Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 383 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

— — — -- a ee wee SE —— —_s ~~ — — = me me ee ee re te er oe > — + — oe 20 Silver Sam, Detective. spiring steed. ‘‘I don’t know what’s got | Kate came running forward to protest in- | ently so fair and impartial that neither side ‘into this horse of mine. I never knew him ! dignantly against the outrageous conduct of | could object to it. a a ‘to behave so before. But he took a sudden | the two roughs, An adjournment was had to the Shamrock ‘notion to make a break, and dashed in here But she was silenced and horrified by the | Saloon, where there was room for the princi- before I could get hold of him. Hope [| sight of Angus Dameron. pal performers at the rear, with a reasonable haven't interrupted anything in the way ofa] A great change had come over him before | amount of space and plenty of occupation public meeting. What’s the excitement, | the man ceased speaking to him. | for the rest about the bar. — _ anyhow?” He gasped, and his lips trembled as if ina | Andrew Birkett was put forward as the | ‘‘ Nothing much,” answered Matt Grace, | vain effort to say something, and then his attorney for the prosecution, and Matt Grace who was the coolest person in the crowd, | face turned ashy pale, and his head dropped . cheerfully engaged himself to uphold the with the exception of Sam Slevin. forward on his breast. , cause of the defendant. “Nothing much. There is a bit of a diffi- This was death, or so like death that even | Birkett stated the case for his side clearly | culty here, which was in a fair way of being | the two roughs shrunk back and were silent. | and quite forcibly, averring that he would settled peaceably, and I don’t see that you ‘‘He is dead!” cried Kate. ‘‘ You have | prove that Dick Herries had mudered Jim } have done anything to hinder the settlement. | killed him, you wretches, you villains, you | Boggs, and had then possessed himself cf Light down, and I will let you into the rights | murderers!” the murdered man’s money and his rights in -of it as well as I can,” ‘‘Durned if I don’t believe he’s dead,” said | the mine which had since become known as Slevin dismounted, and Matt Grace. told | the spokesman of the pair, as he took a step | the Whitewood mine. | him in his own way, taking his own time for | forward. ‘** We will prove these facts,” he said, ‘‘to | it, what had caused the crowd and occasioned **Say, old pard, have you gone down the | the satisfaction of the gentlemen present, flume? Have you passed in your chips for | and here is Abner Boggs, the brother of the sure?” man who was killed, to demand that justice There was no answer—not the faintest | shall be done to his brother's murderer, and ntrn quiver of the white lips, nor the least lightin | to claim the rights of which he has been the glassy eyes. robbed.” ‘* He has slid out, for a fact,” declared the He called himself as a witness, and told of rough. ‘‘ Well, that end of the business is | the discovery of the body of Jim Boggs, and straightened out, and we needn’t bother about | of the statements made by Stephen Bore- him no more. Come on, Bill.” man’s German tenant, which was afterward ey They went away, leaving Kate alone. sworn to before a coroner. \> Then she looked out across the creek, and He went on to deseribe the expulsion of | saw the crowd gathered at Whitewood, and knew that something dreadful had occurred over there, as well as at the home which had lately been so pleasant to her. But she was unable to relieve her anxiety, as she did not dare to leate the house, and she was helpless until her lover came to support and comfort her. ‘* Are you sure that Mr. Dameron is dead?” inquired Slevin. ‘*T am afraid he is,” she answered. ‘‘I suppose he must be. But thereis something about lifm that makes me doubt. I have thought that I felt his heart beat. Sam hastened to the lifeless form of Augus Dameron, examined his eyes, listened at his heart, and felt of his wrist. He was sure that he noticed a faint thrill or flutter of the pulse. ee Or a a ae the excitement. This narration had a soothing effect for ; more than one reason. While the story was being told, Sam stood ‘there with his horse, a living barrier between the belligerents, thus spoiling their chance of starting a sociable fight without forcing the issue unreasonably. _ Matt Grace’s manner of telling the story ‘was also a damper upon the spirits of the as- semblage. He told it so leisurely and so coolly, and at the same time with such a gentle but pointed bias in favor of Dick Herries’s side, that the boiling passions of the crowd were Wi: obliged to simmer down in spite of them- Neg Selves. ; This state of calm was noticed and appre- ciated by Slevin, who hastened to take ad- vantage of it. ' ‘You have all done well,” he said, “and He the disposition shown by both parties to this ; little difficulty is admirable. It is so much Fal better that such matters should be settled f quietly, and the scheme of holding a sort r ~of advance trial here is a fair and good | “one,” i ‘* But Angus Damcron is dead, Sam,” sug- | gested Dick Herries. i “That is a great pity, for his sake and ~yours, and I am afraid that your daughter is in trouble, But I will ride over to the house — 06k (ee ee ES ae "a Pe 2 Ste ~ ~ —— o Dick Herries from Butte, dwelling on the de- tails with evident satisfaction. ‘‘ That scalawag,” he said, mingling a lit- tle argument with his evidence, ‘‘who was driven away from Butte as a loafer and a thief, without a dollar in his pocket, turned up there in disguise less than two months later, dressed to the nines, and loaded with money. Jim Boggs is dead, and Dick Herries has got his money and his mine, and all you have to do is to put this and that to- gether.” It was evident that this little speech made an impression upon the jury of visitors, and the impression was increased by the appear- ance and evidence of Abner Boggs. | He related the same state of facts that had | been presented by Birkett, exclusive of the departure of Dick Herries from Butte and | “He is not dead, Kate!” exclaimed the | his return. young man. ‘‘He has hada stroke, but it has | He also produced and read the last letter : -and attend to matters there. While I am | not killed him. I am sure that he is yet | he had received from his brother, speaking gone, gentlemen, suppose you organize your | alive.” of the discovery of the mine, his expecta- ~~ court, and we will try to square up this busi- Kate brought a spoon, and Slevin produced | tions from it, and the ‘‘ pile” which he and | \ ness like good citizens.” a bottle of whisky, the usual frontier remedy | his partner had with them in Indian Bill’s | ; for all sorts of ‘‘ strokes.” Hole. } CHAPTER XXIX. He managed to get a few drops into Angus Stephen Boreman’s German tenant was not f FOUND GUILTY. Dameron’s mouth, and gradually a little Sam SLEVIN’s proposition was assented to, | more and more, until the insensible mam re- wand he started on his mission at once. vived under the influence of the potent It was easy to get out of the crowd, as the | stimulus. | “men hastened to make way for him, though | He shuddered, gasped, and finally opened his horse was quiet enough then. his eyes. He soon crossed the creek, spurred up the} That he was alive was evident; but it soon Lee ‘slope on the other side, and dismounted at became equally evident that he was quite in- \ ‘the new house. present, as Andrew Birkett had not antici- pated the contingency that had occurred, and the man would probably not have been ; willing to accompany the party in any . event. / Kruger’s testimony, therefore, as repeated by Birkett, was certified to by others of the party who had been present at the inquest, and it was expected that this would close the case for the prosecution. But Andrew Birkett then took a bold step, the success of which assured him of his own astuteness, and stamped him as a gooi guesser. » Conjecturing that Stephen Boreman had not been informed of the death of Jim Boggs by either Dick Herries or Angus Dameron when they came to his house, he called on the ranchman, and pointedly asked him what they had then told him about the affair, | Stephen was obliged to confess that neither of them had said a word to him about it, and he further admitted that he had never heard of the death of Jim Boggs until that day in Whitewood. © The point told strongly against the ac- cused. If there had been nothing wrong about the killing of Jim Boggs, why had he kept it a secret from one of his nearest friends? This was the case for the prosecution. capable of speech or motion of any kind, e was as helpless as any dead man. ‘“‘TIt is paralysis, Kate,” said Slevin. «There is nothing more that we can do now. I must hurry over yonder to look after your eet and I will find Dr. Cline and send him ere.” Harry Cline, known in Whitewood as *““The Doctor,” was a young physician who had gone West to grow up with the country and to become wealthy and eminent in the practice of his profession. He had succeeded in becoming employed as a day laborer in the Whitewood mine. Sam Slevin found her in the crowd with the rest of the miners, and hurried him away to the assistance of Kate, During the absence of the young man the impromptu court had been organized, and on his return it was ready for business. Andrew Birkett, disappointed in his ex- pectations of a fight in which his side would probably have had a decided advantage, as- sented sullenly to the arrangements as they were proposed and consunimated. Dick Herries, having had time to cool down, prudently kept in the background, and was only anxious for some news from Kate. This was supplied by Sam on his arrival, with the further information that Angus r There he found somebody to whom his | coming was nothing less than a godsend. ‘i It was Kate Herries, who was alone in the ae house with the stricken man. ‘ie Not quite alone; but the Chinese cook | was of no earthly use in such an emer- ; The poor girl was nearly distracted, but b Ht, uncertainty and fear ,for her father as muc i! -as by the rude invasion of the household and i the presence of death. ae In as few words as possible he put her in “possession of the facts of the case, calming Hc -and soothing her as well as he could. ov on yn Then he asked her to tell him exactly what f chad happened at the house. } Maal It was a sad and shocking story. : ae Mr. Dameron was worse that day, and t Kate had been so busy attending to his “wants and making him comfortable that she 2 had not stepped out of doors or even % | = Jooked across the creek, and consequently ‘knew nothing of the excitement over at Part of the evidence might not have been | | 4 ~ Whitewood. admissible in a court of law; but ina court of i | He was seated in his easy-chair, propped ') ss -~wp with pillows, and Kate was busy in an- 7 other part of the room, when the two men ** justice,” such as had been established there in Whitewood, it was all right and proper, | a Dick Herries was then permitted to state | whom Andrew Birkett had sent suddenly his side of the case. | _ «stamped into the room. ee ‘*You’re my pris’ner, pard,” said one of ! ! oa them, as he rudely grasped the sick man’s | Dameron was alive, though completely para- Co shoulder. ‘‘ You're arrested for the murder ; lyzed. , | —_.of Jim Boggs. We've got Dick Herries, the | The court was composed of Ben Ripley as ——— .6ther chap who was in the job, and you | judge, with six of the visitors to the mine as ¥ iy. smust go with us and stand your trial.” a jury—an arrangement which was appar- He told how he had been driven from Butte through the malice of Andrew Birkett, wa as that individual had afterward admitted to ae, him, and how he had been taken in by . | Stephen Boreman when he was perishing. | hen he went on to describe his unex- 2 pected arrival at the snow-buried cabin in er a