r, in a secret
society, to rid the community of vile men, who rob, steal, and commit
murder, just as easy as lying, and all for a few dollars. I say it
seems awful to hear of their sentencing individuals to be hung by the
neck to the telegraph-poles, often with only a single hour's notice,
without a trial by jury. But it is done in new towns such as Julesburg
was, where people would not be safe without some such action.
California began it, and other places found it necessary.

At Cheyenne, when it was full of these horse-thieves and gamblers, I
was called upon to bury "a gentleman" (as he was called), who had died
suddenly, they said, at the "Beauvais House." I went down from the fort
in February, and as the day was pleasant, crowds of young men were
gathered in front of the house, and the street was full of carriages.
It seems the dead man was the proprietor of the hotel, and it did not
bear a very good reputation. Harris had formerly a partner named
Martin, with whom he had a quarrel one evening, and Harris ordered his
former partner to leave,--shutting the door upon him. Then Martin
turned and shot three balls through the panel of the door, one of which
hit Harris, and of which he died in about twelve hours. This produced a
great excitement, and called out the crowd at the funeral. The person
in charge asked me to step out on the balcony and address the people in
the street. But I declined, and said I would speak to the young men, as
I felt it my duty to do, in the parlor and hall. I remarked to them
"that the deceased was past our praise or blame. But it was my duty to
warn them at this time, when no man's life was safe, to think of the
shortness and uncertainty of human life! Here, away from good examples
you once had at home, you are in much danger. You and I think that we
will die on a sick-bed, with dear friends around us; but you nor I will
die just when or where we expect to. Some of you _have learned to say
your prayers at your mother's knee_, but you forget, or are ashamed to
do so now. Oh, be warned, my friends, to seek Christ and his favor, and
He will take care of you, etc."

I could see many faces intent on what I had to say, and among them was
a little dwarf belonging to the house, as an errand-boy. He covered up
his face with his hands, sitting upon a low stool, and perhaps his mind
wandered back to the humble cottage where he was born, and a mother's
smile was his best beacon of goodness: he had not