Читать книгу Scouting for Boys - Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell - Страница 17

[Note: The following story, which in the main is true, is a sample of a story that should be given by the Instructor illustrating generally the duties of a Boy Scout.]

A brutal murder took place many years ago in the North of England; and the murderer was caught, convicted, and hanged chiefly through the scoutcraft of a shepherd boy.

Woodcraft.—The boy, Robert Hindmarsh, had been up on the moor tending his sheep, and was finding his way home over a wild, out-of-the-way part of the hills, when he passed a tramp sitting on the ground with his legs stretched out in front of him eating some food.

Observation.—The boy in passing noticed his appearance, and especially the peculiar nails in the soles of his boots.

Concealment.—He did not stop and stare, but just took these things in at a glance as he went by without attracting much attention from the man, who merely regarded him as an ordinary boy not worth his notice.

Observing the murderer's boots.

Deduction.—When he got near home, some five or six miles away, he came to a crowd round a cottage, where they had found the old woman (Margaret Crozier) who inhabited it lying murdered. All sorts of guesses were being hazarded as to who had done the deed, and suspicion seemed to centre on a small gang of three or four gipsies who were going about the country robbing and threatening death to anyone who made any report of their misdeeds.

The boy heard all these things, but presently he saw some peculiar footprints in the little garden of the cottage; the nailmarks agreed with those he had seen in the boots of the man on the moor, and he naturally deduced from these that the man might have something to do with the murder.

Chivalry.—The fact that it was a helpless old woman who had been murdered made the boy's chivalrous feelings rise against the murderer, whoever it might be.

Pluck and Self-discipline, Alacrity.—So, although he knew that the friends of the murderer might kill him for giving information, he cast his fears on one side and went at once and told the constable of the footmarks in the garden, and where he could find the man who had made them—if he went immediately.

Health and Strength.—The man up on the moor had got so far from the scene of the murder, unseen (except by this one small boy), that he thought himself safe, and never thought of the boy being able to walk all the way to the scene of the murder and then to come back, as he did, with the police. So he took no precautions.

But the boy was a strong, healthy hill-boy, and did the journey rapidly and well, so that they found the man and captured him without difficulty.

The man was Willie Winter, a gipsy.

He was tried, found guilty, and hanged at Newcastle. His body was then brought and hung on a gibbet near the scene of the murder, as was the custom in those days, and the gibbet still stands to this day. Two of the gipsies who were his accomplices were caught with some of the stolen property, and were also executed at Newcastle.

Kind-heartedness.—But when the boy saw the murderer's body hanging there on the gibbet he was overcome with misery at having caused the death of a fellow-creature.

The gibbet at Stang's Cross.

Saving Life.—However, the magistrate sent for him and complimented him on the great good he had done to his fellow-countrymen—probably saving some of their lives—by ridding the world of such a dangerous criminal.

Duty.—He said: "You have done your duty although it caused you personally some danger and much distress. Still you must not mind that—it was your duty to the King to help the police in getting justice done, and duty must always be carried out regardless of how much it costs you, even if you had to give up your life."

Example.—Thus the boy did every part of the duty of a boy scout without ever having been taught.

He exercised—

Woodcraft.

Observation without being noticed.

Deduction.

Chivalry.

Sense of duty.

Endurance.

Kind-heartedness.

He little thought that the act which he did entirely of his own accord would years afterwards be held up as an example to you other boys in teaching you to do your duty. In the same way you should remember your acts may be watched by others after you, and taken as an example too. So try to do your duty the right way on all occasions.

Since writing down the above story I have visited the place, Stang's Cross, where the gibbet, with a wooden head hanging from it, still stands as a warning to evildoers. Some foolish people used to believe that toothache could be cured by rubbing the teeth with chips of wood cut from this gibbet, and used to come from miles round to get them. Mrs. Haldane, the mother of our present Secretary of State for War, remembers seeing the effigy of Winter hanging on the gibbet, and recalls with horror the doleful rattling of the chains on which it swung in the night wind on the lonely moor. The gibbet is known as "Winter's Stob."

Winter belonged to a notable family. He was not the only one who distinguished himself, for his father and his brother were also hanged for different offences. Another brother, feeling the disgrace of belonging to such a family, changed his name from Winter to Spring, and became—a prize-fighter.