Ludlow then handed Sheriff Benson an official communication paroling Cutler in his own recognizances pending investigation of Miss Thurloe’s story. Western men are nothing if not intensely chivalrous, and, if this girl’s story was correct, Cutler, in their estimation, deserved, not death, but a medal.
The amazed sheriff scratched his head and Cutler seemed undecided, but Ludlow grasped his hand eagerly. “Come on, old fellow, down to the sea-level,” he cried. This broke the tension, and all three men smiled.
“There is nothing for me to do but obey this, Cutler,” said the sheriff, slowly; “but I’ll tell you straight I don’t feel like doing it.”
Ludlow turned to Benson and informed him that Judge Nolan had made him a Court officer, the tenure of his office being thirty days, and that he would brook no interference from Benson or anyone else. That settled it. The trio walked down the path, where Miss Thurloe, with tears in her eyes, thanked Cutler for his brave and manly action on her behalf. She said that she had reason to believe he would be acquitted, and that, as no warrant had been issued for his arrest until after he had shot the men who had attempted to stop him, it must be a case of self-defence.
Cutler was received with cheers by the crowd in camp—the same men who were thirsting for his blood an hour before—and soon everybody was seeking the nearest way home, and the scene of action was shortly deserted. It is not possible to chronicle that Jim Cutler was triumphantly acquitted at his trial. His character went strongly against him—that is to say, the fact that he had previously figured in “shooting scrapes”—but, nevertheless, his sentence was a comparatively light one. The State’s attorney (analogous to counsel for the Crown) laid great stress on the fact of Cutler’s having visited Goldman’s shop, obviously seeking trouble, when he should have reported the attempt on his life to the authorities. He was sentenced to five years in the State prison, but was pardoned at the expiration of eleven months. He is now living in Butte, the capital of the State of Montana, where he has opened a saloon. Miss Thurloe left Three Corners, and is believed to be teaching in Pittsburg, U.S.A.
The local newspapers poked much fun at the soldiers who took their cannon miles out to bombard what they jocularly called “a one-man army”; but all the same they meant business, and had matters not ended as they did there would have been a change in the landscape just there, for the top of Table Hill would in all probability have been blown to pieces, and Jim Cutler with it.
Photographing a Volcano in Eruption.
By Frank Davey.
A vivid description of a photographer’s adventures in securing pictures of the eruption of Makuaweoweo, in Hawaii. With pen and camera Mr. Davey depicts the awe inspiring grandeur of the lake of fire in the crater of Mauna Loa, the pyrotechnic display afforded by the active cone on the mountain-side, and the horrors of night amid the lava-wastes, where death menaced the party on every hand.