rus sian varieties is that one can never be \ sure by the name given what he is get- j ting. * Qi-lity is fir-.: coos'.drranon of the VFbtte j machine. INTERNAL TRANSIT. GREAT BRSTAiN DISCUSSING IMPROVE? MENT OF ROADS. Better Highways Deemed Necessary to En? able Farmen to Transport Balky Prod acts-Vast Importance of Good Boads Not Generally Recognized. The subject of improved highways for reducing the cost of transit for agri? cola val produce is being agitated not only in our country, where in some sec? tions it is an absolute necessity on ac? count of the impassable condition of our mud roads during certain seasons, but in Great Britain, where her macadam? ized thoroughfares are generally consid? ered to beabout as well constructed and managed as they can be. The principal object in agitating for better highways is to urge the necessity of improving our existing means of transit to enable our farmers throughout the state to transport or haul their heavy and bulky produce to market, or to the consumer, at a lessened cost. In speaking recently at a meeting of the Society of Engineers in England the president, Mr. W. W. Beaumont, re? marked: "Few people recognize how large a proportion of the whole indus? try of the country relates to the traffic on land. Fewer still realize how vast is the importance of good roads for the use of all. It may safely be said that the average resistance on country roads is from two to three times what it need be, especially if we include the sharp hills of some counties. "At present there are at least 1,400, OOO draft horses at work in the Unit? ed Kingdom. Quite one-tenth of these coold easily be dispensed with by im? provement of the heavier gradients by a few cuttings and banks or viaducts and better road surfaces. Supposing the work of only 500,000 horses to be reck? oned with, to save only one-tenth of this nnmber would mean a saving of $7,500,000 per year, and all the other 450,000 horses would be able to earn CALLED A ROAD. from $25 to $50 per year more than at present. At $25 per year the -aving would be on this head alone $11,250, 000, making a total pf $18,750,000. This sum capitalized st S per cent rep? resents $625, OOO,000, so that the num ber of horses assnmed to be always at work is excessive. It is obvious that at least $500,000,000 of national money might be profitably invested in the im? provement of our highways. Also, be? sides this, it must not be forgotten that the better the roads the less the wear and tear, the lighter and better the ve? hicles and their wheels and wheel tires." Up to the present we seem to have given little heed to the value of cheap internal transit for the produce of our farming industries, but if we consider carefully the advantage to be gained from having our country thoroughfares in the best possible condition for the transportation of the products of our farms, as well as for other traffic, it will be found to be far greater than ap? pears on mere casual observation. The good roads question is one which should enlist tbe serious consideration of agriculturists themselves, they being the chief beneficiaries, and it should be looked at from all points of view. If our highways are in such a condition as to allow heavier loads to be hauled with fewer animals, and me extra animals which were required for the same, or even smaller loads, on bad roads, can be utilized for other farm work, a con? siderable saving is made right there. A saving in time which can be made on good roads over bad, is a saving of money, and a reduction in the tear and wear of animals, wagons or other ve? hicles and harness, so that they last a greater length of time, is also money in the pocket of the farmer. Besides this, there is the possibility on good roads under all conditions of weather, which enables the farmer to take advantage of the market whenever it suits him, in? stead of, as is often the case, having to miss a good market on account of the bad condition of our country thorough? fares at certain seasons of the year. There can be no question as to the immense value to our farming popula? tion of properly constructed and main? tained thoroughfares, and which, it is to be hoped, will be forthcoming in the near future. The subject is again being given publicity through the columna of tho public press, and it should be kept prominently before the minds of our people until the improved condition of our country highways is a matter of hisforv Perplexed. "I cawa't understand this blarsted country," said the English tourist "Chap said to me, 'Golf makes mo tired.' 'Ab,' said I, 'you play too much. 'You're crazy, ' said he. 'I don't play at all.' Now, how could he be tired?"- Philadelphia Record. Hood's Should be tu every family ? ? ? medicine ehest and every I J ?ll ?1? traveller's .crip. They are 111 |S invaluable when the stomach ?? ? ? ? ^tr is out of order; eure headache, biliousness, and nil liver troubles. Mild and efficient.. 3 cents.