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VOL. XII.
NEW BLOOMFIELD, Fl., TXJESDA.Y, MA.Y 28, 1878.
NO. 22.
THE TIMES.
in Independent Family Newspaper,
18 PUBLISHED EVEKY TUESDAY BT
F. MORTIMER & CO.
0
IUB8CBIPTIOK V It I C K .
(WITHIN THE COUNTY.
One Year 2s
bix Months, 75
(OUT OF THE COUNTT.
one Year, (Potaze Included) (1 fO
lx Months, (Postage included) 86
Vor The Tihks.
Ah, well, If we never fell
From the goal toward which we've striven,
There would be no returning prodigal ,
Jlence would be less Joy In Heaven.
W. H. McCmntock.
LOCKIN' THE BARN.
"Jamie, where ha' ye been, my lad ?
There's tallow upon your sleeve,
An' your face Is jlet as red as your beard,
I verily do believe."
" I was out 1' the barn o-locklc' up, sir,
For to keep the thieves awa' ;
Ye'll mind as ye told me not to forget !
Jist a week agane to-da'."
"Jennie, where ha' ye been, my lass?
Your tresses are a' awree,
An' the red on your cheeks Is very red ,
An a sparkle Is In your eye."
" The win' was a-blowln' so dreary, sir,
That the candle-light was dim,
An', please, sir, I only went alang
Jist to hold it weel for him."
" Weel, many's the time I've lockt the barn,
An' I've still a clean coat sleeve,
An' Jennie held nlver a light for me,
I verily do believe.
There's somewhat comln,' God bless ye both,
If I know what I'm about
Take care that the dreary win' of lli'e
Blows nlver you candle out."
A Story of Circumstantial Evidence.
WE WERE sitting round our tent
one evening last year, at Wimble
ton, the "we" being our major, the
captain and sub of our company, his
covering sergeant, corporal Williams,
and a certain sapper, to wit, myself.
We were drinking pale ale and smoking,
as was every one else in the hundred
tents around us.
" Here's my last bull's eye," and the
sergeant produced from his cap-pouch a
flattened bullet, turned inside out as
neatly as possible.
" What'8 the cause of that, I won
cter," said the corporal.
" You see," said the captain being an
engineer he was bound to know "when
the point of the bullet strikes the target,
part of the lead is melted by the devel
opment of heat caused by the sudden
arrest of the bullet's motion, and goes
off in the splash, the rest of the bullet is
softened by the heat ; and inasmuch as
the parts must stop in their order of suc
cession, the edge of the cup of the bullet
is driven in level with the base of the
cup. Is that so, Major V"
" Yes, quite right; but, if you like, I
can spin you a yarn about these said
bullets, that may just last out these
weeds."
" Well, let's have it."
I had a sort of second cousin, Gerald
Ashton, who had been brought up with
myself and my sister, my father being
his guardian. We had all been like
brothers and sister, when one day he
woke up to find be could not live with
out a nearer relationship to her. He
ispoke to the old gentleman, aud there
was a little family fracas.
He had only a hundred a year, and
my father did not think that was
enough, though Gerald did; there was
no objection at all in other respects,
let blm arn some more and they would
see, wait a little you know the kind
of thing an old gentleman would say.
Well, It was of no use. He said he felt
himself a burden; there was no scope
for his energies, and be would go, and
tie did go. ''
I urged upon him that he should get
something to do. He bad been well ed
ucated, and a clerkship, or something of
that kind, could be got or him if he
Btill resolved not . to go pn at the ho.
pltal- - j v
No, he would go. There was only one
thing he did do well, that was shoot;
and he would carry his abilities to a
market where they would be apprecia
ted. And so, at the mature age of twenty-two,
he left us, his profession, his
home, and his prospects. He disappear
ed, and six months after we heard he
was with, say the 40th Dragoons, in In
dia. We wrote, and offered to buy his
discharge, but he would "have none of
ub." He liked it very well ; was already
corporal; expected the three stripes soon;
and was "Gentleman Jack" with his
comrades.
Borne six months after this I was sent
out to India with a company; and as
my sister was getting thin, and show
ing other signs of the desirability of a
sea-voyage, and of a warm climate, it
was agreed I should take her over. We
reached Calcutta, and in a few weeks
Bettled down. There was war going on
and I was placed in charge of one of the
chief depots for small arms and ammu
nition, besides having my regular duties
with the company. One day I was down
at the store, when my sister arrived, pale
and breathless.
" Look, Charles, poor Gerald's in
dreadful trouble,"
I put her in an office chair, and took
the newspaper, and read
" Yesterday evening as an ofilcer of
the 40th Dragoon Guards was returning
to camp he was shot at from behind a
clump of bushes ; the bullet struck him
in the thigh, and lodged in the saddle.
Although wounded so severely he had
sufficient presence of mind to ride
straight to the bushes, and there found
one of his own men, a corporal of the
troop, nicknamed . "Gentleman Jack"
by his comrades, whose rifle was still
smoking from the discharge. Fortunate
ly, at this moment the guard arrived,
and the man was at once arrested. A
court-martial will, of course, be held at
once, and, although the man has previ
ously borne a good character and is re
ported to be respectably connected, It Is
to be hoped he will receive the proper
reward for so abominable a crime."
"O," I said, " this is all nonsense.
Gerald's no murderer, or else he's very
much changed. I'll see what they say
at head-quarters."
" Do for God's sake, go. If anything
happened to Gerald I should never for
give myself, for if I had run away with
him when papa was so cruel, he never
would have enlisted at all."
" Don't talk nonsense, Meggle, but go
home, and I'll come home with the tele
graph news."
I went to head-quarters ; they gave
me permission to use the telegraph for a
question or two. The report was not
encouraging.
It was our Gerald, the officer had seen
the flash and heard the report, an ex
tremely loud report, as If there had been
two charges of powder In the carbine.
The bullet was found in the saddle,
and one cartridge was missing from his
twenty rounds. Court-martial had de
clared him guilty, and the general's con
firmation of the sentence had just ar
rived. Fifty lashes In the camp square,
and four years imprisonment in the civil
jail. Sentence to be carried out on the
12th. Everybody was sorry, but quite
convinced that he had tried to murder
his superior officer. No one could un
derstand with what motive.
I did not know what to think ; there
was more evidence forthcoming in a day
or two, when we had the papers.
His statement in defence was, that he
had just been returning from guard,
when he remembered that he had forgot
ten to bring in a book one of the officers
had asked him to bring in from the
town, some three miles distant. With
out stopping to think he walked off at
once, got the book, and was within half
a mile of the camp when he fancied he
saw a tiger. He got behind the bushes
to watch, and saw one making for the
distant camp. Anxious to secure the
prize, he incautiously broke open one of
his packages and loaded, to have a shot
at it. He had covered the beast, and
was firing at the tiger, when he heard
another report simultaneously with that
of his carbine. He saw the tiger roll
right over as If shot, and then bound
way. In another Instant the officer
came round the copse bleeding, and or
dered him into arrest. He was quite
Bure that he had bit the tiger, and equal
ly sure thdl another rifle was fired at
the same moment that he pulled the
trigger. Of course such a lame state
ment had no efTeet, and he was sen
tenced. I could not help thinking that there
was a flaw in the evidence. How was
it if there was, as agreed, a loud report,
which meant a full charge of powder
that the bullet stopped at the saddle
Instead of going through both saddle
and horse. That was a great discrepan
cy, a full charge would have made a
loud report, and sent it right through
anything at a distance of 200 yards. I
felt there was something wrong, nnd
made up my mind to go on the spot. I
had but six days to go in, but much
might be done. Margaret Insisted on
going with me in spite of all I could do
to keep her away.
" Have I not done all you wished me
to do since I have been out here V Do,
for Heaven's sake, let me have my way
in this."
So we went up the country in post
haste. I was, of course, as one of the
staff, admitted to see Gerald, whom I
found terribly cut up.
" I don't mind the imprisonment; it's
the disgrace I the lashes 1 I shall kill
myself directly I get loose after it, I
know I shall."
" No, no," said Meggle ; "don't for
my sake. O Gerald! if you knew how
I have suffered for weeks past, you
would live for my sake. I do not
care about the brand or the lashes. I
know you are Innocent, and that there
has been some horrible blunder commit
ted in this matter. O, Willie, dear, do
think of something to save him."
" O, do, there's a good fellow ! get me
some stuff that will make an end of
me."
" Don't talk like 'that, Gerald ; there's
some infernal mistake In it. Don't
despair yet. Let's go over the ground
again step by step," and I made him
tell me the whole story over again.
" It seems to me, Gerald, we want not
a few things to show you are not guilty.
We want the tiger you shot at, and that
we shan't get; and we want the clue to
the mystery of the other rifle."
"O.I've thought of It all till I'm
sick. I don't care what happens now.
I'll wait till the day before It's to come
off, and then break my head against the
walls."
" Don't be a fool, Gerald ! I'm sure
you are innocent. So Is Margaret."
"Yes; so are a hundred others; but
it's all no use. In three days I am dis
graced for life, if I live."
" Well, I must leave you now, and see
what I can do."
" Let me have five minutes with Meg
gle, will you V"
I left them alone for some ten minutes
and then told Meggie she must go home
with me. I was beaten ; I could not see
how I could get any fresh evidence, and
without that a reprieve a postpone
mentwas impossible. I went to the
wounded officer, the captain of his own
company, and got him to tell his own
story ; It was the same thing over again
always the exceedingly loud report,
and the fouled and still smoking carbine.
" I would," said the captain, "have
given the price of my commission rath
er than have had it happen. He's as
fine a fellow as ever sat a horse, brave,
kind, and as thorough a gentleman as
the colonel himself; I always made him
my orderly when I could so as to have
company. I declare to you that I did
my best at the court-martial for him,
and got into disgrace with the general
presiding for 'coloring my statements'
that was his expression so as to favor
the prisoner. I almost snivelled when
I heard the sentence, as if he had been
my own brother. The men are mad
about it; there has not been a lash or
public punishment of any kind in the
regiment for the last twenty-flve years."
I hardly knew how to pass the time ;
I tried to think, but my ideas only trav
eled In the same old grooves again. I
invited the assistant-surgeon to come up
to my quarters, and introduced him to
my sister. He was quite a young fellow
and seemed quite flattered by my simple
attention, for in the army they have not
quite made up their minds w hether a
medical officer should be treated as a
gentleman ; but the strangest thing I
ever saw in my life was my sister's con
duct. Of course,' speaking to you fel
lows I shan't .be' misunderstood, and
some of you have seen her. She laid
herself out to please him to an extent I
never should have thought my dear
grave Meggle capable of ; sang to him,
played to him, and made eyes at htm till
I thought her brain was turned. She
said she should so like to see his quar
ters, asked him to ask us to lunch, and
shut me up like a rat trap, when I ven
tured to hint that It might not be con
venient. Well, he went away at last as mad as
she. I spoke to her after he was gone,
and she fell into my arms, sobbing as if
her heart was breaking, and then, with
out a word of explanation, ran out of
the room. Next day we went to his
quarters, and nothing would satisfy her
but that he should mix up some medi
cine for her out of the bottles of his lit
tle traveling case. There Bhe was,
handling and sniffing, and tasting ev
erything, like a child of ten rather than
a girl of eighteen. She sent him about
the room ; made hint bring books from
the opposite side of it so that she might
read about the properties of the drugs,
aud, in short, behaved so like a lunatic
that I thought the trouble about Gerald
must have affected her mind, I got her
away at last, nnd intended to insist on
her remaining in the house and putting
some ice to her head. It was quite un
necessary ; the minute we left the sur
gery she was calm and silent &b a man.
Well, the days passed in some sort of
dreary fashion till the evening of the
11th. I had been asked during the day
to go down with the officers to see some
rifle practice, at some temporary marks,
and I went down. It was rather late
when I rode up to the firing point and
they were just leaving off; and one of
them came up and said,
" I say, captain, tell us the cause of
these new bullets turning inside outV"
and he handed me a bullet reversed ; just
such another as Williams has In his
hand.
I took it, just to explain the matter to
him, when a thought struck through
my mind like a flash of lightning.
" Saved 1" I exclaimed. " Who's got
that bullet out of the saddle V"
" What bullet V"
" Gerald's, my cousin's."
"Oh I Gentleman Jack's affair. The
doctor's got it."
" Where is he?"
" Don't know quarters I think."
" No, he's come into town ; I saw
him on the road as we came by."
I sped on into the town, leaving them
to think what they pleased ; and spent
more than two hours finding the doctor.
At last I caught him. In another min
ute we were riding full gallop to his
quarters. He bad the bullet a little
bruised and singularly flattened, and
blunted at the point it must have been
just spent when it struck. I then went
to the sergeant who had charge of the
nineteen rounds of ammunition that
was found in Gerald's pouch. About
midnight I contrived to find him, and
after some little delay I got possession
of them. I then returned to the doctor,
and we compared the nineteen bullets
with the one found in the saddle. I then
ran to the telegraph clerk, roused him
out of bed, and told him to telegraph to
the head-quarters in Calcutta, to my
lieutenant in charge of the magazine.
After an hour's waltlng,and ringing aU
the bell, an answer came that the night
watchman would fetch the lieutenant. I
then sent message No. 1.
" Examine the books, and see the date
on which the last ammunition was sent
for the use of the 40th Dragoons ; find
the same parcel r and carefully remove
one cartridge from each of twenty pack
ets, selected at random ; take out bullets
and remove plugs ; and send No. in base
of cup bullets.
The answer came back that he under
stood, and would rouse up the people to
do it. After an hour and a half, the an
swer came back
"All the bullets are numbered 5, with
a dot on the right."
I then sent message No. 2
" Examine what cartridges bear the
No. 2 with a dot on the left, and report
to whom issued, and when report
quickly a man's life depends on speed. "
Again I waited another hour. No an
swer came. It was getting late half
past two ; at four the parade would take
place. I urged more speed. The reply
came : " We have ten men at work
breaking barrels, and searching. No
No. yet found." ' '
' At last it came "One barrel No. 2 in
I store ; the rest of the same shipment
was damaged and useless, and sold In
bulk to native dealers for value as old
metal at one of the clearance sales some
time ago."
I had learned all I could. I spurred
back to camp with the bullets, from
which I had never parted, In the pouch.
I shall never forget the scene. In the
middle of the camp the men were drawn
up in three sides of a square ; in the '
centre of the square were the triangles,
with Gerald lashed to them. I saw them
as I came down the hill take off his
Jacket and lash his wrists. I sped on.
I could see the old colonel, with the pa
per in his hand, standing alone, and
then I saw nothing more, for a dip in
the road concealed them ; as I rose again
to the crest at less than a quarter of a
mile, I saw a woman rush in from be
tween the rauks towards the triangles,
holding something in her hand. I dart
ed on, and rushed into the square, but
just in time to seize the furrier's arm as
the lash was descending, aud to see that
the woman was my sister, and that she
was being led away between two ser
geants. " Stop, colonel, for the love of God 1"
I cried, with my hand still grasping the
farrier's arm ; I have evidence to prove
the man not guilty."
I then showed the colonel the. bullet
that had come from the saddle and the
others from the pouch, and pointed out
to him that while one was marked No.
2, the others were all marked No. 5, with
a dot. I assured him, on my honor as
an ofilcer and a gentleman, that It was
almost Impossible that a No. 2 bullet
could by any chance get into a packet of
No. 6 bullets. He was only too glad to
to hear me, and agreed to postpone the
execution of the sentence till further
orders from the general of his division.
I've heard some shouts, and I've seen
some displays of enthusiasm in my
time, but I never shall forget the shouts
that rose the minute that the colonel
had pronounced that the execution of
the sentence on Corporal Ashton would
be postponed until further orders."
The men had been standing at "atten
tion," many of them with the tears roll
ing down their cheeks, but when they
heard "postpone," they broke ranks,
rushed up to the triangles, cut the lash
ings, broke the cat, screamed, shouted,
and danced like madmen.
" Three cheers for 'Gentleman Jack'
and his wife ! Again I again, boys I",
Officers and all joined in for a few
minutes. There stood the old gray
headed colonel in the midst of a scene
that out-bedlamed Bedlam.
As for me I was like a man in a dream;
I felt a hundred hands grasping mine.
I had my sister sobbing in my arms,and
then I heard the colonel say to the bu
gler, " Sound the assembly." What a
change I in less than a minute I stood
by the fallen triangles In the center of
three lines of living statues. Not a
sound ; not a movement.
" Major Jackson, reform your column
and break off the men," said the colonel;
and then walked away with myself and
my sister."
" But what did your sister do there ?"
" Well, she had promised Gerald that
he should not suffer the disgrace of the
lash ; and had, during the hour I thought
she was fooling with the doctor, man
aged to get hold of his bottle of prussic
acid, and had rushed out with half
of it for him and half for herself; and
her appearance had so thoroughly sur
prised every one that she had reached
the triangles, and almost raised it to his
lips, when the doctor recognizing bis
own blue bottle, struck her hand a vio
lent blow and dashed it on the ground,
besides disabling her from getting her
own share.
"And how did the affuir end t was the
general of the division satisfied V"
I don't think he would have been
with that evidence alone.and so we went
about to hunt for more. I begged, that
as we had found so much, Gerald might
be permitted to accompany a party of
search, under a guard, to find the miss
ing tiger.
We went there, Meggle insisted ' on
joining us. All the officers off duty
went, and about half the men. Gerald
then pointed out the spot where be had
stood, and where he bad shot the' tiger ;
and from that point we started, crossing
and recrossing, till there could not have
been anything as large as a half-crown
that could be. hidden. Meggle and I were