IT
v. Sr
I
n
a
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f. if
VOL. IX.
i
NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1893.
NO. 15.
THe Model Clothing House
--
iSOW LOCATED IN THE
'v&S2Y CORNER,
n 'yrsiXTH and sPBnnp.n
- - i
AND CANT SHOW THE LARGEST, HANDSOMEST
AND BEST STOCK OF
OHiflf and Furnis
liii Goods
IN NORTH PLATTE.
PRfCES THE LOWEST.
CpME IN AND SEE US.
THEjMODEL CLOTHING HOUSE
MAX EINSTEIN.
3
13
rop.
North Platte National Bank,
NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA.
ixp Qapital,
&75.000
WW BIKG5,
or. XDDIXOS,
A. r. STXEtTZ.
-I
DIRECTORS:
O. SI. CARTER,
M. C. LINDSAY.
H. OTTEN,
D. W. DAK Kit.
M. OSEKST,
A. D. BUCKWOUTH
All buMBOM intrusted to us handled proinpih carefully, and at lowost rates.
C. f. IDDiNGrS,
LUMBER
COAL,
Order by telephone from Newton's Book Store.
Dr. N. McOABE, Prop. J. E. BUSH, Manager
NORTH PLATTE PHARMACY,
Successor to J. Q. Thacker.J
NORTH JPL.A.TTE, - ZSTEBKSKl.
WE AIM TO HANDLE THE BEST GRADE OF GOODS,
SELL THEM AT REASONABLE PRICES, AND WARRANT
EVERYTHING AS REPRESENTED.
orders from the country and along the line of the Union
Pacific Railway Solicited.
IT. J. BROEKER,
Merchant Tailor,
-0333
HI?.
LARGE STOCK OF PIECE GOODS,
embracing all the new designs, kept on "hand and made to order.
PERFECT PIT GUARANTEED.
- - PRICES LOWER THAN EVER BEFORE
- Spruce Street, between Fifth and Sixth.
THE CASIIO BILMAED HALL,
DALY & GRACE, Proprietors.
SUPERIOR BILLIARD and POOL TABLES.
Bar Stocked with the Finest of Liquors.
Jk QUIET AND ORDERLY RESORT
Wkere gcutlemen will receive courteous treat meut at all times and
where they wilt always be welcome. Our billiard and pool halL
it aoi surpassed in the city and lovers of these games can
be accommodated at all times.
THE PURLOINED LETTER
By EDGAR ALL ATT. POE.
CONTINUED.
siry or tne spectacles, unaer uut'cr or
which I cautiously and thoroughly sur
veyed the whole apartment while Becm
ingly intent- only upon the conversation
of my host.
"I paid especial attention fo a large
writing table near which he sat, and
upon wliich lay confusedly some miscel
laneous letters and other papers, with
one or two musical instruments and a
few hooks. Here, however, after a long
and very deliherate scrutiny, I saw noth
ing to excite particular suspicion.
"At length my eyes, in going the cir
cuit of the room, fell upon a trumpery
filigree cardrack of pasteboard that
hung dangling "by a dirty hluo ribbon
from a little brass knob just beneath
the Kiddle of the mantelpiece. In this
rack, which had three or four compart
ments, were five or six visiting cards
and a solitary letter. This last was
much soiled and crumpled. It was torn
nearly in two across the middle, as if a
design in the first instance to tear it en
tirely up as worthless had been altered
or staid in the second. It had a large
black seal, bearing the D cipher
very conspicuously and was addressed,
in a diminutive female hand, to D ,
the minister, himself. It was thrust
carelessly, and even, as it seemed; con
temptuously, into one of the uppermost
divisions of tho rack.
"No sooner had I glanced at this letter
than I concluded it to bo that of which I
was in search. To bo sure, it was, to all
appearance, radical!- different from the
one of which the prefect had read us so
minute a description. Here tho seal was
large and black, with the D cipher;
there it was small and red, with the du
cal arms of the S family. Here the
address to the minister was diminutive
and feminine; there- the superscription
to a certain royal personage was mark
edly bold and decided. Tho size alone
formed a point of correspondence. But,
then, thoradicalness of these differences,
wliich was excessive; tho dirt; the soiled
and torn condition of the paper, so in
consistent with the true methodical hab
its of D , and so suggestive of a de
sign to delude the beholder into an idea
of tho worthlessness of tho document
these things, together with tho hvner-
obtrnsive situation of this document, full
in the view of every visitor and thus ex
actly in accordance with the conclusions
to wliich I had previously arrived these
things, I say, were strongly corroborative
of suspicion .hi one who came with the
intention to suspect.
"I instructed my visit as long as possi
ble, and while I maintained a most ani
mated discussion with the minister upon
a topic which I knew well had never
failed to interest and excite him I kept
my attention really riveted upon the let
ter. In this examination I committed. to.
memory its external appearance and ar
rangement in thu rack, and also fell at
length upon a discovery which set at rest
whatever trivial doubt I might have en
tertained. In scrutinizing the edges of
the paper I observed them to be more
chafed than seemed ueccs: : v. They pre
sented the broken appeiutr-o which is
manifested when a stiff paper, having
been once folded and pressed with a fold
er, is refolded m a reversed direction in
the same creases or edges which iiad
formed the original fold. This diseoverv
was sufficient. It was clear to mo that
the letter had been turned, as a glove
inside out redirected and resealcd. 1
bade the minister good morning and teak
my departure at once, leaving a goL3
snuffbox upon the table.
"The next morning I called for the
snuffbox, when we resumed quite eager
ly the conversation of the preceding day.
While thus engaged, however, a loud
report, as if of a pistol, was heard imme
diately beneath tlse windows of tho ho
tel and was nice-ceded by a series of
fearful screams and tho shoutings of a
terrified mob. -D rushed to a case
ment, threw it open and looked out. In
the meantime I steppe I to tho cardrack,
1 ATerni, but iii all kiuaVof climbing, as
Catalani said of singing, it is far more
easy to get up than to come down. In
the present instance I have no sympathy
at least no pity for him who descends.
Ho is that nionstrnin horrendum, an un
principled man of genius. I confess, how
ever, that I should like very well to
know the precise character of his
thoughts when, being defied by her
whom the prefect terms 'a certain per
sonage,' ho is reduced to opening the let
ter which I left for him in the cardrack."
"How? Did you put anything particu
lar in it?"
"Why, it did not seem altogether
right to leave the interior blank. That
would havo been insulting. D , at
Vienna once, did me an evil turn, widen
I told him (nito good humoredly that I
should remember. So, us 1 knew he
would feel some curiosity in regard to
the identity of the person who had out
witted him. 1 thought it a pity not to
give liim a clew. He is well acquainted
with my A1S.. and 1 just copied into tho
middle of tho blank sheet the words:
"A di-sign so deep.
If it Js not worthy of Atreus, is worthy of
Thysuti3.
They are to bo found in Crcbillon's
Atree.' "
THE F-VI).
took the letter, pat it ui my pocket and
replaced it by a facsimile (so far as re
gards externals), which I had carefully
prepared at my lodgings, imitating tho
D oir-brr very readily by mt-aus of a
seal forn ! of brea 1.
"The .tnrhaaco in tho f-troit had
been occasioned by the frantic l.thavior
of a man with a mnsket. Eo had fired
it among a crowd of women and chil
dren. It proved, however, toihavo been
without ball, and the fellow was suffered
to go his way as a lunatic or a drunkard.
When he had gone, D came from tho
window, whither I had followed him im
mediately upon securing the object in
view. Scon afterward I bade him farc-
ell. The pretended lunatic was a man
in mj- own pay.'
"But what purpose bad you." 1 asked,
in replacing tho letter by a facsimile?
Would it not liave been better at the
first visit to have poized it openly and
departed?"
"D ," replied Dupin, "is a desper
ate man. and a man of nerve. His hotel.
too, is not without attendants devoted
to his interests. Had I made tho wild
attempt you suggest I might never havo
left the ministerial presence alive. The
good people of Paris might have heard of
me no more. But I had an object apart
from these considerations. Yon know
my political prepossessions. In this mat
ter I act as a partisan of the ladv con
cerned. For 18 months tho minister has
had her in his power. She has now him
in hers since, being unaware that tha
letter is not in his possession, ho will
proceed with his exactions as if it was.
Thus will he inevitably commit himself
at once to his political destruction.
Tiio Sort relt
Weare now perhaps as far as men go,
reaching a period of the greatest varia
tion in headgear seen for many years.
The cycle of stylo that swings from stiff
felt to softened Kossuth, or whatever
may be tho chance, cognomen given to
the latest thing out. runs sometimes by
decades, at least if tho Prince of Wales is
obligingly constant, and for a few j'ears
we are apt to see tho full development of
creased, knocked in, indented or split
hats that will lend variety in" tint and
shape to the rather rigid styles of black
and browu that have preceded.
Men's attiro needs some little varia
tion, although there are always tho odd
dozen who. uo matter what tho mode is,
ever seem to have gone to the garret of
tho back street stores for their chapeaux
and to the village tailor for their frock
coats. The reign of soft hats, however,
gives a chance for each man to show his
individuality, which in almost impossi
ble in tho silk hat and its beaver and felt
associates. Tho manly man looks man
ly, the rake rakish, by a single cast of
the hat to one side, but above all tho
dude in the new hat can reproduce all
the languor and ;psthcticism of his sar
torial philosophy. For him tho hat is a
triumph. rmlauelpma Press.
Iticli Presidents.
An exchange says: "It appears tiiat no
president was bom rich, and that with
one exception our great presidents were
not only self made but self educated.
George Washington was born rich; it
is recorded that his father at his death in
ITO: left "a largo lauded property to his
widow and five children." John Adams
was graduated at Harvard college in
17.J.1. James Madison was born rich and
vas graduated at Princeton in 1771.
lames Monroe was born in goodcircum-
i unices, though wo believe his family
-.ixi not rich, fie was a student in Wil
.uu and Mary college, but left in 1776
become an officer in the army. John
.aincy Adams was born rich, studied in
! iirw and at tho famous university of
yden and fiiiidly was graduated at
rvard in 1783. Then, after a varied
: vr in tho diplomatic service of the
.id States government, ho became
vtror of rhetoric and belles-lettres at
.-ard, all before he was elected presi
... New York Sun.
Some Old CIiccscj.
In the cheese regions of Switzerland a
custom formerly prevailed for tho friends
of a bride and bridegroom to join in
the premutation on their wedding day !
ot an cianoraro cueesc. Tins ciieeso
was used :ui a family register, on which
deaths wcro
old cheeses
the birtlis. marriages and
recorded. Some of t
date back to 1GG0.
ee
Exchange.
Tlio tlnssinn Spoon.
The Russian spoon, with its oddly
twisted handle, is greatly affected by our
New York swells. It is made of gold and
costs a lot of money. The bottom of tho
bowl is mado of Russian enamel in green
and red and has. tho appearance of being
set with emeralds and rubies. Once a
Week.
The threads of fungus which flourish
upon the roots of oaks and beeches sur
rounded by decaying leaf mold turn the
latter into nourishment for the trees,
and the seedlings of the trees are unable
to grow amid such surroundings without
the aid of the fungi.
THE BLACK GflT
By EDGAE ALLAN POE
Eor the most wild yet most homely
narrative which I am about to pen
neither expect .nor solicit belief. Mad
indeed would I be to expect it in a case
where my very senses rejert their own
evidence. Yet mad am I W, and very
surely do I not dream. But tomorrow I
die, and today I would unburden my
soul. My immediate purpose is to place
before the world plainly, succinctly and
without comment a series of mere house
hold events. In their consequences these
events have terrified have tortured
have destroyed inc. Yet I will not at
tempt to expound them. To me they
have presented little but horror; to
many they will seem less terrible than
baroques. Hereafter perhaps some in
tellect may be found which will reduce
my phantasm to the commonplace?
some intellect more calm, moro logical
and far less excitable than mv own,
which will perceive in tho circumstances
I detail with awe nothing moro than an
ordinary succession of very natural
causes and effects.
From my infancy I was noted for tho
docility and humanity of my disposition.
My tenderness of heart was even so con
spicuous us to make me tho jest of my
companions. I was especially fond of
animals and was indulged by my par
ents with a great variety of pets. With
these I spent most of my time and never
was so happy as when feeding and ca
ressing them. This peculiarity of char
acter grew with my growth, and in my
manhood I derived from it one of my
principal sources of pleasure. To those
who havo cherished an affection for a
faithful and sagacious dog I need hardly
be at the trouble of explaining tho naturo
or the intensity of the gratification thus
derivable. There is something in the
unselfish and self sacrificing love of a
brute which goes directly to tho heart of
hun who has had frequent occasion to test
tho paltry friendship and gossamer fidel
ity of mere man.
I married early and was happy to find
in my wife a disposition not uncongenial
with my own. Observing my partiality
for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity
of procuring those of the most agreeable
kind. We had birds, goldfish, a line dog,
rabbits, a small monkey and a cat.
This latter was a remarkably large
and beautiful animal, entirely black, and
sagacious to an astonishing degree. In
speaking of his intelligence my wife, who
at heart was not a little tinctured with su
perstition, made frequent allusion to the
ancient popular notion which regarded
all black cats as witches in disguise.
Plufo this was thfi cat's name was
my favorite pet and playmate. I alone
fed him. and he altendedliuo wherever I
went about the iamsv. It was even with
difficulty that 1 cfm'ld prevent him from
following methrongh tho streets.
Our frieiidshiijastelin this manner
for several years, fifcrtfig which my gen
eral temieratnet!taid character, through
tho insjmmyitality qfvhe fiend intem
perance, had (I blrCkconfess it) expe
rienced a radical iiyJ.Jian for tho worse.
I grew day by jSiJi moody, more ir
ritable, more regTmlK. ;of the feelings of
others. 1 suffered mysfelf to uso intein
lcrate language to my wife. At length I
even offered her personal violence.
My pets of cor.rso were made to feel
the change in 1113' disposition. I not only
neglected but ill used them. For Pluto,
however. I still retained sufficient regard
to restrain me from maltreating him, as
I made no scrY.ple of maltreating the
rabbits, tho monkey or even tho dog
when by accident or through affection
they came in my way. But my disease
grew upon me for what disease is like
alcohol? and at length even Pluto, who
was now becoming old and .consequently
somewhat peevish, even Pluto began to
experience tho effects of my ill temper.
Ono night, returning homo much in
toxicated from one of my haunts about
town, I fancied that the cat avoided my
presence. I seized him, when in his
fright at my violence ho inflicted a slight
wound-npoii' my hand with his teeth.
Tho application of animals and animal
substances to the euro of disease has pre
vailed from tho earliest times, though
tho greater part of such remedies, until
recent times, have been founded on
either fantastic or superstitious notions.
There is no other work in the world of
which so many copies are printed annu
ally aa of tho Chineso almanac. The
number is estimated at several millions.
It is printed at Peking and is a monopoly
of the emperor.
There are differences in teeth. Some
are of a nature capable of withstanding
very rough usage, while others are frail
and need constant attention.
: 1 m
l
ered. The socket or uielosl; eye"preseut-
df it is true, a frightful appearance, but
ke no longer appeared to suffer any pain.
He went about the house as usual, but,
is might be expected, fled in extreme
terror at my approach. I had so much
Df my old heart left as to bo at first
grieved by this evident dislike on the
part of a creature which had once so
loved me.
But this feeling soon gave place to irri
tation. And then came, as if to my final
and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of
perverseness. Of this spirit philosophy
takes no account. Yet I am not moro
sure that my soul lives than I am that
perverseness is ono of the primitive im
pulses of the human heart one of tho
indivisible primary faculties or senti
ments which give direction to the char
acter of man. Who has not a hundred
times found himself committing a vile or
a silly action for no other reason than be
cause he knows he should not? Have we
not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth
of our best judgment, to violate that
which is law, merely because we under
stand it to be such?
This spirit of perverseness, I say, came
to my final overthrow. It was this un
fathomable longing of tho soul to vex
itself to offer A;iolence to its own 11a
ture to do wrong for tho wrong's sake
only that urged mo to continue and
finally to consummate the injury 1 had
inflicted upon the unoffending brute.
One morning in cold blood I slipped n
noose about its neck and hung it to tho
limb of a tree; hung it with the tears
streaming from my eyes and with tho
bitterest remorse at my heart; hung it
because I knew that it had loved mo
and becauso I felt it had given mo no
reason of offense; hung it because I
knew that in so doing I was committing
a sin a deadly sin that would so jeopar
dize my immortal sonl as to place it if
such a thing were possible even beyond
the reach of tho infinite mercy of tho
most merciful and most terrible God.
On the night of tho day on which this
cruel deed was done I was aroused from
sleep by the cry of "Fire!" The curtains
of my bed wcro in flames. The whole
house was blazing. It was with great
difficulty that my wife, a sen-ant and
myself mado our escapo from tlie con
flagration. Tho destruction was com
plete. My entire worldly wealth was
swallowed up, and I resigned myself
thenceforth to despair.
I am above the weakness of seeking to
establish a sequence of cause and effect
between the disaster and tho atrocity.
But I am detailing a chain of facts and
wish not to leave even a possible link
imperfect. On the day succeeding tho
fire I visited the rains. The walls, with
one -exception, had lailen in. ihis ex
ception was found in a compartment
wall, not very thick, which r-tccd alioiit
the middle 01 thu house, and against
which had rested the head of mv bed.
The plastering had here, in great meas
ure, resisted the action of tho fire a fact
which I attributed to its having been re
cently spread. About this wall a dense
crowd were coIlected.nud many persons
seemed to be examining a particular
portion of it with very minute and eager
attention. Th vro'rds "Strange!" "Sin
gular!" and other similar expressions ex
cited my curiosity. I approached and
saw, as if graven in bas-relief nnon the
white surface, tho figuro of a gigantic
cat. The impression was given with an
accuracy truly marvelous. There was a
rope about the animal's neck.
When I first beheld this apparition,
for I could scarcely regard it aa less, my
wonder and my. terror were extreme.
But at length reflection came to my aid.
The cat, I remembered, had been hung
in a garden adjacent to the house. Upon
the alarm of fire this garden had been
immediately filled by the crowd, by
some one or wuom tuo animal must
have been cut from tho tree and thrown,
through an open window, into my cham
ber. This had probably been done with
a view of arousing mo from sleep. The
falling of other walls had
j Ono night as I sat half stupefied in
den of more than infamy my attention
; was suddenly drawn to some black ob
ject reposing upon the head of one of the
immense hogsheads or gin or or mm
which constituted the chief furniture of
tho apartment. I had been looking
steadily at tho top of this hogshead for
some minutes, and what now caused me
surprise was the fact that I had not soon
er perceived the object thereupon. I ap
proached it and touched it with my hand,
It was a black cat a very large one
fully as large as Pluto and closely re
sembling him in every respect but one.
Pluto had not a white hair upon any por
tion of his body, but tins cat had a large
although indefinite splotch of white cov
ering nearly the whole region of tho
breast.
Upon my touching him he immediate
ly arose, purred loudly, rubbed against
my hand and appeared delighted with
my notice. This, then, was the very
creaturo of wliich I was in search. I at
onco offered to purchase it of the land
lord, but this person made no claim to it
knew nothing of it had never seen it
before.
I continued my caresses, and when I
prepared to go homo the animal evinced
a disposition to accompany me. I per
mitted it to do so, occasionally stooping
and patting it as I proceeded. When it
reached the house, it domesticated itself
at once and became immediately a great
favorite with my wife.
For my own part I soon found a dis-
.ke to it arising within me. This was
just the reverse of what I had antici
pated; but I know not how or why it
was its evident fondness for uryself
rather disgusted and annoyed me. By
alow degrees theso feelings of disgust
and annoyanco rose into the bitterness
of hatred. I avoided tho creature, a cer-
! tain sense of shame and theremombranco
; of my former deed of cruelty preventing
: me from physically abusing it. I did not
1 for some weeks strike or otherwise vio
lently ill ui;o it, but gradually, very
gradually, I came to look upon it with
unutterable loathing and to flee silently
from its odious presence.
i
DJil
11 IM, k
It teas a black cat very large one.
What added no doubt to my hatred of
the beast was the discovery on the morn
ing after I brought him homo that, like
Pluto, it had been deprived of ono of its
eyes. This circumstance, however, only
endeared it to ray wife, who, as I have
already paid, possessed in a high de
gree that humanity of feeling which had
once been my distinguishing trait and
the sonrco of many of my pleasures.
With my aversion to this cat, however,
its partiality for myself seemed to in
crease. It followed my footsteps with a
pertinacity which it would be difficult to
mako tho reader comprehend. When
ever I sat it would crouch beneath my
chair or spring upon my knees, covering
me with its loathsome caresses. If I
arose to walk, it would get between my
feet, and thr.r. nearly throw ma down, or,
fastening its long and sharp claws in my
dress, clamber in this manner to my
breast. At such times, although I longed
to destroy it with a blow, I was yet with
held from so doing, partly by a memory
compressed I of mv former crime, but chioflv rt mn
the victim of my cruelty into the sub- confess it by absolute dread of the beast.
stance of the freshly spread plaster, tho
liino of which, with the flames and the
ammonia from tho carcass, had then
accomplished the portraiture as I sawit.
I thus readily accounted to
my reason, it not altogether to my con
science, for the startling lact just de
tailed, it did not tlio less fail to make a
deep impression upon my fancy. For
months I could not rid myself of the
phantasm of tho cat, and during this
leriod there came back into ray spirit a
half sentiment that seemed, but was not,
remorse. I went so far a3 to regret the
loss of the animal and to look about me,
among tho vile haunts which I now ha
bitually frequented, for another pet of
the same species and of somewhat simi
lar appearance with which to supply its
place.
The use of drapery in ideal art is as
purely for artistic reasons tis is its ab
sence and has nothing to do with tho
propriety of clothing.
Tho mooted question of the cancer pro
ducing qualities of tomatoes has been set
tled. It is affirmed on the testimony of
two or three experts that this toothsome
and indispensable vegetable has no such
malign tendency and may bo eaten with
confidence.
One man may eat half as much again
us another simply because he has got into
the habit of eating largely. There is no
iloubt that almost all of us eat more than
is really needful to keep us in a proper
state of health.
In Ms U'bjhKil my violence he inflicted a
slight wound upon tjj 7iuw7.
Tlio fury of a demon instantly possessed
me. 1 knew myself no longer. My
original soul seemed at once to take its
flight from my lody, and a more than
fiendish malevolence, gin nurtured,
thrilled every fiber of my frame. I took
from my waistcoat pocket a penknife,
opened it, grasped the poor beast by the
throat and deliberately cut one of its
eyes from tho socket! I blush, I burn, I
shudder while I pen tho damnablo atroc
ity. When reason relumed with the morn
ing when I had slept off the fumes of
tho night's debauch I experienced a
sentiment half of horror, half of re
morse, for tho crime of which I had been
guilty. Bnt it was at best a feeble and
equivocal feeling, and the soul remained
untouched. I again plunged into excess
and soon drowned in wine all memory of
the deed.
In the. meantime the cat slowly recov-
This aread Avas not exactly a dread of
physical oil and yet I should bo at a
loss how other.vise to define it. I am al
most ashamed to own yes, even in this
felon's cell, I am almost ashamed to own
that the terror and horror with which
the animal inspired mo had l)een height-
ened by one of the merest chimeras it
would be possible to conceive. My wife
had called my attention more than once
to the character of tho mark of white
hair, of which I havo spoken, and which
constituted tho solo visible difference be
tween the strange beast and tho one I had
destroyed.
The reader will remember that this
mark, although large, had been origi
nally very indefinite. But by slow de
grees degrees nearly imperceptible, and
which for a. long tini9 mx jeason.sirutj;
gled to rejec5"as fanciful if had" at
length assumed a rigorous distinctness
ot outline. It was now the representa
tion of an object that I shudder to name
and for this, above all, I loathed and
dreaded, and would have rid myself of
the monster had I dared it was now, I
say, the image of a hideous, of a ghastly
thing of the gallows! Oh, mournful
and terrible engine of horror and of
crime, of agony and of death!
And now was I indeed wretched be
yond the wretchedness of mere humani
ty. And a bruto beast, whose fellow I
had contemptuously destroyed a brute
beast to work out for me forme, a man.
fashioned in the image of the high God
so much of insufferable woe! Alas!
Neither by day nor by night knew I the
blessing of rest any more! During tho
former the creature left me no moment
alone, and in tho latter I started hourly
from dreams of unutterable fear to find
the hot breath of the thing upon my
face, and its vast weight an incarnate'
nightmare that I had no power to shake
off incumbent eternally upon my heart!
Beneath the pressure of torments such
as these tho feeble remnant of the good
within me succumbed. Evil thonghts
becamo my sole intimates the darkest
and most evil of thoughts. The moodi
ness of my usual temper increased to
hatred of all things and of all mankind,
while from tho sudden, frequent and
ungovernable outbursts of a fury to
which I now blindly abandoned myselt
my uncomplaining wife, alas, was the
most patient of sufferers.
Ono day she accompanied me upon
some household errand into the cellar of
tho old building which our poverty com
pelled us to inhabit. Tho cat followed
me down the steep stairs, and nearly
throwing me headlong exasperated me
to madness. Uplif ting an ax, and for
getting in my wrath the cluldish dread
which had hitherto stayed my hand, I
aimed a blow at the animal wliich of
course would have proved instantly fatal
had it descended as I wished. But this
blow was arrested by tho hand of my
wife. Goaded by the interference into a
rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew
my arm from her grasp and buried tho
ax in her brain. She fell dead upon tho
spot without a groan.
This hideous murder accomplished, I
set myself forthwith and with entire de
liberation to the task of concealing tho
bodj. I knew that I could not remove
it from the house, either by day or by
night, without the risk of being observed
by the neighbors. Many projects entered
my mind. At one period I thought of
cutting the corpse into minute fragments
and destroying them by fire. At another
I resolved to dig a grave for it in the
floor of the cellar. Again I deliberated
about casting it into the well in the yard;
about packing it in a box, as if" mer
chandise, with the usual arrangements,
and so getting a porter to take it from
the house. Finally I hit upon what I
considered a far better expedient than
eithsr of these. I determined to wall it
p in the cellar, as the monk of the
liiddle ages are recorded to have walled
ap their victims.
For a purpose such as this the cellar
was well adapted. Its walls were loosely
constructed and had lately been plastered
throughout with a rough plaster, which
the dampness-of the atmosphere had pre-;
vented from hardening. Moreover.' in-
one of the walls was a projection, caused
by a false chimney or fireplace that had
been filled up and made to resemble the
rest of the cellar. I made no doubt that
I could readily displace the bricks at this
point, insert the corpse and wall the
whole up as before, so that no eye could
detect anything suspicious.
And in this calculation I was not de
ceived. By means of a crowbar I easily
dislodged the bricks, and having care
fully deposited the body against the in
ner wall I propped it in that position,
while with littlo trouble I relaid the
whole structure as it originally stood.
Having procured mortar, sand and hair,
with every possible precaution I pre
pared a plaster which could not be dis
tinguished from the old, and with this I
very carefully went over the new brick
work. When I liad finished, I felt satis
fied that all was right. The wall did
not present the slightest appearance of
having been disturbed. The rubbish on
. the floor was picked up with tho minutest
care. I looked around triumphantly
and said to myself, "Here at least,
then, my labor has not been in vain."
My next step was to look for the beast
which had been the cause of so much
wretchedness, for I had at length firmly
resolved to put it to death. Had I been
able to meet with it at the moment thero
could have been no doubt of its fate, but
it appeared that the crafty animal had
been alarmed at tho violence of my pre
vious anger and forbore to present itself
in lnr Dresent mood. It ishnpossible to
concluded on fourth pack.
1 - 1 I
UREI
Permanently
CURED Or No
I stepped to the cardrack and took the
letter:"
.".'His downfall, too, win not be more
precipitate than awkward. It is all very
well tg tall- jibout. the. fasilisescensus
PRICE'S
f he only Pure Cream of Tartar Powder. No Ammonia; No Alum.
Used in Millions of Homes 40 Years trie Standard.
WE
Pay.
REFER YOU TO
3,500
Financial Reference: National
Bank of Commerce and German Sav
ings Bank, Omaha.
Mmi,
Qierali
oa.
abeolutely
the use of
'estigate our method. Written guarantee to
CURE all kinds of Rupture of both sexes without
Knife oj syringe, no matter of how long standing.
SXAMIITATIO PBEE.
WM. M. CLAYTON, M. D.,
Consulting Flxysloiaxi of tlxo
I ifii n a i
Miner w., mm
"W"11X too at tlio
Pacific Hotel, North Platte, April 20th to 27th, inclusive,
Where he will be prepared to Consult and Treat all who desire it.
P
