The Vengeance of a Tree - Eleanor F Lewis
episode
Daily Short Stories - Ghost and Horror Stories
13 min
5 speakers
3 chapters
transcribed 2 months ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
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the setting sun streamed in yellow patches lighting up the glasses scattered on the tables and the faces of several men who were gathered near the bar farmers mostly they were with a sprinkling of shopkeepers while prominent among them was a village editor and all were discussing a startling piece of news that had spread through the town and its surroundings The tidings that Walter Stedman, a laborer on Albert Kelsey's ranch, had assaulted and murdered his employer's daughter had reached them and had spread universal horror among the people. A farmer declared that he had seen the deed committed as he walked through a neighboring lane and, having always been noted for his cowardice, instead of running to the girl's aid, had hailed a party of miners who were returning from their midday meal through a field nearby.
When they reached the spot, however, where Stedman, as they supposed, had done his black deed, only the girl lay there in the stillness of death. Her murderer had taken the opportunity to fly. The party had searched the woods of the Kelsey estate, and just as they were nearing the house itself the appearance of walter stedman walking in a strangely unsteady manner toward it made them quicken their pace he was soon in custody although he had protested his innocence of the crime he said that he had just seen the body himself on his way to the station, and that when they had found him, he was going to the house for help, but they had laughed at his story and had flung him into the tiny stifling calaboose of the town.
What were their proofs? Walter Stedman, a young fellow of about 26, had come from the city to their quiet town just when times were at their hardest, in search of work. The most of the men living in the town were honest fellows, doing their work faithfully. When they could get it, and when they had socially asked Stedman to have a drink with them, he had refused in rather a scornful manner.
How is the small town and the murder of Margaret Kelsey introduced?
That infernal city chap, he was called, and their hate and envy increased in strength when Albert Kelsey had employed him in preference to any of themselves. As time went on, the story of Stedman's admiration for Margaret Kelsey had gone afloat, with the added information that his employer's daughter had repulsed him, saying that she would not marry a common laborer. So Stedman... When this news reached his employer's ears, was discharged, and this then was his revenge. For them, these proofs were sufficient to pronounce him guilty. Yet that afternoon, as Stedman crouched on the floor of the calaboose, grew hopeless in the knowledge that no one would believe his story, and that his undeserved punishment would be swift and sure, a tramp.
boarding a freight car several miles from the town, sped away from the spot where his crime had been committed, and knew that forever its shadow would follow him. From the tiny window of his prison, Walter Stedman could see the red glow of the heavens that betokened the setting of the sun. So the red sun of his life was soon to set, a life that had been innocent of all crime, and that now was to be ended for a deed that he had never committed.
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