Will Murder Out?

In the year 1851 Captain John Buckson lived, with his wife Nancy, in a handsome cottage in the village of Seakonk, near Providence, Rhode Island, in the enjoyment of a competence acquired by many years of frugal industry. He was however often absent from home, as he still pursued his vocation, and was master of the sloop “Oregon,” plying between Providence and Norfolk, Virginia.

He had then reached his fiftieth year, and his hard, seafaring life had not made him look younger than he was. He was tall, gaunt and angular, weather-stained and storm beaten. His short, stiff hair was grizzled, and his long, narrow face furrowed by deep lines, but his physical powers appeared to be still untouched, and he seemed assured of a long continuance of active life.

His temperament was favorable to a lusty longevity. He was patient, and apparently so passionless that he stared at the cares and troubles of life as at strangers with whom he could not possibly have dealings. He avoided quarrels and all unseemliness with scrupulous care, and was known on his vessel and in his village only as a sedate, Godfearing man, kind hearted and even tempered.

But he had positive points in his character, and the requisite friction would produce the natural glow. As in all equable men, his anger burned with dim light but intense heat, and hence, with him, a knitting of the brows or twitching of the hands meant more than the wildest signs of passion in other… Read More