The Famous Gilson Bequest

THE FAMOUS GILSON BEQUEST careful not to do than the peace-loving person most con-
IT was rough on Gilson. Such was the terse, cold, but cerned. Whatever may have been the truth of the matter,
it is certain that Gilson frequently lost more clean dust
not altogether unsympathetic judgment of the better pub-
lic opinion at Mammon Hillthe dictum of respectabil- at Jo. Bentleys faro table than it was recorded in local
history that he had ever honestly earned at draw poker
ity. The verdict of the opposite, or rather the opposing,
elementthe element that lurked red-eyed and restless in all the days of the camps existence. But at last Mr.
Bentleyfearing, it may be, to lose the more protable
about Moll Gurneys deadfall, while respectability took
it with sugar at Mr. Jo. Bentleys gorgeous saloon patronage of Mr. Brentshawperemptorily refused to
was to pretty much the same general eect, though some- let Gilson copper the queen, intimating at the same time,
what more ornately expressed by the use of picturesque in his frank, forthright way, that the privilege of losing
expletives, which it is needless to quote. Virtually, Mam- money at this bank was a blessing appertaining to, pro-
mon Hill was a unit on the Gilson question. And it must ceeding logically from, and coterminous with, a condition
be confessed that in a merely temporal sense all was not of notorious commercial righteousness and social good
well with Mr. Gilson. He had that morning been led into repute.
town by Mr. Brentshaw and publicly charged with horse The Hill thought it high time to look after a person whom
stealing; the sheri meantime busying himself about The its most honored citizen had felt it his duty to rebuke at a
Tree with a new manila rope and Carpenter Pete being considerable personal sacrice. The New Jerusalem con-
actively employed between drinks upon a pine box about tingent, particularly, began to abate something of the tol-
the length and breadth of Mr. Gilson. Society having eration begotten of amusement at their own blunder in
rendered its verdict, there remained between Gilson and exiling an objectionable neighbor from the place which
eternity only the decent formality of a trial. they had left to the place whither they had come. Mam-
mon Hill was at last of one mind. Not much was said,
These are the short and simple annals of the prisoner: He
had recently been a resident of New Jerusalem, on the but that Gilson must hang was in the air. But at this
critical juncture in his aairs he showed signs of an al-
north fork of the Little Stony, but had come to the newly
discovered placers of Mammon Hill immediately before tered life if not a changed heart. Perhaps it was only that
the bank being closed against him he had no further use
the rush by which the former place was depopulated.
The discovery of the new diggings had occurred oppor- for gold dust. Anyhow the sluice boxes were molested
no more forever. But it was impossible to repress the
tunely for Mr. Gilson, for it had only just before been
intimated to him by a New Jerusalem vigilance commit- abounding energies of such a nature as his, and he con-
tee that it would better his prospects in, and for, life to go tinued, possibly from habit, the tortuous courses which he
somewhere; and the list of places to which he could safely had pursued for prot of Mr. Bentley. After a few ten-
go did not include any of the older camps; so he natu- tative and resultless undertakings in the way of highway
rally established himself at Mammon Hill. Being even- robberyif one may venture to designate road-agency by
tually followed thither by all his judges, he ordered his so harsh a namehe made one or two modest essays in
conduct with considerable circumspection, but as he had horse-herding, and it was in the midst of a promising en-
never been known to do an honest days work at any indus- terprise of this character, and just as he had taken the
try sanctioned by the stern local code of morality except tide in his aairs at its ood, that he made shipwreck.
draw poker he was still an object of suspicion. Indeed, it For on a misty, moonlight night Mr. Brentshaw rode up
was conjectured that he was the author of the many dar- alongside a person who was evidently leaving that part of
ing depredations that had recently been committed with the country, laid a hand upon the halter connecting Mr.
pan and brush on the sluice boxes. Gilsons wrist with Mr. Harpers bay mare, tapped him
familiarly on the cheek with the barrel of a navy revolver
Prominent among those in whom this suspicion had and requested the pleasure of his company in a direction
ripened into a steadfast conviction was Mr. Brentshaw. opposite to that in which he was traveling.
At all seasonable and unseasonable times Mr. Brentshaw
It was indeed rough on Gilson.
avowed his belief in Mr. Gilsons connection with these
unholy midnight enterprises, and his own willingness to On the morning after his arrest he was tried, convicted,
prepare a way for the solar beams through the body of and sentenced. It only remains, so far as concerns his
any one who might think it expedient to utter a dier- earthly career, to hang him, reserving for more particular
ent opinionwhich, in his presence, no one was more mention his last will and testament, which, with great la-

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bor, he contrived in prison, and in which, probably from the will nor litigation in consequence of its unusual pro-
some confused and imperfect notion of the rights of cap- visions; Gilson, although frequently ush, had been a
tors, he bequeathed everything he owned to his lawe man whom assessors and tax collectors were well satis-
execketer, Mr. Brentshaw. The bequest, however, was ed to lose no money by. But a careless and merely formal
made conditional on the legatee taking the testators body search among his papers revealed title deeds to valuable
from The Tree and planting it white. estates in the East and certicates of deposit for incred-
So Mr. Gilson wasI was about to say swung o, ible sums in banks less severely scrupulous than that of
but I fear there has been already something too much of Mr. Jo. Bentley.
slang in this straightforward statement of facts; besides, The astounding news got abroad directly, throwing the
the manner in which the law took its course is more ac- Hill into a fever of excitement. The Mammon Hill Pa-
curately described in the terms employed by the judge in triot, whose editor had been a leading spirit in the pro-
passing sentence: Mr. Gilson was strung up. ceedings that resulted in Gilsons departure from New
In due season Mr. Brentshaw, somewhat touched, it may Jerusalem, published a most complimentary obituary no-
well be, by the empty compliment of the bequest, re- tice of the deceased, and was good enough to call at-
paired to The Tree to pluck the fruit thereof. When taken tention to the fact that his degraded contemporary, the
down the body was found to have in its waistcoat pocket Squaw Gulch Clarion, was bringing virtue into contempt
a duly attested codicil to the will already noted. The na- by beslavering with attery the memory of one who in
ture of its provisions accounted for the manner in which life had spurned the vile sheet as a nuisance from his
it had been withheld, for had Mr. Brentshaw previously door. Undeterred by the press, however, claimants un-
been made aware of the conditions under which he was der the will were not slow in presenting themselves with
to succeed to the Gilson estate he would indubitably have their evidence; and great as was the Gilson estate it ap-
declined the responsibility. Briey stated, the purport of peared conspicuously paltry considering the vast number
the codicil was as follows: of sluice boxes from which it was averred to have been
obtained. The country rose as one man!
Whereas, at divers times and in sundry places, certain
persons had asserted that during his life the testator had Mr. Brentshaw was equal to the emergency. With a
shrewd application of humble auxiliary devices, he at
robbed their sluice boxes; therefore, if during the ve
years next succeeding the date of this instrument any one once erected above the bones of his benefactor a costly
monument, overtopping every rough headboard in the
should make proof of such assertion before a court of law,
such person was to receive as reparation the entire per- cemetery, and on this he judiciously caused to be in-
sonal and real estate of which the testator died seized and scribed an epitaph of his own composing, eulogizing the
possessed, minus the expenses of court and a stated com- honesty, public spirit and cognate virtues of him who slept
pensation to the executor, Henry Clay Brentshaw; pro- beneath, a victim to the unjust aspersions of Slanders
vided, that if more than one person made such proof the viper brood.
estate was to be equally divided between or among them. Moreover, he employed the best legal talent in the Ter-
But in case none should succeed in so establishing the ritory to defend the memory of his departed friend, and
testators guilt, then the whole property, minus court ex- for ve long years the Territorial courts were occupied
penses, as aforesaid, should go to the said Henry Clay with litigation growing out of the Gilson bequest. To
Brentshaw for his own use, as stated in the will. ne forensic abilities Mr. Brentshaw opposed abilities
The syntax of this remarkable document was perhaps more nely forensic; in bidding for purchasable favors
open to critical objection, but that was clearly enough he oered prices which utterly deranged the market; the
the meaning of it. The orthography conformed to no judges found at his hospitable board entertainment for
recognized system, but being mainly phonetic it was not man and beast, the like of which had never been spread in
ambiguous. As the probate judge remarked, it would the Territory; with mendacious witnesses he confronted
take ve aces to beat it. Mr. Brentshaw smiled good- witnesses of superior mendacity.
humoredly, and after performing the last sad rites with Nor was the battle conned to the temple of the blind
amusing ostentation, had himself duly sworn as execu- goddessit invaded the press, the pulpit, the drawing-
tor and conditional legatee under the provisions of a law room. It raged in the mart, the exchange, the school; in
hastily passed (at the instance of the member from the the gulches, and on the street corners. And upon the last
Mammon Hill district) by a facetious legislature; which day of the memorable period to which legal action under
law was afterward discovered to have created also three the Gilson will was limited, the sun went down upon a
or four lucrative oces and authorized the expenditure region in which the moral sense was dead, the social con-
of a considerable sum of public money for the construc- science callous, the intellectual capacity dwarfed, enfee-
tion of a certain railway bridge that with greater advan- bled, and confused! But Mr. Brentshaw was victorious
tage might perhaps have been erected on the line of some all along the line.
actual railway. On that night it so happened that the cemetery in one cor-
Of course Mr. Brentshaw expected neither prot from ner of which lay the now honored ashes of the late Milton
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Gilson, Esq., was partly under water. Swollen by inces- selshness!

sant rains, Cat Creek had spilled over its banks an angry As he sat there, torturing himself with futile regrets, a
ood which, after scooping out unsightly hollows wher- faint shadow fell across his eyes. Looking toward the
ever the soil had been disturbed, had partly subsided, as if moon, hanging low in the west, he saw what seemed a
ashamed of the sacrilege, leaving exposed much that had vague, watery cloud obscuring her; but as it moved so
been piously concealed. Even the famous Gilson monu- that her beams lit up one side of it he perceived the
ment, the pride and glory of Mammon Hill, was no longer clear, sharp outline of a human gure. The apparition
a standing rebuke to the viper brood"; succumbing to became momentarily more distinct, and grew, visibly; it
the sapping current it had toppled prone to earth. The
was drawing near. Dazed as were his senses, half locked
ghoulish ood had exhumed the poor, decayed pine cof- up with terror and confounded with dreadful imaginings,
n, which now lay half-exposed, in pitiful contrast to the
Mr. Brentshaw yet could but perceive, or think he per-
pompous monolith which, like a giant note of admiration, ceived, in this unearthly shape a strange similitude to the
emphasized the disclosure.
mortal part of the late Milton Gilson, as that person had
To this depressing spot, drawn by some subtle inuence looked when taken from The Tree ve years before. The
he had sought neither to resist nor analyze, came Mr. likeness was indeed complete, even to the full, stony eyes,
Brentshaw. An altered man was Mr. Brentshaw. Five and a certain shadowy circle about the neck. It was with-
years of toil, anxiety, and wakefulness had dashed his out coat or hat, precisely as Gilson had been when laid
black locks with streaks and patches of gray, bowed his in his poor, cheap casket by the not ungentle hands of
ne gure, drawn sharp and angular his face, and debased Carpenter Petefor whom some one had long since per-
his walk to a doddering shue. Nor had this lustrum of formed the same neighborly oce. The spectre, if such
erce contention wrought less upon his heart and intel- it was, seemed to bear something in its hands which Mr.
lect. The careless good humor that had prompted him Brentshaw could not clearly make out. It drew nearer,
to accept the trust of the dead man had given place to and paused at last beside the con containing the ashes
a xed habit of melancholy. The rm, vigorous intel- of the late Mr. Gilson, the lid of which was awry, half
lect had overripened into the mental mellowness of sec- disclosing the uncertain interior. Bending over this, the
ond childhood. His broad understanding had narrowed phantom seemed to shake into it from a basin some dark
to the accommodation of a single idea; and in place of substance of dubious consistency, then glided stealthily
the quiet, cynical incredulity of former days, there was in back to the lowest part of the cemetery. Here the retir-
him a haunting faith in the supernatural, that itted and ing ood had stranded a number of open cons, about
uttered about his soul, shadowy, batlike, ominous of in- and among which it gurgled with low sobbings and stilly
sanity. Unsettled in all else, his understanding clung to whispers. Stooping over one of these, the apparition care-
one conviction with the tenacity of a wrecked intellect. fully brushed its contents into the basin, then returning to
That was an unshaken belief in the entire blamelessness its own casket, emptied the vessel into that, as before.
of the dead Gilson. He had so often sworn to this in court This mysterious operation was repeated at every exposed
and asserted it in private conversationhad so frequently con, the ghost sometimes dipping its laden basin into
and so triumphantly established it by testimony that had the running water, and gently agitating it to free it of the
come expensive to him (for that very day he had paid the baser clay, always hoarding the residuum in its own pri-
last dollar of the Gilson estate to Mr. Jo. Bentley, the vate box. In short, the immortal part of the late Milton
last witness to the Gilson good character)that it had be- Gilson was cleaning up the dust of its neighbors and prov-
come to him a sort of religious faith. It seemed to him the idently adding the same to its own.
one great central and basic truth of lifethe sole serene Perhaps it was a phantasm of a disordered mind in a
verity in a world of lies. fevered body. Perhaps it was a solemn farce enacted by
On that night, as he seated himself pensively upon the pranking existences that throng the shadows lying along
prostrate monument, trying by the uncertain moonlight the border of another world. God knows; to us is per-
to spell out the epitaph which ve years before he had mitted only the knowledge that when the sun of another
composed with a chuckle that memory had not recorded, day touched with a grace of gold the ruined cemetery of
tears of remorse came into his eyes as he remembered Mammon Hill his kindliest beam fell upon the white, still
that he had been mainly instrumental in compassing by a face of Henry Brentshaw, dead among the dead.
false accusation this good mans death; for during some
of the legal proceedings, Mr. Harper, for a consideration
(forgotten) had come forward and sworn that in the lit-
tle transaction with his bay mare the deceased had acted
in strict accordance with the Harperian wishes, conden-
tially communicated to the deceased and by him faithfully
concealed at the cost of his life. All that Mr. Brentshaw
had since done for the dead mans memory seemed piti-
fully inadequatemost mean, paltry, and debased with
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