His old rubber boots wuz all wore offen him, his clothes hangin' in rags
and tatters where he had rushed through the woods and swamps, his feet
and hands all froze. Half starved, and almost idiotic with fear and
remorse and the effects of the poisoned licker and doctored cider he had
drinked, he wuz the most pitiful and wretched-lookin' object I ever see
in my hull life.

And it happened he wux took a little over a mile from us, and he wuz
brung right by our door.

There wuz some officers in the party, so they interfered and kep the mob
from hangin' him right up by the neck.

They said they had to hold that saloon-keeper to keep his hands offen
him, and they said that in spite of all he did git the rope round him.

But the officers interfered, and after that they had to hold the
saloon-keeper to keep him from the prisoner.

And I sez, when Josiah was a-praisin' up the saloon-keeper's zeal, and
how the officers had to hold him--

I sez, "It is a pity the officers didn't hold him in the first place,
and then all the horrer and tragedy might have been saved."

But my pardner wouldn't even notice a thing I said. He felt, I could
see, that my remarks wuz indeed beneath his notice.

Wall, I stood and see this poor, weak, despairin' victim of rum dragged