The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965, December 24, 1908, Image 2
..TiriiHii I inTf uiiiu I II rnwrTMmmmn''*mmnwnr*rirmRrmMTimMmammmmrmm ITKe Crime of S’ the Boulevard CHAPTKR XtL—Continued. "I have only to remand you to your cell," salil the magistrate. "We will hunt for the other man.” Dantin, In his turn, said in an iron ical tone, “And you will do well!” M. tlinory made a sign. The guards led out their prisoner. Then looking at the chief, while Hernardet still re mained standing like a soldier near the window, the magistrate said: "Cntil there are new developments. Dantin wll say nothing. We must look for the man In the sombrero." "Necessarily!" said M. Lerlche. "The needle! The needle! And the haystack!” thought Hernardet. The chief, smiling, turned toward him "That belongs to you, Bertiar <lct." I know It well," said the little man, "but It is not easy, oh! It is not easy mt all.” "Bah. You have unearthed more difficult things than that. Do it up brown. There is only one Clew—the hat " They are not uncommon, those hats, M. l.crlche. They are not very had hats. But yet it Is a clew. If we live, wc shall see." Ho stood motionless between the bookcase and the window, like a soldier carrying arms, while M. tlinory, shak ing Ids head, said to the chief. "And this Dantin—what Impression did he make on you?" "He is a little crack brained," replied the chief. "Certainly. But guilty—you believe him guilty?” "Without doubt." "Would you condemn him?" he tjttlclily asked as he gazed searehlngly at the chief. M. Lerlche hesitated. "Would you condemn him?” M. Gi moy repeated Insistently. The chief still hesitated a moment, glanced toward the impassive Bernar cict without being able to read Ids face, •and lie said: "X do not know." CHAPTER XTH. "I do not know," thought Bernardet ms he returned home. "What one knows very well Indeed, what one cannot deny. Oh, that would be impossible! Is that on the retina of the dead man's eye, re flected there at the supreme moment of the agony? Is there found the Image of •tills Dnntln, Ills face, his features—this man, In a word, denounced by tills wit ness which Is worth all other witnesses in the world? Tills assassinated man cast a last look upon his murderer as lie called for aid—ti last cry for help In the death rattle. And this man says, 'I do r.r\t know.' But the dead man knew, anil the kodak knows also. It has no passion, no anger, without hate, because it registers what passes: fixes that which ik floating." Bernardet was obstinate in 1iIk con viction. He was pcrfectely rooted In It. VVhat If lie had not persisted in be lieving that photography would reveal The truth? What weighty reason, what even acceptable one. was there which obliged Dnntln to remain silent In the t resence of the examining magistrate : ad his registrar—in the secret Inter view of an examination—when In order tta escape a prison, an accusation, he hail only to speak two words? But If Dnntln satd nothing was It because he hail nothing to say? If he hiul given no explanation, was tt because he hud none to give? An Innocent man does not remain silent. If at the Instant when M. Glnory pressed the Ivory but ton the other day the man had been able to defend himself, would he not have done it? tine knew the secret rea son of criminals for keeping silent. Their best reason Is their guilt. Only It seemed now certain that Dan tin, although guilty, had an accomplice yes. without doubt, the man with the sombrero, the seller of the portrait. Where could he now be in hiding? '"Not easy.” Bernardet repeated the v rds, "Not easy; no. not easy at all V run him out of his rabbit hutch." .’he woman In black, the visitor, vt --uM be another important clew. On tills side the situation seemed a simple one. Or was this woman also an ac complice, and would she remain silent, Mddi in the province? Or would the death of Rovere draw her to Paris, where she might be recognized and be come a witness for Justice? But the days passed. What was called She mystery of the Boulevard de Cllchy ,-oat'vued to Interest and excite the public. Violent and perplexing parlla vnentaiy discussions could not distract attention from a crime committed In bread daylight, almost, ns one might way. hi the street, and which made one doubt the security of the city, the effi ciency of the police. The fall of a mln tstry. predicted each morning and an ticipated In advance, could not thrust aside morbid Interest In tills murder. The death of the ex-counsel was a grand actuality. Jacques Dantin thus became a dra matic personage. The reporters created legends about him. Some declared him guilty and brought up In support of their conviction some anecdotes, some tales from the clubs, given as proofs; others asked If the suppositions were sufficiently well based to accuse a man In advance of trial, anil these latter ardently took up Ills defense. Paul Ro sier had even, with much dexterity and eloquence, diplomatically written two articles, one on either side of the ques tion. “It is.' he said to himself, "the sure way of having told the truth on one side of the other." Bernardet did not renounce for an Instant the hope of finding the man who had sold the picture. It was not the first time that he had picked the needle from a cartful of hay. Paris is large, hut this human sea has Its particular currents, as the ocean has special tides, and the police officer knew it well. Here or there some day he would meet the man, cast up by the .torrent like a w«ir. First of all, the man was probably a stranger from some foreign land. Wear ing a hut like a Spaniard, he had not had time to change the style of dress of j the country from which he had come ! in search of adventures. Bernardet • haunted the hotels, searched the regis- I ters, made conversation with the lodg- j ere. lie found poor persons who had j come from foreign countries, but whose motives for coming to Paris were all ; right. Bernardet never stopped search- , fng a moment. He went everywhere, curious and prying, and it pleased him, when he found a leisure evening, to go to some of the strange wineshops or alehouses (called corbels) to find sub jects for observation. These carabets are very numerous on the outskirts of i.lontmarte. in the streets and boule vards at the foot of the Butte, bizarre Inventions, original and disagreeable creations where the ingenuity of the enterprisers sometimes made them oideous In order to attraet, to cater to the idle and to hold the loungers from uraor.g the higher classes: carabets ixini of the need for novelty which might stimulate the blase, the demand for something eccentric almost to mor bid Irony, a dance Macrebre trod to the measures of an operetta, pleasantries of the bunglers adopting the cure alls of the sawbones and Juggling with their empty heads while dreaming the dreams of a Hamlet. Carabet du Squelette! The announcement of the droll prom ises—apparitions, visions, phantoms— had often made him smile when he had passed near there to go to the prefec ture—this wineshop, the front of whlcii was bordered with black, like a letter , announcing a death, and which bore, 1 grating as It swung at the end of an iron roil, a red lantern for a sign, j His little girls, when he laughingly 1 spoke of the cabaret where the waiters were dressed like undertakers' assist ' nnts, turned pale, and plump little Mme. I Hernardet, ordinarily smiling, would say, with a sigh, "Is It possible that such sacrilegious things are permitted In the quarter?” Hernardet good naturedly replied, "Ah, my dear, where is the harm?” "I know what I am talking about,” his good wife said. "They are the pleas ure of the unhealthy minded. They mock at death as they mock at every thing else. Where will it all end? We shall soo it'!— “Or wo shall not see it,” interrupted her husband laughingly. He went In there one evening, having a little time to himself, as he would have gone Into a theater. He knew something about this Cftbaret du Hque lette (meaning the wineshop of the skeleton). He found the place very droll. A small hall which had a few months before been a common wineshop had been transformed Into a lugubrious place. The walls were painted a dead black anil were hung with a large num ber of paintings—scenes from masked balls, gondolas, parades, serenades with a balcony scene, snm-* of the lovers' rendezvous of Venice and an Ideal view of Granada, with couples gazing at each other and sighing in the gondolas on the lagoons or in the Andalusian courts, and in tills strange place with Its romantic pictures, souvenirs of Musset or of Carlo Gozzl. the tables were made In the form of colli ns with lighted candles standing upon them, and tile waiters were dressed as un dertakers' assistants, with shine black hats trimmed with crepe on their heads. "W hat poison will you drink before you die'.’" asked one ut the creatures of Bernardet. Bernardet sat and gazed about him. A few "high fliers" from the other side of Paris were there. Here and there a thief from that quarter sat alone at n table. Some elegants in white cravats, who had come here In correct evening dress, were going later, after the opeia. to sup with some premiere. The police officer understood very well whv the blase came here. They wished to jog their jaded appetites; they sought to find some piment. a curry, splco to sea son the tameness of their dally exist ence. The coffin shaped tables upon which they leaned their elbows amused them. Several of them had asked for a bttvarolse, as they were on milk diet. They pointed out to each other the gas flaming from the Jets fashioned In the form of a broken shin bone. "A little patience, my friends," said a sort of manager, wno was dressed In deep mourning. "Before long we will adjourn to the cave of death." The drinkers In white cravats shout ed. Bernardet experienced, on the con trary, what Mine. Bernardet would have called a "creepy" sensation. Seasoned as he was to the bloody and villainous aspect of crime, he felt the Instinctive shrinking of a healthy and level headed bourgeois against these drolleries of the brain diseased upper class and the pleasantries of the blase decadents. At u certain moment and after an explanation given by the manager the gas was turned off, and the lovers In the gondolas, the guitar players, the singing of Spanish songs, the dancers infatuated with the Moulin Rouge, changed suddenly In sinister fashion. In place of the blonde heads and rosy cheeks, skulls suddenly appeared. The smiles became grins which showed the teeth in their ffcshless gums. The bod ies. clothed In doublets, in velvets and satins, a moment ago. were made by some interior illumination to change Into hideous skeletons. In his mocking tones the manager explained and com mented on the metamorphosis, adding to the funeral spectacle the pleasantry of a buffoon. “See. diseased Parlstuns, what you will be on Sunday!” The light went out suddenly; the skeletons disappeared; the sighing lov ers in the gondolas on the lagoons of Venice appeared; the Andalusian sweethearts agul . gazed into each oth er's eyes and sang their love songs. Some of the women laughed, but the laughs sounded constrained. "Droll, this city of Paris,” Bernardet thought. He sat there, leaning luick against the wall, where verses about death were printed among the white tears—ns In those lodges of Free Ma sons where an outsider Is shut up in order to give him time to make his will—when the door opened and Ber nardet saw a tall young man of stal wart and resolute tfllen ebfer. A black, curly beard surrounded his pale lace! As he entered ut cast a quick glance around the l all. the air of which was rather thick with cigar smoke. He seethed to be about 30 years of age, and had the air of an artist, a sculptor! or a painter, together with something military In his carriage. But what sud denly struck Bernardet was his hat, a large, gray, felt hat. with a very wide brim, like the sombreros which the bull lighters wear. Possibly. a few people passing through Puris might be found wearing such hats. But they would probably be rare, and in order to find the seller of Jacques Dantln's portrait Ber nardet had only this one clew. "Oh, such a mean, little, weak clew! But one must use It, just the same!" Bernardet had said. What If this young man with the strange hat wa> hv chance, the un known for whom he was searching? it was not at al! probable. No. when one thought of It—not at all probable. But truth is sometimes made up of improbabilities and Bernardet again experienced the same shook, the in stinctive feeling that he laid struck the trail which he felt when the young man entered the wine shop. "That hat!” murmured Bernardet, sipping his wine and stealing glances over tin- rim ol’ Ills glass at the young man. The unknown seemed to play directly In to the police officer's hand. After standing by the door a few mo ments and looking about the place ho walked over and seated himself at tile j coffin shaped table at which Bernardet | was seated, bringing himself face to | face with the officer. One of the wait ers in his mourning dress came to take Ills order, and lighted another eandle, which he placed where Its rays fell di rectly on the young man’s face. Thus Bernardet was able to study him at his case. The pale face, with Its expres slon, uneasy ar.d slightly Intense, struck Bernardet at once. That white face, with its black beard, with Its gleaming eyes, was not to be passed by with a casual glan e. The waiter placed a glass of brandy before him; he placed his elbows on the table and leaned his chin upon his hands. He was evidently not a habitue of the place nor a resident of the quarter. There was something foreign about his appearance. His glance was steady, as that of one who searches the horizon, looks at running water, contemplates the sea, asking for some “good luck,” of the unknown. “It would be strange,” thought Ber nardet, "If a simple hat and no other clew should put us upon the track of the man for whom we are searching." At once, with the Ingenuity of a master of dramatic art. the agent be gan to plot and to put into action what lawyers, pleading and turning and twisting a cause this way and that, call an effect. He waited until the manager Informed them that they were about to pass into tho cave of death and gave them all on Invitation into the adjoining hall; •’'then, profiting by the general movement, he approached the unknown, and, almost shoulder to shoulder, he walked along beside him, through a narrow, dark passage to a little room, where, on a narrow stage, stood upright an empty coffin. It was a doleful spectacle which the Cabaret- du Squelette (tin- wineshop of the skeleton) offered to its clientele of Idle loungers and morbid curiosity seekers attracted to its halls by these exhibitions. Bernardet knew it all very well, and he knew by Just what piny of lights, what common chemical Illuminations they gave to the lookers on file sinister illusion o£ the decom position of a corpse in its narrow h&me. This phantasmagoria, to which the people from the boulevard came In or der to be amused, he had seen many times in the little theaters In the fairs at Neuilly. Tho proprietor of the ca baret had explained it to him. He hail been curious and very keen about it, anil so lie followed the crowd into this little hall to look once more at the image of a man In the coffin. He knew well to what purpose he could put it. The plfl.ee was full. Men and women were standing about. The black walls made the narrow place look stilt smaller. Occasional bizarre pleasan tries were heard and nervous laughs rang out. Why Is It that, no matter how skeptical people may be, the idea, the proximity, the appearance of death give them an impression of uneasi ness, a singular sensation which is often displayed in nervous laughs or sepulchral drolleries? Bernardet had not left the side of the young man with the gray felt hat. He could see his face distinctly in tho light of the little hall, and could study it at his ease. In the shadows which lurked about them the young man's face seemed like a white spot. The of ficer's sharp eyes never left it for a moment. The manager now asked If some one would try the experiment. This was to step into the open coffin—-that box, as he said—"from which your friends, your neighbors, c(in see you dema terialize and return to nothingness.” "Come, my friends," he continued, in his Ironical tones, “this is a fine thing. It will permit your best friends to see you deliquesce. Are there any married people here'.’ It is only a question of tasting in advance the pleasures of a widowhood. Would you like to see your husband disappear, my sister? My brother, do you wish to see your wife decompose? Sacrifice yourselves, 1 beg of you. Come, come up here! Deatli awaits you!" They laughed, but here and there a laugh sounded strident or hysterical. The laugh did not ring true, but had the sound of cracked crystal. No one stirred. This parody of death affected even these hardened spectators. “Oh, well, my friends, there is a ca daver belonging to the establishment which we can use. It is a pity. You may readily understand that we do not ) take the dead for companions." As no one among the. spectators i would enter the coffin the manager, i with a gesture, ordered one of tho , supernumeraries of the cabaret to en- ! ter. From an open door the figurant | glided across the stage and entered tho coffin, standing upright. The manager wrapped him about with a shroud, leaving only the pate face of the pre tended dead man exposed above this whiteness. The man smiled. "Ho laughs, messieurs, he laughs still,” said the manager. “You will soon see him pay for that laugh. ‘Rome ] rlt et mourut,’ as Tiassuet said." Some of the audience shouted ap- j plause to this quotation from a famous j author. Bernardet did not listen. Ho was studying from a corner of his eyo his neighbor's face. The man gazed with a sort of fascination at this fan tastic performance which was taking place before him. He frowned; he bit i bis lips; his eyes were almost fero cious in expression. The figurant in the coffin continued to laugh. (Continued Next Week.) Turn About. J. Barton King, the famous Phlla- j delphia cricketer, at a dinner, described the manners and customs of the Eng- j llsh as he had observed them during his cricketing tour. "The English lodging house,” said Mr, King, "is not of much account. I have a friend, an Oxford man, who I tried lodgings, then took a fiat. In lodgings, it seems, the landlady gouges you frightfully. ' My friend told me how he once j rebuked his landlady. She came to j him with his spirit ease. “ 'Whisky all gone, sir,’ she said. : 'Shull I get you another bottle?' " ‘Yes, I wish you would,' said ha •it's your turn.'" Discreet Prophecy. "Why do you Invariably predict the coldest winter we have had In years?” ' Well," answered Professor Blather ton, "if it comes true people necessarily give me credit for great wisdom. And if it doesn't come true they are too thankful to hold any grudge." Ma says one of the advantages of a low neck dress Is that it makes back scratch ing easy. V tiie niAL'i w. The Tragedian (Just off of the road)— Yes. sir. I was called at the end of every act. The Comedian—What did they call rout TURKS BOYCOTT THE RED FEZ WHICH IS MADE IN AMERICA * '"*"**" "" "*"" " '* " 11 ii. .. - — ■ — _ ANTI - AUSTRIAN DEMONSTRATION" AT TJ-TE SULTANAS AKHMED MOSC2,UK <3/ o' "SHAZg The red fez, which ii made in America, is absolutely boycotted by the Turks, who use the white fez, which they themselves manufacture. Note the predominance of the white fez, which is rapidly replacing the red. Dynamic of Rain Making. From the London Morning Post. The desperate expedient of rain mak ing experiments has lately been put to the proof at Oamaru, in New Zea land. The method employed was that of detonating largo quantities of ex plosives on the tops of hills. As the '•rain making” took place at about the same time that a break up of the drought was Imminent, and as human nature Inclines to a belief In the “won ders” of science, it was widely reported that In some Instances the explosions had brought the rain down. Fortunate ly the whole of the experiments were carefully recorded and supervised by a trained meteorologist, who gives an unprejudiced account of them In Sy mon’s Meteorological Magazine. Rev. D. C. Bates, the observer in question, arives at the conclusion, with which no one who Impartially surveys the facts will disagree, that the explosions of guncotton, dynamite, and gunpow der, though of considerable force, had nothing to do with evoking the rain and that the energy these artificial ex pedients developed was puny in com parison with the great natural forces which were producing a cyclone over thousands of square miles when the rain fell. In some general observations on the experiments Mr. Bates remarks that the explosions had apparently no more effect on the vast expanse of air than would the striking of a match In a room. The forces arrayed against artificial changes in the atmosphere are tremendous, and almost beyond concep tion. About a thousand units of heat are needed to transform a pound of water to vapor. When vapor is re transformed Into water latent heat Is liberated to a corresponding amount. Now an inch of rain corresponds to about 65,000 tons to the square mile. The heat developed or released, there fore, under such conditions of conden sation from vapor to water would con sequently demand an equivalent in work equal to a hundred million horse power working for half an hour. The force of the mightiest explosion with all Its gas put forth Into the air is In comparison less than a drop In a buck et. Rain making, in short, like fog dispersal, demands far greater forces than any man Is yet able to direct, produce or control. -- ♦ . — . A Self-Made Monkey. The Short One—You can't make a mon key of me. The Tall One—1 can’t without Infringing on your copyright. Conundrums, Why Is a portrait like a member of congress ? Because it Is a representative. What relation is a child to Its own father when it is not its own father's son ? A daughter. Where is the smallest bridge in the world ? On your nose. What table has no legs to stand on? The multiplication table. If a tough beef steak could speak, what English poet would It mention? Chaucer (chaw, sir!). Too Much Experience. Long and tenderly she gazed into th* count’s eyes. “How deftly," she murmured, “you touched papa for that hundred.” Then a frown ruffled her beautiful brow. “You have deceived me,” she cried, her eyes flashing fire, "I am not your first love." | CAME FROM THE WEST\ ! -♦ _ ■4 4 Some of the westerners who have successfully in 4 vailed New York, and their birthplaces are: 4 Samuel I,. Clemens, author, Florida, Mo. 4 John W. Cates, capitalist, Chicago, 111. 4 Whitelaw Reid, journalist and diplomat, Xenia, O. 4 Augustus Thomas, playwright, St. Louis, Mo. 4 Janies R. Keene, stock broker, California. 4 William 11. Hearst, journalist, San Francisco, Cal. 4 William Dean Howells, author, Martin Ferry, O. 4 Henry M. Blossom, author, St. Louis, Mo. 4 James Lane Allen, author, Lexington, Ky. 4 John H. Finley, college president. Grand Ridge, 111. 4 Dr. Simon Flexner, bacteriologist, Louisville, Ky. 4 Daniel Frohman. theatrical manager, Sandusky, O. 4 Norman Hapgood, editor, Chicago, 111. 4 Margaret Iilington, actress, Bloomington, 111. 4 William Vaughn Moody, playwright, Spencer, Ind. 4 Adolph S. Ochs, publisher, Cincinnati, O. 4 Frederick B. Opper, artist, Madison Lake, O. 4 Lloyd Osborne, author, San Francisco, Cal. 4 444444444444444444444444444444444444444441 4 Richard K. Outeault, artist, Lancaster, O. 4 Maud Powell, violinist, Peru, 111. 4. Lillian Russell, opera singer, Iowa. ^ Ervin Wardman, editor. Salt Lake City, Utah. 4 David Warfleld, actor, San Francisco, Cal. 4 Ray Stannnrd Laker, journalist, Lansing, Mich. 4 Elbert Hubbard, author, Bloomington, 111. 4 Orville Wright, aviator, Dayton, O. 4 Wilbur Wright, aviator, Millville. Ind. 4 Blanche Bates, actress, Portland, Ore. 4 David Belasco, Dramatist, San Francisco, Cal. 4 Amelia Bingham, actress, Hicksville, O. 4 Heorgc McManus, comic artist, St. Louis, Mo. 4 Joint fl. Carlisle, lawyer. Campbell County, Ky, 4 Carrie ('. Catt. woman suffragist, Ripon, Wis. 4 Irving Cobb, journalist, Shawnee County, Kansas. 4. Amalia 1C. Coudert, painter, Terre Haute, Ind. 4 Paul D. Cravath. lawyer. Berlin Heights, O. 4, Homer C. Davenport, cartoonist, Silvcrton, Ore. 4 Thomas A. Edison, Inventor, Milan, O. / 4' THE REASON. Mrs. B.: “I can't keep track of my neighbors at all any more." Mr. B.: "Are they moving in and out?” Mrs. B.: "No, but my friend, Mrs. Gossip, is ill.”