THE KESULT 261 



attention. The thirteenth man was stone dead. 

 A terrific blow on the back of the head had 

 crushed his skull as if it had been an egg-shell, 

 and he must have died instantly. After looking 

 this poor fellow over to make sure that there was 

 no hope for him, we turned our attention to the 

 wounded. The barn had been turned into a 

 hospital, and in two hours we had a dozen sore 

 heads well cared for, and their owners com- 

 fortably placed for the night on soft hay covered 

 by blankets from the Inn. Mrs. French brought 

 tea and gruels for the thirsty, feverish fellows, 

 and we placed Otto and the big Irishman on 

 duty as nurses for the night. The coroner had 

 been summoned, and arrived as we finished our 

 work. He was an energetic official, and lost no 

 time in getting a jury of six to listen to the 

 statements w r hich the wounded men would give. 

 To their credit be it said that every one who gave 

 testimony at all, gave it to the effect that the 

 miners were crazy-drunk, that they stopped the 

 carriage, provoked the fight, and did their utmost 

 to disable or destroy the enemy. The coroner 

 would listen to no further testimony, but gave 

 the case to the jury. In five minutes their ver- 

 dict was returned, "justifiable and commendable 

 homicide by person unknown to the jury." 



The news of a fight and the death of a miner 

 had reached Gordonville, where it created intense 

 excitement. By the time the inquest was over 

 a crowd of at least fifty miners had collected 



