specting. The losers of the
gold went, immediately after breakfast, as they had been in the habit
of doing, to see if all was right at the coyote-hole. On this fatal day
they saw that the entrance had been disturbed, and going in, they found
upon the ground a money-belt which had apparently just been cut open.
Armed with this evidence of guilt, they confronted the suspected person
and sternly accused him of having the gold in his possession.
Singularly enough, he did not attempt a denial, but said that if they
would not bring him to a trial (which of course they promised) he would
give it up immediately. He then informed them that they would find it
beneath the blankets of his bunk, as those queer shelves on which
miners sleep, ranged one above another somewhat like the berths of a
ship, are generally called. There, sure enough, were six hundred
dollars of the missing money, and the unfortunate wretch declared that
his partner had taken the remainder to the States.

By this time the exciting news had spread all over the Bar. A meeting
of the miners was immediately convened, the unhappy man taken into
custody, a jury chosen, and a judge, lawyer, etc., appointed. Whether
the men who had just regained a portion of their missing property made
any objections to the proceedings which followed, I know not. If they
had done so, however, it would have made no difference, as the _people_
had taken the matter entirely out of their hands.

At one o'clock, so rapidly was the trial conducted, the judge charged
the jury, and gently insinuated that they could do no less than to
bring in with their verdict of guilty a sentence of _death!_ Perhaps
you know that when a trial is conducted without the majesty of the law,
the jury are compelled to decide not only upon the guilt of the
prisoner, but the mode of his punishment also. After a few minutes'
absence, the twelve men, who had consented to burden their souls with a
responsibility so fearful, returned, and the foreman handed to the
judge a paper, from which he read the will of the _people_, as follows:
That William Brown, convicted of stealing, etc., should, in _one hour_
from that time, be hung by the neck until he was dead.

By the persuasions of some men more mildly disposed, they granted him a
respite of _three hours_ to prepare for his sudden entrance into
eternity. He employed the time in writing, in his native language (he
is a Swede), to some friends in Stockholm. God help th