H
11100111
VOL IV.
LINCOLNTON, N. C, FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1890.
NO. 2
A Legal Fee.
"I have stolen a coat aaid a man
to a lawyer, "and 1 want you to do
Und rue. Think you can prove me
innocent ?"'
"Ob ! yes, we can prove that you
were a h nuked miles away when
the coat was stolen, aud that the
pro&tcution is malicious.''
"How much will you charge 1,J
"What feort of a coat is it f"
"First rate never been worn."
"Well, I won't charge you any
thing juHt give me the coat."
jLondon Tut Biti.
--. .
DlHOouruxtiiic.
"Pretty tad soil for a garden,
isn't it V said the potato vine.
'I should think it was," said the
ODion, "I'm losing strength every
day, and I never had much to be
gin with. I d-ui't get along worth a
scent."
"1 can't get ahead here," said the
cabbage. "I'm goiug to leave.''
"I know I can't get 'Jong at all,"
said tbe cucnmlier.
"-Nor I," cried the asparagus. "I
don't get 'long or tall."
"This place isn't fit for a berry
ing ground,' said the strawberry;
"but here comes the sun to dry up,
all of you-" LktroiC Free Press.
-
JLove Laugh at Party Llues.
The future husband of Miss Win
nit Davis ia state's rights Democrat.
Keally it makes very little difference -
what bis politic may be so long as
he is h gentleman and loves "the
fair daughter of the confederacy.''
Jefferson Davis was an ardent Dem
ocrat, aud ran away with the daugh
ter of old Zaobary Taylor, the great
Whig soldier. Love laughs at pol
itics. Augusta Chronicle.
3a"by O arriajges J
JESatoy Carriages!
S3 ITo-v SJtlyes.
I made the largest purchase in Baby Carriages this season 1 ever be
fore made at any one time. I did it because I could buy them at so
much less price from tbe maker. I buy from the maker only. I am sel
ling Carriages from 10 to 20 per cent cheaper than I sold the same Oars
riages for last season. Prices tell. I can sell you a large Rattan body
Carriage with wire wheels and upholstered seat at $7.50. I have them
at 810.00, S15.00, $25.00 aud $30.00. No child should be allowed to walk
when you can buy one at such a price. I get up a complete liue of pho
tos that I will be glad to send to any one, with very lowest prices.
. M. ANDREWS, Piano, Organ and Furniture Dealer, Charlotte, N. C.
D. W. ROBINSON,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
Lmcolnton, N. C.
Practices in this and surround
ing counties.
AUo in State and Federal
Courts.
r5""Xext door to the Racket.
Oc 4t , 1SS9. ly.
L-1, WITHERSPOON.
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
NEWTON, N. C.
Pi&cjicts in the Courts of Cataw
ba, Lincoln, aud adjoining conuties.
A on to Loan on unproved farm?
in Catawba and Lincoln counties ir
sums of $300 and upwards, on Ion
time aud easy terms. Will meet
clients at the Alexauder House, in
Lincoiuton, on second and fourt
Moudays iu ea'h month.
Aug. 2, IKS' I. tf.
K
HACIHE.WIS.
Log.LumberYard & GitV Trucks
i " KTpgr brake;
Proud ot the Jtelalinnatilp.
"Oh, Mr. Duseuberry," cr'ed her
little brother "I'm so glad you are
goiug to be kin to me."
"Ah, Johnny, is that so!" be
gasped, a look of happiness flitting
over his face. "How did yoa know ?
Come hern and sit on my lap and
tell me all you have heard.''
"Sister's other feller came here
last night," began the boy, after he
was safely in the arms of the young
man. devouring a quarter's worth
of candy, "and I heard them talk
ing 'bout you.?'
"What dirt they eay V
"He was mad,'' replied the terror,
"cause sis goes with you so much "
"And what was her reply to him!"
continued the young man, the look
of happiness spreading farther
across his features.
"She said," began the youth
again, "that he needu't get mad
'cause you come to see her, as you
was a soft snap and saving him lots
of money that would go to fixin' up
their boose after they were mar
ried.'
The look of contempt on the
young man's face gave way to the
pallor of despair as he gasped:
"Well, how is that going to make
me kin to you ''
"Oh, went oc the boy, "I'm com
iu' to that now. She aaid that when
you proposed to her ehe would be a
sister to you, aud won t that make
you my brother f '
As the child p;cked himself off
the floor ho beheld the form of the
young mau Hit through the front
d oor , At I a n ta Constitution .
Piedmont
Seminary,
MALE AND FEMALE.
LINCOLNTON, N. C-
An English, Classical, Mathematical
aud Commercial School.
It is thorough and practical in its
work and methods. It does not
assume to itself tbe claims of a Col
lege, but is thoronghly Academic.
Location healthy, and of easy access
by railroad. Penmanship and Busi
mess Department in charge of Prof.
G. P. Jones. Spring Term of 1890
begins the bth of January.
Lj For Circulars, (c, send to
I). MA 'Vt. THOMPSON,
Principal, Lincolnton, N. C.
Jan. 3, 1890.
"'" T Lapies Chaise.
r f N I
oaMBrauiUBiscmi
FISH BR5S YfAGSH GS
RACINE,WIS.
From New York Ledger.
JJJ.JL ULVLjIYU kjLaJ LvLj J.
T VADSLEiNE VIXTON' DAHLGREX.
Alan Alexander and I were fast
friends.
I am a New Yoik man, born and
bred iu that worhi'a commercial
metropolis ; but Alan was a Ken
tuckian, sent as a student to Col una
b!a University.
We were chums and inseparable.
I knew ttiat he was the only son of
a widow, and that he had a .sis
cer whom he had enthusiastically
assured me "was a mighty fine
growth ot the blue grass region.''
I had also heard him say that he
had inherited "hundreds of broad
acres and a stock farm such as only
old Kentuck could boast of."
Yet these were merely incidental
remarks of his, scarcely noted at
the time he made them, but rather
recalled by me during the terrible
strain of later yean, when every&
thing connected with this man,
whom 1 had held near and dear as
a brother, became ot awful import
to me ; when each tone, look and
word of his tortured me by day and
haunted me by night.
Aud I, too, had secured a close
grip on Alan's big and true heart.
Cursed be the siu-couceived hem
that tore us thus rudely apart. Yet
must I lovingly linger , for some
brief space, as a fond woman might
in fancy, over those pleasant honrs
of comradeship we spent together.
Alan was a typical son of the
South ; so brave, that he never
knew what fear meant ; so on the
aieit to resent an affront, that he
stood ready charged like an elec
tric battery, to knock down what- ,
ever touched him the wrong way.
Quick of wit, quick of temper and
full of fire, yet withal as endearing
as be was aggressive.
I was, in a measure, his opposite;
and out of this unceasing novelty
of contrast grew tbe charm of our
intercourse.
My nature is rather phlegmatic,
and usually I hold my temper well
under control; but I have deep pas
sions when fully aroused, and wield
a powerful arm, with bunches of
knotted muscles standing out like
whipcords, with a strength that had
heen fully trained by an expert, so
as to enable me to strike a well
directed, stunning blow.
Why was not this death-dealing
arm withered to its socket at my
birth, rather thau bave been the
instrumeut of such prolonged tor
ture in after life 1 But what man,
through all his days, stands ex
empt from sin-fraught moments,
when from out tbe seething abyss
of the senses there suddenly flashes
forth an unchained fury ? j
If such passionless mau there be, !
let him alone condemn me.
I hate to tell the story. I loate
to think of that tempestuous hour;
and yet, perchance, some youug
fellow, as light of heart as we were,
may, iu tbe coming, be the wiser.
I am a mau of means, aud that
disastrous day I had unexpectedly
received a very large sum of money;
so, of course, I must needs have
Alau come with me to my rooms
and make merry over my good for
tune with a popping of champagne
coiks. The too heady wine did its
mischievous work, and at the eud
of oue fatal hour we two were in
violent quarrel.
There was oue unfortunate sub
ject upon which we bitterly differed,
about which we had hitherto tacitly
agreed to disagree.
But uow iu the excitement of our
partial inebiiatiou, our amicable
understanding was forgotten aud
the demon of discord took posses
sion of us.
We were of the North and the
Sontb, and it was a score of years
ago when our dispute would nat
urally evoke the lurking diaboliah
of fraternal hatred.
Alan could be cynical and cntting
upon provocation, and he had a
way, when displeased, peculiar to
himself, of closely compressing his
lips with a sneering expression that
was perfectly exasperating. And
Uow, tbe danger signal of his firm
set underjaw betokened mischief
89 he biased forth the old taunts.
My angry retort infuriated him
the more, and, with maddened im
pulse and rapid movement, he
thrust his hand into his hip pocket,
from which he drew a long-pointed
jack-kuife, which, with a sudden
lunge, grazed my side. In part
sobered up by my narrow escape,
but totally enraged, I sprang upon
him with furious force, as he stood
half dazed at his own wild act, and,
hitting right out, I knocked him
down. He struck the floor heavily
heavily, falling backward, stunned
aud senseless.
The effort and its frightful result
instantly restored my scattered
senses. I stood appalled before the
wreck my violence had made. The
blood oozed slowly from a small
darkiuh cnt back of the ear, theu
turned into a black coaguluui.
"My God !" I horaely murmured,
"I bave killed him," and as the hor
rid thought forced itself upon me,
my bead seemed to grow of an im
mense size, as if about to burst. I
felt dizzy, as one might feel who
unexpectedly stands on the verge
of a tremendous precipice.
A confusion of blurring motes
swam before my burning eyes, and
a sickening nausea overcame me.
Sinking on my knees beside his
inanimate body, I feebly stretched
forth my now trembling hands,
seeking to support the prostrate
form In vain ; I could not. An
oppressive incubus, a paralyzed
sense of weight grew upon me as
an invincible barrier arose between
us. I dared not touch so much as a
bair of his head.
What ! I, his murderer, defile that
rigid form 1 flow passing fair to
look upon he was in death! How
I yearned, with tenfold of the old
friendliness, to clasp him to my
wildly pulsing heart.
"Oh, Alan," I groaned, "how
cruel not to have killed me oat
right, and thus have spared me the
commission of this hideous crime!"
What a hollow, mocking sound
my voice had ! How sepulchral !
What right had 1 to breathe, any.
how, having robbed my twin soul
ot the breath of life ?
With the msane inconsequence of
vehement giief, I bared my offend'
ing right arm and held it upward,
tracing with compressiug finger the
swollen course of its rigid muscles
that had once beeu a source ot
manly pride.
But now, euadderingly and with
derisive imprecations, I beheld, in
all its brawny length, the semblance
of a brute force to which the supes
rior part of nay being must heuce
forth forever submit. .
Worse than Mazeppa'a riven tor
ture was to be my torment, for in
the doom of this etreual conflict
I was adjudged to rend myself
asunder.
"Oue hour ago, one brief hour,
aud wealth, honor, the esteem of
men, the regard of women, friend
ship, yes," I moaned, "even his
friendship were all mine to cherish-''
But now what was I ? An out
cast, a hunted criminal a some
thing cursed of God. I was polluted
with murder. The agony of hell
was mwronght into this one word
of awful meaning. Each separate
letter was branded through and
through my quivering soul with a
deep, fierce horning. Thus was I
tossed to and fro in the seething
vortex of unavailing remorse.
All this while it might have been
au eternity, for how can time meas
ure the transports of despair my
dead lay extended before me, a
rigid corpse.
Then there crept over me a be
numing change, as if of the slimy
coldness of some venomous serpent
trailing ovei me its poisonous length
and under its depressing influence
a chill fear overcame me. A shrink
ing dread of the felon's fate uu
nerved me, as my imagination was
confronted with the horror of filling
a murderer's grave, and my hitherto
unsullied name basely defiled. But
an instinct of self-preservation
dragged me out of the abasement
of tbis despondency, and yielding
to this urgent cry of nature, I arose,
turned away from the gruesome
dead, and heartily prepared myself
for flight, thrusting away over my
burning breast the ratal pacage of
moue.y now needed for my wander
ing existence.
Thus I fled forth from those once
cheery rooms now tilled with des
olation, into the outer darkness, au
abject, hunted outcast.
I dared not attempt to cros3 the
ocean in one of tbe mail steamers,
but took a haphazard passage that
very night in a merchant vessel
just leaving the docks.'
Week after week we tossed hither
and thither, one day resting be
calmed, another spurred ouward by
favoring winds, but in sunshine or
storm it was all the same to me.
The tragedy of my life had set
me afloat upon a never-ending, aim.
leas drifting.
Thus I circled the globe from
clime to clime, from continent to
continent, and yet tindiug no oasis
of rest for my weary feet.
And in this dreary circling of the
world, I shunned manking, courting,
yet dreading solitude.
Thus five years had spent their
course iu these restless chauges,
wherein succeeding days and re
volving months were alike unnoted.
I called myself Dr. Tristam whem
ever a name was needed, yet might
have forgotten the uses of language
iu tbe vast desert of loneliness I
traversed.
Wherever I went, I was indiffer
ent to danger, but I seemed to bear
a charmed life: Amid the malarial
swamps of the tropics, the parched
simoom of Syria's sandy plains, rr
the freezing blasts of the North
Pole, the pangs of remorse that 1
endured made all climatic change
alike indifferent. Did I look back
upon the past ? I dared not.
At last, with lapse of time, oame
now and then, at rare intervals, a
sort of temporary effacement of tbis
woe ; and in these periods of bless
ed relief, as one in tbe lull of a great
pain, an interest in things around
me reawakened. I was blessed
with one of these alleviating rest
pites, when I found myself iu that
charming, pleasure-seeking resort,
Baden-Baden.
Hitherto I had avoided, as far as
possible, every place where Ameri
cans congregate, but now, yielding
to an ardent, desire to once moie
meet ray compatriots, I remained
iu this beautiful spot. Never since
my calamity had its garden-encircled
villa9 been so attractive to me.
Oue day as I was listlessly prom
enading iu a garden of the Trink
halle, my attention was vividly ar
rested by a voice.
'Uncle,' said a lovely woman, Mhis
is indeed a most charming place ;
yet I shall be glad to leave it, aud
get back to dear old Kentuck.'
'Old Kentuck !' Oh God of Heav
en ( what a thrill in those two fa
miliar words, and iu the very tone
of that voice !
Had the dead re-embodied, aud
Alan spoken?
Involnntarily I started forward,
and as I did so, the movement at
tracted tbe notice of the fair girl,
and our eyes met.
They were Alan's eves ! Over
come by emotion, I hastened away,
seeking refuge midst ihe somber
shadows ot the near ranges of the
Black Forest, whose darksome pines
weae iu nniscn with the gloom of
my sad destiny. There I wrestled
with my remorseless fate in mortal
anguish. Such was the distress
caused by our first meeting.
Yet the recounter rekindled in my
suffering heart an irresistible desiie
for human sympathy.
Had hope, pboeQix-lik1, arisen
from the ashes of the past ?
Whence came this sacred, new
and strong emotion f This longing
to bear again the semblance of that
voice hushed by my brutal blow to
accents of earth ; thin yearning to
look again into eyes that I had cru
elly closed to scenes of earth.
These fancies became for me irre
pressible. At last I yielded to an
uncontrollable fascination- I forgot
myself and dut on the outer man
ner of the mau I once bad been.
I introduced myself as Dr. Tris
tam to Colonel Preston, the uncle of
the woman I sought to know, aud
with that cordial, social intercourse
that often exists among Americans
travelling abroad, I ingratiated my.
self so fully in his good graces, as
to secure me the coveted introduc
tion to hia niece, Annette Preston.
The .swirl of the uuboped-for
happiuess must, quite have upset
my reason, for never was man so
madly in love as 1 became with that
dear, inuooeut girl, whose every
trick of tone, look and manner gave
me back my Alan.
A thousand aud a thousand times
I would have shouted iu her ear,
'Ahm ' Yet, in her sweet presence,
I would not have my dead quickeu.
For here was Alan, ineffably more
refined, more interesting, and oh I
how. Immeasurably more beloved.
At times, I had wild moments
when left to myself, when I ques
tioned the ancient ones of mystic
faith ; and in my mighty yearning
that Alan might in Home form re
suscitate, I was fain to believe in a
transmigration of souls.
Had some pitying angel accepted
my long suffering iu atouement of
an unpremeditated and momentary
sin by materializing my lost friend 1
God grant, yet God forbid,
groaned I. This is a woman'd pure
spirit 1 adore.
But in my wildest moments ot ex
altation, the double happiness of
friend restored and love reciprocat
ed never occurred to me.
Nor was I exempt from moods of
bitterness when I reproached Alan
with a sort of hatred ; he, whose
rash act. had involved me in so much
misery.
Waa not his lunge murderous
aud made at me first V I asked my
self. 'Would not any tribuual of
justice exonerate au act of selr-des
fense
When one sit as judge and jury
upon one's self, the circle of specious
sophistry is soon completed.
So one bright morning, having
argued myself iuto a qumsi state of
assumed innoceuce, I sought An
nette Preston, and told her of my
love, of that one only ail. absorbing
emotion that had taken possession
of me.
Was it honorable when I knew
by tbe unexplained magnetism ot a
mntual affection that she was mine?
Yes, she was mine.
And now, iu that supreme mo
meat of con teased happiness, raine
the sharpest pang I had yet Lome,
for when I would have clasped this
sweet confiding being to my blight
ed heart; when I would have sealed
upon her dear lips the pacred be,
trothal kiss, looming up out of tbe
blacknens of the hi ieous past, my
dread secret once more confronted
me and t-tnoit as an adamantine
wall of separation.
With a despair past all conceiva
ble angnisb, I yielded to my inexor
able fatfl ; and out of my hbeer dea
peration came the strength for the
confession.
'Annette,' I said, I am a wretch
to have won your love- You may
never be mine. You alone have my
dread secret. 1 ain a murderer '
And at that moment of killing
pain, I wouid Lave tied fottb, as five
years before I had done, into the
outer daikneas of a pitiless wold.
Divivning my thought, with im
stant but gentle force, she detained
me, clasping my blood-stained
bands within tbe pure pressure of
her own, whimpering to me with
Alan's voice as she did so :
'Dear, my heart, tbis is not so.'
Oh ! sublime faith of woman 1 I
could but regard her with an im
ploring gaz, but 1 dared not take
advantage of that angelio confid
ence, for I knew myself to be guilty.
Tell me the story the exact, the
whole etory,' she pleaded, with gen
tle persistence.
Ob ! what a blessed relief to my
lonely heart was that enforced con
fessiou. For five terrible years had
this secret tortured me ; an ever
glutted vulture feeding pu my life
blood and never sated.
'Annette,' I said, 'thanks be to
God that you are merciful as good,
you shall not be deceived. I will
tell you all, and having made at least
this act of reparation, I can tbe bet
ter endure the misery of my fate.
Tbe future, iu the light of this hour,
can never be as blinding black as
has been the past.'
In the first place, Annette, my
name of Doctor Tristam is assumed
to hide my crime. My true name is
Marcus Westmore.'
She uttered a cry and sprang to
her feet ; theu, clasping her hand
closely together hs if seeking to con
trol herself, resumed her seat.
Ah,' said I hopelessly, I kuw it
must come to tbis. You have heard
of me as a murderer.'
No, no, no,' she vehemently e4
claimed, 'not so. Go on.'
I paused iu atouisbiuent. Her
eyes sparkled, her cheeki were
aglow, her lips parted as if she must
speak, but the whole expression was
one of unbounded, overwhelming
joy.
'Sweet angel !' I murmured, 4how
can 1 tell you tbat you are th coun
terpart of the friend whoe life I
took. Yea, you are his very other
self ; but, oh, how far transcend
ing '
What was my painsd amazttusut
to hear a rippling, joyful laugh as
her sole response.
'The shock has been too great;
it has crazed her,' I thought, with
anguifth, as 1 reproached mjssif
with the rash selfishness tbat had
added a new sorrow to my hsavj
load.
'Annette,' I continued, 4I must
go ou. I had a dear friendoh,
how dear ! Alau Alexander.'
At the mention of tbis us me she
ciapped her bauds, laughed aud
cried.
'Crazed! crazed !' thought I; 'and
my monstrous act the cause.'
'Goon,' she cried. Be quick;
tell all."
Annette,' I answered, 'my poor
dear, tbe story ia soon told. Alan
was invited to my rooms to make
merry with me over some tnouey
gains. We drank too freely. We
foolishly quarreled He first made
a ludge at me, hen Annette, how
can I tell you all I struck him a
blow that killed hi-i. Need I ny
it 1 Since then I am a wanderer.'
'And is that all ' iie exclaimed.
'The Lord be praignl, doar Maics.'
I was speechless wi.Ij the horror
of this. This unseemly j . v was, iu
deed, the very perfection of madness.
'Dear Marcus,' she repeated ajrain,
takiug my hauil. 'Hehippy. I havi
thought from the first, it must be
you, so minutely had Alan des -ribi
ed you, but the name puzzldd me.
Be at easa, for Alan whs only
stunned, not muideied. He still
lives to innutii your Ioms, never
ceasing to reproach himself tor that
thrust.
'lie is uiy in v mother' sou and
we both love you, Marcue.'
And now rauif my turn to be
crazed, as utfeiiug a great cry of
raptnrous joy, I pressed her to my"
blissful heart, with exclamationsof :
'Saved I Saved ! Glory be to tbe
good Gol ! Saved1 through you, wj
love, my life. uy wife !'
Tluipplerew.
Looking in the familiar face of
one's watch, it seems strsnge that
the almost universal pocket com
panion of our dav should have been
unknown at the time of tbe Pkefor
raation. The most aucietit extaut
specimen of the article was "built"
iu 1541. It is now in the posses
sion of an English baronet It is a
clumsy concern, about the size of a
dessert plate.
Clocks came in about tbe middle
of the thirteenth century, and took
the place of the simple instruments
tbat measured time by the runuing
ot sand and the trickling of water.
Before these, tbe bourn were marked
on bright day, by the shadows
cast by the sun, and guessed at by
night and when the sun was ob-
scured by clouds. At what a rate
the mechanic arts have progressed
siuce Demostheues teqnested that
the clepsydra (or water-drippicg
time measurer) might be stopped,
iu order that be mightcontinue bia
oration ! For be it remarked that
the prudent Greeks timed their ora
torn, thereby escaping the modern
bore of being talked at bv speechi
fiers who match their tongue3
against old Cbronoe.
Five hundred year btc& the old
scytbeman's strides were but im-.
perfectly noted. Now wi have an
agent that beats him in a fair race,
traversing distances in a few sec
oods which it takes bim hours to
plod over So we go. New York
Ledger.