lay had foreseen, the adoption of stringent measures was all that
was needed to break the back-bone of the strike at the Rathbawne Mills.
The presence of the Ninth Regiment, under command of that noted
disciplinarian, Colonel Broadcastle, and terribly in earnest, as was
evinced by the ball cartridges gleaming in their belts, was sufficient
to discourage any further attempts at disorder; the sudden shift of base
of the newspapers which had formerly supported the rioters, and now,
taking their cue from the policy of the new Governor, counseled
immediate surrender; above all, the trial, conviction, and sentence of
their moving spirit, McGrath, to a term of years for inciting to
riot--all were irresistible factors in the Union's capitulation. Two
weeks after the death of Governor Abbott, the Rathbawne Mills were
running once more, and Peter Rathbawne himself, though whiter of hair
and but a shadow of his old self, was, nevertheless, on the high road to
recovery.

The trial and conviction of Spencer Cavendish were accomplished with
unexampled celerity. He would admit of no defense, although the lawyer
appointed for him by the court was strenuous for a plea of insanity,
based upon the singular remark which he had made upon the announcement
of Elijah Abbott's death, and which was construed by those who heard it
as ample proof of irresponsibility. Called upon in court to give his
defense, Cavendish stated in a loud, clear voice that he was strictly
accountable for his act, that he was in full possession of his senses at
the time, and that he had killed the Governor in the firm conviction
that he was a menace to the safety of the community, and that the
latter's sole salvation lay in his removal, and the succession of the
Lieutenant-Governor to the position of chief executive.

"I desire," he concluded, with the same odd smile that he had worn at
the moment of the Governor's death, "nothing but the full penalty of the
law."

The next day Spencer Cavendish was sentenced to be executed on the
thirtieth of the following month at the State's Prison at Mowberly.

Then followed the most remarkable manifestation of popular sentiment
ever known in Alleghenia. As Barclay had once said of them, the citizens
of his long degraded state were less vicious than callous, and their
callousness was effectively cured by the dramatic event which had
removed a corrupt official from the head of the state government, and
put in his place a man who