t once, arrested
Collins, who seemed rather shocked and grieved to meet his old friend
the sheriff once more; and hurried the prisoners back to California.

There was great excitement in the gold fields, you may be sure, when it
was announced that Will Cummins' murderers were safely lodged in jail,
more than three years after the crime. Surely, California was becoming
civilized, and at last Nevada County was actually to try a couple of men
for murder.

CHAPTER XVIII

The End of J. C. P. Collins

At Nevada City, with its pleasant homes scattered on the hills either
side of the deep gorge of Deer Creek, the traveler lingers awhile to
drink in the romance of the gold fields. Roses and poppies that bloom
profusely in the front yards are "emblems of deeds that are done in
their clime." The very soil, like the flowers that spring therefrom,
suggests gold and the red blood so freely shed for it. Here and there
are eloquent, though silent, reminders of the exciting days of placer
mining and highway robbery, when Wells Fargo and Company brought
treasure out of the mountains guarded by armed men.

At the court-house Nevada County is advertised as the banner gold county
of California, with a total output of $300,000,000; a yellow block on
exhibition represents the bullion taken from the Malakoff Mine in one
month, and valued at $114,289. In a showcase at the Citizens' Bank are
exhibited four of the buckshot which killed T. H. Girard on October 31,
1887. Also, a bit of hemp rope with a tag, on which is written:

"The end of J. C. P. Collins
Feb. 1, 1884
Compliments of Sheriff Carter."

In vain one may search for a similar reminder of the highwayman Darcy,
the actual murderer of Will Cummins. But at the scene of the murder, the
stage-driver of the present generation tells his passengers that Darcy
was paroled several years ago, after spending thirty years in prison. He
may add that Darcy, the ex-convict, is an inert and lifeless creature,
married to a paroled woman as lifeless as himself.

Darcy's friends in Union City would not have it appear that their model
citizen was a murderer. They protested stoutly, and in the end the
tax-payers for thirty years were burdened with the care and keep of the
criminal.

As it has already been remarked, murders in Nevada County were common
enough; but a murder trial was almost unheard of.

The State tried Collins first. He had no friends, except of the baser
sort