The Land Claim — page 112: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

108 THE LAND-CLAIM. =~ “That’s enough! that’s enough! Let’s hang the rascal right off!” shouted several voices together. “No, my friends,” said Allen, “that is not treating me right. You insisted on learning these facts from me, when I felt that for some reasons I ought not yet to reveal-them. I wish to put this man in the hands of the law, to be tried by a jury—” “ We are jury enough,” yelled some one in the crowd. “T see some faces here,” continued Allen, “that were in the mob last spring, and wanted to hang Newcome, Are you not glad I saved you from that sin? or do you love the hangman’s work so well that you are glad of ajob? You talk of whipping all these horse-stealers—you talk worse things; but I don’t think you will do them, while it would be much better for yourselves if you should leave them to the law, to be punished according to it. But if you will do these things, let me entreat you to spare this one man to be tried, in order that justice may be done to the memory of a man who suffered much under a false accusation, and his name be eleared of the stain that still must rest upon it, unless the crime be proven to haye been committed by some other person.” | “We can’t know any more about it then than we do now,” answered some one. “Then you ought not to use violence; for strong as the evidence seems, it is not positive. None of you saw him shoot Dr. Edwards.” ~ | “T prp!” cried Jim, who had been so communicative the night before. The effect of these words was so electric that not a man spoke for half a minute. Then a murmur rose, growing louder and louder, until it was like the growl of some mon- strous wild beast. The crowd closed around the wagon in which the prisoners were still lying, to look at the man now so certainly doomed, or to question his new accuser. Whatever were the motives of Jim—whether he hoped by turning State’s evidence to procure some favor for himself, or whether out of revenge for past injuries or present danger he betrayed his late leader—his statement was clear and appar- ently true. He said that, at the time of the shooting, Carnes comicloooks. conn ' 4