TAXATION CAUSES A RIOT
TRADESMEN 01- ROME PRO
TEST 1 HE INCREASE
Twt-ntv Thousand I'noiile March to
the Office of Minister of the In
terior Riot Ensues and one Man
Killed.
Home, Ot. 2. A large procession
erf tradesmen, headed by the pro-syndic
of Home and the president of the
bamber of commerce, marched to the
office of the minister of the interior
tliis morning to protest and confer
with the government regarding the in
creased taxation.
l'remier Kudini, who is also minis
ter of the interior, received a com
mittee and promised that, all possible
would be, done to promote friendly re
lations and greater equity between the
tax col lectors and taxpayers. In the
meantime, a large crowd of people had
collected around, angry shouts were
heard and some of those present tore
up paving stones and otherwise as
sumed a threatening attitude.
This caused the police to make an
attempt to disperse the crowd, and in
the conflict which followed six police
men were injured and one rioter was
killed.
Midnight The streets have been
quiet this evening. A sjiecial detail of
police is patrolling the district that
was the scene of the disturbance, in
all, there have been twenty-four ar
rests. The rioter who was killed has
not Ikii identified, but appears to
have Ixhti a workman. The prefect of
police has ordered dissolution of the
Roman Socialist union. Tomorrow
the pro-syndic of Itome and the pres
ident of the chamber of commerce,
who headed the procession, will be er
ceived by the Marquis di Kudini, who
will discuss the application of the in
come tax.
It is estimated that there were at
least 20,000 jxxiple in the procession
that escorted the deputation to the of
fice of the minister of the interior. The
authorities, it was evident, had failed
to make adequate provision for main
taining order in such a vast and
crowded assembly.
Placards were posted on the walla
throughout the city this morning in
viting all tradesmen to close their
shops in the afternoon from 2 o'clock
to 4 o'clock, in order to lend Imposing
character to the demonstration.
The suggestion was almost univers
ally adopted and the result was a spec
tacle unprecedented since the death of
Victor Emanuel, except that each door
closed had, instead of the legend
"Cloned for national mourning," the
inscription, "Closed for fiscal reasons."
The grievances is that thiB year the as
seHsiiiientB of Incomes by the govern
ment agents for income tax have been
doubled and trebled throughout the
country.
GENERAL NEWS.
Eddie Ha Id and Fred Laughead have
been matched for a match in Mem
phis next Monday for a purse of f.r00.
John F. Hoynton, a well known res
ident of Iominster, Mass., shot and
killed his wife and then committed
suicide by shooting.
Mrs. E. P. Iluntman was fatally
shocked by a bolt of lightning which
struck a tree near which she was
btanding at Winston, N. C.
Senator Tillman arrived in Colum
bia, S. C, this afternoon from Tren
ton, his home. He is a very sick man,
suffering from catarrhal jaundice.
Bradley W. fulling of Marshfield,
Wis., was found guilty of forgery at
Milwaukee, lie was a colonel on the
military staff of ex-Governor I'pham.
Willis A. Trask, the fugitive teller
of the First National bank of Wal
lingford, Conn., was arrested at Hali
fax. Trask's embezzlements are said
to amount to $30,000.
Judge Hancy at Chicago appointed
Joseph W. Suddard and Arthur Walsh
K-rmanent receivers for the Mechan
ics and Traders' Savings Ixian &
Building association, for which tem
IKirary receivers were appointed hist
July.
One hundred and forty-one cities
east of the Mississippi river and twenty-two
west were represented at the
Mxt annua! convention of the National
HorseHhoers' Protective association of
America, which convened at St. Iouis
yesterday.
Miss Florence, who was for two
terms postmistress at Ellzabethtown,
Ky., and who is said to have been the
daughter of ex-Governor Helm of Ken
tucky, died at New York today from
the effects of morphine taken last week
with suicidal intent.
A traci-dy in which two would-be
murderers lost their lives at the hands
of their intended victims occurred In
Arkansas county, Arkansas, six miles
south of le Witt. Jolin Cray and John
Ilurton are (load and Rolx-rt White is
In the hands of Sheriff Smith of Ar
kansas county, charged with the kill
ing.
New Hertford, Mass., celebrated Its
sennl -centennial yesterday.
A hand car was derailed from a
trestle forty-five feet high at Neweom-
orstown, O., killing two and terribly
Injiirng several.
It is asserted at Vienna that the
Hungarian government has purchased
the race horse Galtee Moore, the derby
winner, for 20,000.
The twenty-third nnnual meeting of
the National Wholesale Druggists as
toclatlon and the Proprietary assftfia
Hon opened at Richmond, Va.
A mortgage of the Chicago & Spring
field and the Illinois Central railroad
companies to the I'nlted States Trust
comnanv of New York and jonn u.
Stewart for $2,000,000 was filed In the
office of the recorder of deeds In San
gamon county, Illinois.
Gorman papers comment on (he en
terprise and business sense of the city
rovernment of Iahr. me gas worss
being the property of the town, tha
authorities have decorated all the gal
lamp with large signs In red letters
"Cook your meat with gas."
The grand Jury at Fargo. N. D.. re-
nnrted an Indictment against I'resi
dent Halyards of the First National
bank of Mlnot for alleged violation of
the national banking laws by loaning
money on mock as collateral. The vine
president and cashier turned staio
- Tldence and thus saved themselves.
VINDICTIVE IN DEATH.
' 1'1 1,-Me-l'p )
I'll ;t nil;, in i;iv r'evel H letter
fciij a private mHicr named Gratni.ir,
iitt.ti lied to the garrison at San l'rali
in. I had known him but slightly,
the ai iiuaititaiiie having come alxiul
through his interest in some stories
whi'h I had published, and which be
had a way of calling "psychological
studies." He was a dreamy, romantic,
tine grained lad, proud as a tiger lily
and sensitive as a, bltteliejl. What
mad caprice led him to join the army
I never knew; but I did know that
there he was wretchedly out of place,
and I foresaw that hiB rude and re
pel la nt environment would make of
him in time a deserter, or a suicide, or
a murderer. The letter at first seemed
a wild outpouring of despair, for it in
formed me that before it should reach
me its author would be dead by his
own hand. But when I had read fur
ther I understood its spirit, end I
realized how coolly formed a scheme
it discolsed and how terrible it pur
port was intended to be. The worst of
the contents was the information that
a certain officer (whom he named) ahd
driven him to the deed, and that he
was committing suicide for the sole
purpose of gaining thereby the power
to revenge himself upon his enemy! I
learned afterward that the officer had
received a similar letter.
This was so puzzling that I sat down
to reect upon the young man b pecu
liarities. He had always seemed Bome
what uncanny, and had I proved more
systematically he doubtless would have
gone further and told me of certain
problems which he professed to have
solved concerning the life beyond this.
One thing that he had said came back
vividly: "If I could only overcome that
purely gross and animal love of life
that makes us all shun death I would
kill myself, for I know how far more
iwwerful I could 1e in spirit than in
flesh."
The manner of thes uicide was start
ling, and that was what might have
been expected from this odd character.
Evidently scorning the flummery of
funerals, he had gone Into a little
cannon near the military reservation
and blow himself into a million frag
ments with dynamite, so that all of
him that was found was some minute
particles of flesh and lnine.
I kept the letter a secret, for I de
sired to observe the officer without
rousing his suspicion of my purpose.
It would be an admirable test of a dead
man's power and deliberate Intention
to haunt the living, for so I interpreted
the letter. The olilcer thus to be pun
ished was an oldish man, short, apo-
pletlc, overbearing and Irascible. Gen
ially he was kind to most of the men
In a way. but he was gross and mean,
and Uhat explained nufllwently bis
harsh treatment of young Gratmar,
whom he could not understand, and
his efforts to break that flighty young
man's spirit.
Not very long after the suicide cer
tain modifications in the officer's con
duct became apparent to my watch
ful oversight. His choler, though none
the less sporadic, developed a quality
which had come of the characteristics
of senility, and yet he was still in his
prime and passed for a sound man.
He was a bachelor and had lived al
ways alone, but presently he began to
shirk solitude at night and court It
in daylight. His brother officers
chafed him, and thereup ho would
laugh in a rather forced and sily fash
ion quite different from the ordinary
way with him, and would sometimes,
on these occasions, blush so violently
that his face would become almost
purple. His soldierly alertness and
sterness relaxed surprisingly at some
times, and at others were exaggertod
into unnwssary acerbity, his conduct
in this regard sugegsting that a
drunken man who knows that he is
drunk and who now and then makes
a brave effort to appear soIkt. All
these things and more indicating some
mental strain, or some dreadful ap
prehension, or perhaps something
worse than either, were olserved
partly by an Intelligent officer whose
watch uiHn the man had been secured
by me.
To be more particular, the afflicted
man was observed often to start sud
denly and in alarm, lxk quickly round
and make som unintelligent mono
syllabic, answer, seemingly to an
audible question that no visible per
son had asked. He acquired the repu
tation, too, of having taken lately to
nightmares, for in the middle of the
night he would shriek In the most
dreadful fashion, alarming his room
mates prodigiously. After these at
tacks he would sit up in bed, his ruddy
face devoid of color, his eyes glassy
anil shining, his breathing broken
with gasps and his body wet with a
cold prespiration.
Knowledge of these developments
and transformations spread through
out the garrison, but the few (mostly
women) who dared to express sympa
thy or suggest a tonic encountered so
violent rebuff h that they blessed heav
en for escaping alive from his word
volleys. Kven the garrison surgeon,
who had a kindly manner, anil the
commanding general, who was con
structed on dignified and impressive
lines, received little thanks for their
solicitude. Clearly the doughty old of
ficer, who had fought like a bulldog
In two wars and a hundred battles,
was suffering deeply from some un
dlseoverable malady.
The next extraordinary thing which
he did was to visit onn evening (not
so clandestinely as to escape my
watch) a spirit medium extraordinary
because he hail always scoffed nt the
Idea of spirit communications. I saw
him as he was leaving the medium's
rooms. Ills face was purple, his eyes
were bulging and terrified and he tot
tered In his walk. A policeman, seeing
his distress, advanced to assist him,
whereupon the soldier hoarsely beg
ged.: "Call a hack."
Into It he fell and asked to be driv
en to his quarters. I hastily ascended
to the medium's rooms and found her
lying unconscious on the floor. Soon,
with my aid, she recalled her wits,
but her conscious state was even more
alarming that the other. At first she
regarded me with terror, and cried:
"It Is horrible for you to hound him
so!"
I assured her that I was hounding
no one.
"Oh, I thought you were the spirit
Imean I h hut It was standing
exactly where you are!" she ex
claimed. "I HtipjioBO so," I agreed, "but ou
can see (hut hid not the young man's
fplrli. However. I am familiar with
this whole case, maitam, and If I can
be of any service in the matter I
should be glad If you will inform me.
I am aware that our friend is iHTsecnt
ed by a spirit., which visits him fre
quently, anil 1 am positive that through
you it has informed him that the end
Is not far away, and that our elderly
friend's death will assume some ter
rible form. Is there anything that I
can do to avert the tragedy?"
The woman stared at me in horrified
slilenee, "How do you know these
things?" she gasped.
"That is immaterial. When will the
tragedy occucrr? Can I prevent it?"
"Yes, yes!" she exclaimed. 'It will
happen this very night. Hut no earthly
power can prevent it."
She came close to me and looked at
me with an expression of the most
acute terror.
"Merciful God! what will become of
me? He Is Is to be murdered, you un
derstandmurdered in cold blood by a
spirit and he knows it, and I know
it. If he is spared long enough he
will tell them at the garlson and they
will all think that I had something
to do with it! Oh, this is terrible, ter
rible, and yet I dared not say a word
in advance nobody there would be
lieve in what the spirits say, and they
will think that I had a hand In the
murder! "
"I$e assured that he will say noth
ing about It," I said; "and if you keep
your tongue from wagging you need
fear nothing."
With this and a few other hurried
words of comfort I soothed her and
hastened away.
For I had interesting work on hand;
it is not often that one may be in such
a murder as that! I ran to a livery
stable, secured a swift horse, mounted
him and spurred furiously or the res
ervation. The hack, with Its generous
start, had gone far on its way, but
my horse was nimble, and his legs felt
the pricking of my eagerness. A few
miles of this furious pursuit brought
me within sight of the hack, just as it
was crossing a dark ravine near the
reservation. As I came nearer I im
agined that the hack swayed some
what, and that a fleeing shadow es
caped form it into the tree banked
wall of the ravine. I certalnl was not
In error with regard to the swaying,
for It had roused the dull notice of
the driver. I saw him turn, with an
air of alarm in his action, and then
pull up with a heavy swing of the
reins. At this moment I dashed up
and halted.
"Anything the matter?" I asked.
"I don't know," he answered, get
ting down. "I felt the carriage sway
and 1 see that the door's wide open.
Guess my load thought he'd sobered
up enough to get out and walk wlth
oua troubling me or his pocketbook."
Meanwhile I too had alighted; then
I struck a match, and by its light we
discovered through the open door the
"load" huddled confusedly on the floor
of the hack, face upward and looking
altogether vulgar, misshapen and mis
erably unlike a soldier. It neither
moved nor spoke when we called. We
hastily clambered within and lifted
him upon the seat, but his head rolled
about with an awful looseness and
freedom, and another match disclosed
a ghastly dead face and wide open
eyes that stared horribly at nothing.
"You had better drive the body to
headquarters," I said:
Instead of following I cantered back
to town, housed my horse and went
straightway to bed; and this will
prove to be the first information that
I was the "mysterious man on a horse"
whom the coroner could never find.
About a year afterward I received
the folowinlg letter (which is observed
to be in fair English) from Stock
holm, Sweden:
"Dear Sir: For some years I have
been reading your remarkable psycho
logical studies with great Interest, and
I take theliberty to suggest a theme
for your able pen. I have just found
in a library here a newspaper dated
about a year ago, In which is an ac
cunt of the mysterious death of a mil
litary officer in a hack.
Then followed the particulars as I
have already detailed them, .and the
very theme of post mortem revenge
which I have adopted In this settling
out of facts. More extraordinary still
Is his suggestion that In the dynamite
explosion a dog or a quarter of beef
might as well have been employed as
a sulclde-mlnded man; that, in short,
the man might not have killed him
self at all, but mlgfit have employed a
presumption of such an occurrence to
render more effective a physical per
secution ending in murder by the liv
ing man who iioscd as a spirit. The
latter even suggested an arrangement
with a spirit medium.
The only remaining disclosure that
r in prepared to make Is that my cor
respondent signed himself "Ramtarg,"
an odd-sounding name, but for all I
know it. may be respectable in Sweden.
in the Dutch army a man must be
able to swim as well as to fight. More
over, if he is In the cavalry he must
have a horse which will take a river
as easily as a hunter takes a fence.
Swimming manoeuvcrs are part of the
regular drills nowadays. Collapsible
canvas boats, manned by a few oars
men, lead the horses, so that they do
not attempt to land on stone quays and
other difficult points. The men swim
across with their horses and on them.
They swim in swimming costume and
In all the accoutrements of war. There
are few nautical emergencies for which
the Dutch army Is not prepared. Some
of the officers have even reached that
degree of proficiency that not only
their horses and kits cross the rivers
with them, but their very pet dogs sit
upon their shoulders and are borne
over also.
Have a mission In life. He of some
account. Io not court responsibility,
neither shirk It when It Is laid upon
you. See God's hand In every move
ment, and note Its bearing upon you
personally. He has use for you some
where, and often where you least ex
pect. Fall In line with His will from
time to time. He may not have a con
spicuous place for you to labor, but
He will bring out, If you follow His
guidance and are' faithful, your talents
In the sphere where you can do the
best for His and for others. Presby
terian. , .
A LYING LOVE.
( Ronton Guardian.)
Mr. Gregory Gilmour. suliiiior,
Wakefield, in the county of Yolk, was
i'lieed by a gnat number il d. !
HightcJ pei fie to be tine of the fiteM.
lawyers in England. He was some
thing more. He was an astute man of
the world, who dearly loved plasure,
but who had far too hard a head to
ever allow the unruly jade to run away
wiih hjm. His wife had died in giving
birth to his only son, Frank, and he
was certainly one of the gayest widow
ers Wakefield had ever seen.
He hunted, he kept a liberal table.
and he made love with a reckless lib
erality that not a little scandalized
some of the god people of bis native
town. At the period of our story he
was 5 years of age, upright as a dart,
tall, slim, with a young, fresh-colored,
hairless face. His appearance had not
altered since he was 30 years of age,
and it appeared probable that another
twenty years might pass over him
without any material change.
One day his son, who, without tak
ing the trouble to notify his father,
was about to marry the lady of his
heart, received a letter from his father
ordering him to go to Wakefield upon
business of the utmost importance.
When he reached his home h was sur
prised to learn that Mr. Gilmour had
len called suddenly away to the
ncrth. He had, however, left a mes
sage to the effect that his son was to
remain in Wakefield until his return.
He stayed in the pleasant, sleepy
little town for some ten days, at the
end of which period the post brought
him two remarkable letters.
One was from lady love. It contain
ed three words:
"Good-bye for ever!"
The other was signed by a Mrs.
Chambers, under whose roof Frank
had first met the woman of his choice.
It implored him to return at once to
Paisley. Some villain, Bhe said, had
stolen Rosa's heart from him, and the
poor, bewitched girl had run away
with her new lover.
Frank read these letters with amaze
ment. At first he refused to believe
that Rosa, whom he had loved with
such unselfish devotion, had tricked
and jilted him. He had such supreme
faith in her truth and purity that it
was impossible for him to associate
her with aught that was dishonest and
cruel. During his tedious journey to
Paisley he promised himself that Mrs.
Chambers had been mistaken, and that
when he came to thoroughly sift the
matter he would find that his darling
ed utppj. r as.hhimb vhgkq vbgkq bgk
Rosa had been wonderfully misjudged.
Hut when he entered the little house
his heart fell within him and nearly
all his hope fled. The good old lady
had so changed that he hardly knew
her. Her eyes were red with weeping
and deep purple rings surrounded
them. The kindly face was worn, and
haggard and sadly thin.
He took lxth her trembling hands
and pressed them gently in silence.
Then he led her to a chair and said:
"Tell me everything. Do not spare
me one detail. I can bear the truth
better than doubt."
Ere she could speak Mrs. Chamber's
tears flowed fast.
"My tale is a short one," she said at
last. "Dear, dear! it all seems like a
nasty dream. Sometimes I sit here and
fancy that her bright face will appear
before me as it used, and that all athat
troubles me is but the wandering of an
idle, foolish brain. I am Borry for you,
Mr. Gilmour, indeed, indeed I am."
"Come, come," he said; compose
yourself, and let me know the whole
misFerable truth."
"Soon after you went away," said the
tearful woman, "I noticed a great
change in Rosa's manner. She became
absent-minded, dull, and more than
once I saw that she had been weeping.
I pressed her to tell me the cause of
her sorrow, but she always maintained
that she was happy and she had noth
ing to grieve her. She went out more
frequently than she "had been in the
habit of doing, and often at inconven
ient hours. I did not care to chide her,
but I confess that her frequent absence
from home perpexed me. Perhaps I
ought to have inquired more strictly
into her movements, and God forgive
me if I did not take sufficient care of
her. Thinking that she would soon
leave me to be your wife I felt that
It would be ungracious of me at such a
time to scold her or to compel her to
pay more attention to her duties. One
afternoon a gossiping woman, who
often conies into my shop, told me that
she had seen Rosa walking arm in arm
with a gentleman In a little-used thor
oughfare In the outskirts of the town.
I lost my temper, and I declared that
the woman's statement was untrue;
nevertheless I questioned Rosa on the
subject. She indignantly denied the
accusation, but something in her man
ner convinced me that she was guilty
I cannot properly explain to you what
a cruel shock this discovery was to me.
I was too upset to pursue the subject
then, but I resolved that when the
evening came, and after the shop was
closed and we were alone, that I wauld
strive to bring her to a sense of her
duty to you. Hut I never saw her
again. Within half an hour after 1
had spoken to her she had flown, and
this was all she left behind her."
Mrs. Chambers drew a orumpled let
ter from her pocket and gave it to
Frank; and then she buried her face in
her handkerchief and appeared to be
disinclined for further conversation.
This was the letter Rose left for Mrs.
Chambers. It was written hastily and
there was a certain hardness about the
phraseology that bespoke a heart
numbed by grief:
"You have been kinder to me than
my mother ever was, and you will
think me very bad and ungrateful to
leave you as I do. God knows I have
no choice. I must go, and go even as I
go now. It Is all for the best for you,
for Mr. Gilmour, for my wretched self."
So it ended. She had forgotten to
sign her name.
"Is there nothing else?" he asked, In
n low tone, "no other clew?"
Fur some time Mrs. Chambers re
mained silent. After an effort she said,
though still holding her face:
"Slip did leae something else, but not
willingly not knowingly."
"What did she leave?" he asked anx
iously. After another pause Bhe placed a key
In his hand, saying:
"That is the key of her bedroom. I
have kept It locked ever since i-he left
On her dressing table you will find
something 1 picked up from the floor "
She turned from him for her heart
was so full she could hardly speak. He
pressed her forehead gently with his
lips and left her.
As Frank went up stairs lightly
holding the key she had given him in
his hand, he muttered between his set
teeth:
"I will find the man who has taken
her from me. and when I find him I
will kill him."
He paused before the door. He turn
ed the lock with strange reluctance,
and when he stood upon the threshold
of the little room which was still fra
grant with the odor of sweet flowers,
he again hesitated.
She had gone and was unworthy of
him; she had proved truthless, and he
of all men should cherish no respect
for her. Still that apartment seemed
to him sacred, and a feeling of guilt
took possession of him as he entered it.
He walked t othe dressing table and
at first he saw nothing. Then he no
ticed that a photograph was on the
center of it, lying face downward. He
thrust his hand out greedily to secure
it the thought running through his
brain that it was the likeness of the
man who robbed him of his love, and
that now he would not have much trou
ble In tracking him.
He picked up the carte. There were
some words written on the back of it,
and there he read with feverish haste.
As he perused them his face became
even more pallid than before and beads
of perspiration stood upon his fore
head. The words were:
"Yours very dearly, Gregory Gil
mour." He let the thing fall from his hand.
As it fell it turned, and now it lay upon
the dressing table face upward. This
face was his father's the face of Greg
ory Gilmour of Wakefield, solicitor and
esquire.
II.
Mr. Gregory Gilmour, composed,
pleasant looking and dressed irre
proachably, sat in his easy chair,
sometimes smiling, more often study
ing his almond nails. Before him
white, passionate, a fiery indignation
blainginhis eyes stood his son, speak
ing hoarsely and trembling as he
spoke,
"I swore in my heart," Frank de
clared, with intense though subdued
earnestness, "that when I discoereU
the man who had stolen her from trie
I would kill him. I had scarcely so
sworn before the horrid truth was made
manifst to me that the scoundrel was
my father, and being my father, his
hellish villainy must go unpunished."
Mr. Gilmour smiled.
"Well done, Frank! Quite melorda
matic I declare. When I was your age
I would have done he same thing my
self; though perhaps notquiteso well
not quite so well."
"Don't mock my misery," the young
man cried, impetuously. It is a hard,
a biter a wicked feeling to cherish, but
I despise you, I abhor your name. I
wish to God I had died before I knew
this shame."
"Sons," said Mr. Gilmour, with a
tinge of bitterness in his tone, "are
slow to pardon their parents' errors.
This is strange, seing how much par
ents have to forgive. Even now I am
doing a great thing I am pardoning
your insolence.
Frank turned from the speaker with
a gesture of impatience and disgust.
"ome, young gentleman" Mr. Gil
mour spoke authoritatively "I want
to talk to you. Don't run away; so far
you have had all the conversation to
yourself. You must now listen to me."
Seeing that Frank evinced no dispo
sition to remain in the room, he cried,
sternly:
"Sit down sir! While you are in my
house you shall obey me."
Sullenly Frank threw himself into a
distant chair and his father smiled.
"I've a little story to tell you, Frank.
Perhaps you'd like a glass of wine
while you listen to it not that you
will find it dull by any means. It is
all about the young lady you know by
the name of Rosa Noyce. You don't
care about any wine as you like
about that; personally I prefer a glass
of sherry. Perhaps you will touch the
bell? Thank you." Turning to the ser
vant who answered the ring he contin
ued: You can bring the sherry decan
ter here and two glasses." To his son
he added: "I dare say before I have
finished you will be anxious to drink
with me."
No man, perhaps, looked more
wretched than did Frank Gilmour at
that moment. He sat with his head
bent upon his chest, his hand clenched
his face, ghastly white, his eyes light
less.
The lawyer poured out two glasses of
wine. Sipping one he commenced his
story in as pleasant and lazy a tone
s though he were relating some enter
taining incident that had occurred at
Lord Badtaste's dining table.
"I-ast year, while you were away in
Scotland, I became mixed up with a
very extraordinary forgery case. The
crime had been committed in London
but one of ther principal sufferers
chanced to be my very oldest client.
and so It came that I was consulted
about the matter. I need not bother
you with the details of the case. The
Important facts for you to know are
simply these: The culprit was a man
named Morris, an adroit swindler, a
heartless, designing knave, who, un
fortunately for society, had the fasci
nating manner of cultivated man of
means. Men of the world were deceived
by his plausible tongue and his elegant
exterior, and he was particularly suc
cessful in blinding the ladles. Some
time before his conviction he had won
the confidence and affection of a young
lady of blamless life and good family.
He Induced her to run away from home
to be secretly married to him. Shortly
after this union the infatuated girl
discovered the true character of the
fellow who had tempted hereto forget
her duty to her father. She was wed
ded to a penniless swindler of the
worst class. What the feelings of a
confiding, stainless girl would be upon
making such a discovery you can per
haps understand. She regarded her
husband with abhorrence, and she
hated herself for ever having listened
to him. She resolved that she would
leave him forever. Taking nothing
with her but a small handbag she es
caped her husband's house, and was
never hoard of again by her friends.
Some thought she was dead, others
that she had gone abroad. It happened
that before her marriage to the fellow
Mortid I had known her and her fami
ly, and during the time we were prose
cuting Mm 1 often thought of the poor
deceived girl. He w:s sentenced to a
long term of imprisonment. Frank,
drink you: wine. What 1 have to tell
you now directly concerns you."
Mechanical' the young man did as
he was told. A change was slowly
passing over his face. His head was
no longer bent upon his chest. He
looked into his father's eyes eagerly.
"My friend at Glasgaw," continued
Mr. Gilmour, "in whose office I placed
you some time back, recently wrote to
me to the effect that you were making
an ass of yourself over some obscure
girl at Paisley. Mr. Redfern had seen
you with her at Glasgow, and it had
come to his knowledge that you had
taken a house, and it was pretty evi
dent that you intended marrying her
almost immediately. Since you had
not thought it worth while to consult
me upon the suhect, I determined to
see for myself the woman you contem
plated giving your name to. I wrote
to you asking you to come here, and I
journeyed to Glasgow. Mr. Redfern
accompanied me to Paisley. I was
saved the trouble of caling upon Mrs.
Chambers, for in the street we met the
young lady to whom you were engaged.
To my amazement I recognized her
She was Mrs. Morris, the convict's
wife."
"I was afraid that was coming," said
Frank, in a low nervous tone.
"I had always sympathized with the
girl's unhapy lot. but my sympathy
was not sufficiently strong to close my
eyes to the fact that the bigamous mar
riage she proposed would irretrievably
ruin my son. I had more than one in
terview with her, and at these inter
views I urged her to abandon you. She
said that she could never look you in
the face if she jilted you. I advised
her to leave Paisley. I provided her
with the necessary funds. I had, I
thought, at least saved my son much
pain and suffering."
"You must forgive me my violence,"
Frank pleaded in a scarcely audible
tone. "I am sorry for the words I used
to you just now. Still still," he went
on wistfully, "perhaps I would rather
have ben left in ignorance."
"Wait until you have heard all I
have to say," he smiled at Frank as he
spoke. "When I saw Mrs. Morris at
Paisley I had no idea that her wicked
husband was dead "
"Dead!" cried Frank, joyfully,
"dead!"
"Yes, dead. The folish girl did not
tell me so. She imagined that I ob
jected to her marriage with my son
because her husband had ben a convict,
and rot because I thought that he was
still alive. It appears that he died in
his cell "
"Thank God for that!" Frank mur
mured, forgetting how indecent his
gratitude was.
"Now that the girl is free," Mr. Gil
mour went on, "I confess I am indif
ferent whether you marry the young
lady or not. I may, however, mention
that within the past few days Rosa's
father has also died and has left her
a large sum of money, nearly 15,000,
and that Rosa herself is in this house
at this present moment."
Frank started from his chair and ran
to the door. Suddenly he paused.
Turning to his father he said:
"On Rosa's table I found a photo
graph." "Possibly," Mr. Gilmour returned,
dryly. "It seems that at one of our
interviews I dropped it pulled it out
with my handkerchief or something of
that kind, and she carried it home with
her intending to give it back to me.
In a few days you'll know who it was
intended for, I am tired of being a
bachelor. There, you mercenary young
rascal, go . and comfort your 15,000."
Ere his father had finished speaking
Frank had left the room. In another
moment Rosa was nestling in his arms.
"When I went to Paisley," he whis
pered, "I thought that you were a lying
love "
"And so I was," she said, dropping
her swimming eyes, "but I could not "
She said no more. His passionate kiss
es smothered her words.
Dr. H. M. Bracken, secretary to the
Minnesota board of health, stated to
that body at its last meeting that his
salary, $3,500 a year, was excessive,
and suggested that it be reduced to
$2,500. His request created much sur
prise, but was complied with.
Governor Atkinson of Georgia, in a
speech to some veterans, claimed and
presented figures satisfactorily show
ing that his state pays about as much
money in pensions to ex-Canfederate
veteran soldiers as all the other South
ern states together.
I heard a story the other day,
says a writer in the Washington Post,
from Kennebunkport, that remote
Maine village, which Assistant Post
master General Heath declares is the
only summer resort in New England
worth while. A certain man up there
bought an old farm, and having re
moved the grave stones from the an
cient burying grounds on it, proceed
ed to plow up the spot with the inten
tion of making small potatoes of the
ancestors of some of Maine's first fam
ilies. The first families protested
against the desecration, and demanded
that the stones be restored. The new
owner was obliging, but he was well,
he was a Maine Yankee, and he didn't
mean to give up his potato field, so he
set the stones up as a sort of fence
about his field. They made a very
good fence, the first families were sat
isfied, and the potato crop was one of
the largest in the state.
A bishop of the Methodist church
was preaching a sermon on the vanity
of dress, and Incidentally alluded to
people who wore velvet and gold orna
ments. After the sermon a distinguished
member of his conference approached
him and said: "Now bishop, I know
you were striking at me, for I have a
velvet veBt and a heavy watch chain."
The bishop smiled, passed his hand
over the vest, touched the chain, and
then said, with a merry twinkle In his
eye: "No, really, Brother B., for the
vest you wear Is only a cotton velvet
and I am half persuaded that your
watch chain Is brass." Atlanta Constitution.