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VI
5
THE FATAL REQUEST
OR FOUND OUT-
By A L Harris Author of Mine Own Familiar Friond etc
Copyright 1S9 1 by Oat set I publishing Company
Copyright l 9 o J bystreet Smith
CHAPTER XXV Continued
The train started on the journey
which was to end in its destruction
and mile after mile sped away in si
lence Qnce more the feeling of re
straint had settled down upon us and
this time heavier than before
Then I remember a sudden awful
never-to-be-forgotten crash followed by
cries and shrieks such as havejauig
in my ears ever since JP
I found myself flung violently for
ward against the opposite side of the
compartment amid the smashing of
woodwork and with the presentiment
of some awful doom upon me Iwas
half stunned but recovering myself
found that I was not much hurt Then
I remembered my companion and
turned my attention to him
Silas I cried Are you hurt
But before he could reply another
sound was added to the awful babel of
cries and groans all around
Tire Are we heard shrieked in
voices mad with terror mingled with
agonizing cries for help The atmos
phere became stifling a sickening in
supportable odor was wafted towards
us and clouds of thick black suffocat
ing smoke began to drift past
Silas I shouted in mad terror
to my friend come exert yourself
it you wish to escape instant atli
And I caught him rom body
and tried to compel him e but
in vain he only gave ream of
agony i
Save yourself he s Janed I can
not stir and I think my leg is b oken
I was almost demented and tore at
the shattered woodwork which made
his prison with my fingers but only
fo increase his agony without freeing
n im from his horrible position And
already the atmosphere was like that
of a furnace and hell itself seemed to
be open I could not save him but I
might save myself I knew the door
on the other side was unlockeJ so that
I might attempt to escape that way
CHAPTER XXVI
Dr Jeremiahs Little Bill
This was all The reader drew a
long shuddering breath My God
he whispered voice and everything
seemlns to fan him the moment in
s
the face of the revelation which had
burst upon him My God To think
that I should know the truth at last
But how marvelous How utterly be
yond the realization of my wildest
dreams
Not for an instant did it ocsur to
him to think the narrative false It
was too astounding and what was
more it agreed so exactly with all the
strange and hitherto mysterious cir
cumstances which had attended the
tragedy And the man he had wrong
ed the man he had hunted down and
would have betrayed to death believ
ing him to be the vilest of his species
whose whole nature he had read
falsely by the light of his unjust sus
picions His eyes were closed he
seemed to be hardly breathing Had
he fainted or was ihis death
Was he to be left alone and in the
dark with a dead or dying man
He rushed to the door and dashed
out of the house in search of a doc
tor
James Ferrers was not dead but
the nearest medical man on being
summoned to the house shook his
head over tlie case
Heart he said briefly Get him
to bed I do not think he will ever
need to get up again
By this time the vhole household
was roused and the sick mans daugh
ter was hanging in speechless grief
over her fathers unconscious form
At one time it was feared that he
would pass away unconscious but the
untiring application of restoratives
was at last productive of some effect
and two or three hours later the dy
ing man opened his eyes
He saw his daughter kneeling be
side his pillow and not far away his
old friends son Avho by some means
had asserted and maintained a right
to remain in the sick room
The doctor seeing that the patient
had regained consciousness for a while
before the end stood aside so as not
WMMmSami ml sn
I have nothing to forgive was the broken answer
I prepared for flight but before I
had taken the first step I was stayed
by my friends voice
James he cried and the roaring
of the flames almost drowned his
voice which was sharp and shrill with
horror put me out of my misery
Save yourself but shoot me through
the brain first Quick quick
It was the most merciful death
and without pausing a second which
on that awful day might have meant
a human life I drew the revolver
placed it to his temple My God
from the reader and pulled the
trigger Even as I heard the report a
thin tongue of flame curled upward
through the splintered flooring and
without even looking back without
even a glance at the face of my friend
forced open the door and sprang from
the now burning carriage with the
smoking weapon still grasped in my
right hand In doing so I trod upon
some smouldering timber and
wrenched irv ankle severely so that
for a long time I was lame
A few hours later and I was con
veyed to town together with a com
pany of the other survivors and as
soon as I reached my destination my
strength forsook me and I was pros
trated for days by a nervous illness
the result of my late terrible experi
ence
When I recovered it was to find
that there was a hue and cry already
after me that the partially consumed
corpse of a first class passenger had
been discovered snot through the head
and that all the evidence pointed to
the crime having been committed by a
fellow traveler who had made his es
cape during the terror and confusion
of the catastrophe and who was being
eagerly sought for
Since then 1 have had to submit to
the ordeal of seeing myself confronted
by the reward of one hundred pounds
offered for my detection and have
lived in daily and hourly fear of being
charged with tne committal of this
crime if crime it can be called of
which I was guiltless in thought if
not in deed It is this which is kill
ing me and I do not regret it
Sometimes I regret nothing not
even the shot which took my best
friends life and branded me with the
brand of Cain
to interfere with those last solemn
moments
The dying mans gaze rested upon
the young man who in obedience to
a gesture approached and bent over
him with a strange intensity and his
lips moved
Do you forgive he murmured
close to the others ear so that the
words might be heard by none but
him for whom they were intended
I have nothing to forgive was the
broken answer You acted for the
best and I bless you for it
A look of peace fell upon the corpse
like countenance upon the pillow and
he turned his eyes again upon his
daughter
Dont grieve much for me my
child said he and when I am
gone
He gave a deep sigh his eyes closed
and his head fell a little to one side
The doctor pressed forward
This is the end he said and a
very peaceful one
But it was not quite the end
Once more the dying eyes opened
and fixed themselves upon the pale
remorseful face of the young man who
had once hoped to see him expiate his
deed upon the scaffold
Then he turned them rom him to
the bowed head of the girl who knelt
with her face hidden upon the other
side of the bed and back again His
lips moved for the last time but no
words issued from them
He tried again and this time
though there was no sound it seemed
to the other who had his eyes fixed
upon them and his ear strained to
catch the lightest whisper that the
motion of the lips might be translated
into the words Keep my secret
I will I will he answered and
even as he uttered these words the
end came
The next day Ted Burritt returned
home unexpected
The first thing he did was to write
a brief summary of events to Dr Jere
miah Cartwright who in spite of the
very short time which had elapsed
since his last visit again made his ap
pearance at Magnolia Lodge osten
sibly to hear further details but more
particularly to carry out a deep laid
scheme of his own
And what do you mean to do eh
I mean about the young lady Oh
you neednt look as though you dont
understand what I am talking about
Ive not forgotten what you told me
about her What a beautifulblush
And the little gentleman chuckled
then all at once became
ally grave By-the-by he said slow
ly and with a noticeable tendency to
avoid his friends eye about that bill
of mine
Ted looked surprised --
Bill he repeated
Yes bijl continued the4 doctor
You didnt suppose I vas gojng to let
you off did you You havent forgot
ten what I said a little while back
about sending one In have you
The young man looked and felt non
plussed
I have made up my mind to take it
in kind
What I mean is continued Dr
Cartwright that Instead of receiving
payment for whatever servicesfmay
have rendered in ready money I am
willing to take it out in some other
article
And what might that article be
was the natural but still perplexed in
quiry
Your sister was the brief and
much to the point response
By Jove was the exclamation it
called forth followed by you dont
mean it
Dont I though Tvas the deter
mined reply Ive been meaning it
for some time past Whats more
Ive sounded the young lady I dont
mean with a stethoscope and she
wasnt half so much surprised as you
seem to be
The brother of the young lady in
question burst out laughing
I suppose I shall have to give in
and I may as well do it sooner than
later
About three months later a gentle
man in the most irreproachable attire
called at the residence of the late
James Ferrers Esq of Belmont
House Hampstead and requested to
see Miss Ferrers
That young lady who had descended
to encounter her visitor quite in ignor
ance as to his identity was confounded
beyond measure to discover in the
supposed stranger none other than
that same individual whom she had
first met at the Royal Academy and
who had afterwards occasioned her the
greatest perplexity of mind by doub
ling the part of the young man who
waited at table and cleaned the plate
Only he had grown the loveliest
moustache and it seemed perfectly im
possible to imagine for a moment that
he had ever done such a thing as
polish the forks and spoons and make
himself generally useful
Ted plunged at once into the object
of his Aisit
I should have called much sooner
he remarked Avith a compassionate
glance at her deep mourning but was
afraid of intruding upon your retire
ment I have a statement to make
an explanation to give which I cannot
withhold any longer
He came nearer to her and oh the
presumption of the creature actually
ventured to take her hand
Do you remember being at the
Academy one day last June and drop
ping your catalogue
Did she not But she made no
audible reply and the explanation thus
propitiously commenced was continued
without any interruption beyond an oc
casional stifled exclamation on the
part of its recipient
It is not necessary however to re
port the whole of what passed during
the interview A certain portion only
of it need be referred to as being of
some interest
And you really mean to say said
Miss Ferrers to the young man you
really mean to say that you fell in love
with me then and there and took the
situation and put up with everything
just for the sake of being under the
same roof with me
He looked at her strangely for a
moment before answering
What other reason could there have
been he asked
She clapped her hands together in
delight
Whatever will the girls at school
say to this
The End
Beechers Deacon Went to Sleep
Pew sleepers are one of the bug
bears of preacners said the Rev
Robert Collyer the veteran New York
minister I can speak feelingly
from experience On one occasion
when Henry Ward Beecher asked me
to go to Plymouth Church to talk to
his people he remarked jokingly let
us hope that most of them were hard
working folk who needed plenty of
rest on Sunday and he felt that a ser
mon trom me might be gratefully re
ceived
In the course of my talk I men
tioned this and said that it was how
ever a matter upon which my feelings
could not be hurt and that I owed this
imperviousness to Mr Beecher him
self I told them that one Sunday
years before when I was attenling a
service at old Plymouth and Mr
Beecher was thundering forth I saw
one of his deacons asleep in a f ront
pew
I went on to say that always after
this whenever I saw a man slumber
ing peacefully through my most stir
ring efforts in the pulpit I would say
to myself Well let him sleep even
the great Beecher cant keep em all
awake Success
The Vogue of Pantalets
Pantalets came into vogue about
1820 They were loose flapping frills
tied on under the knee and hanging
over the foot The strings generally
broke or slipped down and one learns
of a young mothers trials with those
horrid things in a letter quoted by
Mrs Earle which says My finest
dimity pair with real Swiss lace i
quite useless to me for I lost off one
leg I saw that mean Mrs Spring
wearing it last week for a tucker My
help says slie wont stay if she has
to wash more than seven pairs a week
for Myrtilla
J
THE HEAftST BOOM
MOVEMENT FOR FREE TRADE
BEHIND IT
Calamitous Results That Followed the
Adoption of This Policy In 1892
Would Repeat Themselves Work
Ingmen Will Do Well to Remember
The boom of William Randolph
Hearst for the Democratic Presiden
tial nomination in 1904 may be said to
have been launched at a mass meet
ing held in Washington on the 13th of
August The ambitious individual In
whose behalf this movement has been
organized is the reputed possessor of
a fortune of several millions of dol
lars represented in great part by a
number of daily newspapers whose
columns appear to be chiefly conse
crated to the destruction of wealth
belonging to other people It Is upon
this platform that Mr Hearst hopes
to- reach the Presidency At present
he is merely a Tammany Congress
man from a New York city district In
journalism he enjoys the distinction
of issuing each day in four different
cities the very worst lot of newspa
pers of large circulation and vicious
influence known in any part of the
civilized world Upheaval revolution
anarchy assassination if need be
seem to be the guiding principles in
these publications
The mass meeting of August 13 in
Washington was ostensibly engi
neered by persons claiming to repre
sent organized labor In the name of
American labor the Hearst presiden
tial boom is thrust forward By ap
pealing to the unreason and the pas
sions of American wage earners it is
hoped to realize the political ambition
of a man whose program and platform
involve the ruin of labor and industry
Down with All Trusts That is the
battle cry of the Hearst boomers How
shall the trusts be downed By the
repeal of the Dingley tariff and the
establishment of free trade That is
the trust remedy chiefly relied upon
almost wholly relied upon When the
protective tariff -is swept away the
trusts will disappear Such is the
Hearst promise and plan Take free
trade out of the Hearst propaganda
and nothing remains
Workingmen who are now employed
all the year round at the highest wage
rate ever known in this or any other
country wage earners whose deposits
in savings banks have increased in the
past six years of a protective tariff
from less than 2000000000 to nearly
3000000000 are expected to rally to
the support of a political movement
whose ultimate aim is to wreck all
industry and stop all prosperity The
work people and wage earners did
something of this kind in 1892 and
paid the penalty in loss of employ
ment and wages in the melting away
of accumulated savings in the pover
ty hunger and untold sufferings of
themselves and their wives and chil
dren Evidently the Hearst boomers
think American workingmen have
short memories American Econo
mist
i5t
SIGNIFICANT ADMISSION
British Acknowledgment of the Value
of Protection
We confess that we never expected
to see the officials of Great Britain
deliberately furnish the Republican
party of this country with the most
convincing arguments in favor of pro
tection The Cobden club is knocked
into a cocked hat and the Anti Cobden
club of the Nineteenth ward that pat
riotic band of intellectual political
economists should at their next meet
ing make a minute of the subject Im
portant as was the announcement of
Premier Balfour the official state
ments of the board of trade which is
a government institution are much
more so They announce that protec
tion does protect that in spite of the
fact that wages in this country are
more than double those in Great Brit
ain the amount of exports of manufac
tured goods to this country has great
ly decreased while our manufactured
exports to that country are increasing
rapidly The same applies to all pro
tected nations so that Great Britain
is declared to be in a disadvantageous
position especially as the united
States can so soon as there is a lull
in local demand flood Great Britain
with goods at much lower rates
The first duty of a nation is to look
after the welfare of its own citizens
That is what we have done In estab
lishing protection we have not only
accomplished all that the Republican
party ever claimed but have confound
ed our opponents here and abroad
The British government officially an
nounces that our policy has been a
successful one and will be of great
injury to its own people unless retalia
tory measures are taken
Which is why we remark once more
that we never expected in our day to
see Great Britain the apostle of free
trade acknowledge its own defeat and
our own success What will the
Democratic party say to this in the
next campaign It seems cruel that
they are deprived of their only stock
argument but facts are necessarily
cruel things when opposed to falla
cious theories Philadelphia Inquirer
Can the Democracy Get Right
The Democratic party in Congress
under the leadership of Senator Gor
man has engaged in systematic oppo
sition to the increase of the navy to
any increase of the navy
The Democrats admit that their pol
icy is futile It is astonishing that
they do not see that it is also suici
dally foolish
The United States has a greater ex
tent of seacoast than any other na
tion except the British empire
Furthermore the United States is
pledged by its unvarying policy for
three quarters of a century and by
the firmest convictions of Its people
to the maintenance of the Monroo Doc
trine
When the Monroe Doctrine Is at
tacked as It will be unless the United
States make itself so strong and ready
that none will dare attack it the at
tack will be made by sea power To
ward off such attack the United States
must have sea power
Yet the United States to day ranks
only fifth among the nations of the
world in sea power And of the four
nations whose fleets surpass that of
the United States three would gain
greatly by breaking down the Monroe
Doctrine
These are the fundamental facts of
the situation These facts were never
more widely appreciated by the Amer
ican people nor were the consequences
of a failure in sea power ever more
clearly understood than they are to
day
Yet the national Democracy through
its representatives in Congress now
attack the sea power of the nation and
seeks to prevent its growth Under
pretenseof working for peace Demo
cratic Congressmen advocate a policy
that would make war certain
The question that forces Itself upon
every thinking American is
Can the Democratic party ever prove
itself worthy to rule this nation
Can the Democratic party ever get
right Chicago Inter Ocean
PROSPERITY AND SAVINGS
Deposits Have Increased to Nearly
Three Billion Dollars
There is no such thing as real pros
perity in this country when the gen
eral public is short of surplus money
There is no abatement of real prosper
ity when the general public goes on
making money and saving some of it
The speculative gambler may be roll
ing in wealth or ne may be absolutely
poverty stricken and neither the one
condition nor the other reflects the
situation of the general public and the
country Something that does unfail
ingly and emphatically is the total of
the savings banks deposits the sur
plus wealth of the general public
when we had hard times with the
advent of the Wilson law savings
banks deposits first ceased to increase
and then actually decreased From
1893 to 1894 they fell nearly 10000
000 or to a total of 17479C1000
By 1902 they had risen to 2750000
000 Controller Ridgleys report
showed that the total of the savings
banks deposits is now 2935204845
From the experts who went broke
in speculative excesses we hear that
national prosperity turned downward
in 1901 In that year the savings
banks deposits were 2597000000 so
that since that time to now there has
been a gain of nearly 400000000
This gain since the turn of prosper
ity is larger than the gain from 1893
to 1898 It is as large as the gain
from 1895 to 1899 larger than the gain
from 1S98 to 1900 when the boom was
indeed booming as no one will deny
Nearly three billions of savings
banks deposits to day nearly twice
what we had in 1894 does not look
as if the general public were yet quit
of prosperity Nor will it be if this
nation continues a policy which keeps
our industries protected against for
eign Industries and our wage earners
against foreign wage earners New
York Press
More Work for the Policeman
The Journals prediction that the
United States would soon have to ex
ercise police power over the semi
savage republics of San Domingo and
Hayti is being swiftly fulfilled
A delayed cablegram from San Do
mingo says that marines from the
Newark and Columbia have had a
pitched battle lasting three hours with
the insurgents who were routed with
out the loss of even one American life
The insurgents began the trouble by
firing on the launch of the Newark and
on a commercial steamship owned in
New York Four hundred marines
were promptly landed under cover of
the guns of the Newark and the Co
lumbia which shelled the insurgent
camp and they engaged the Domin
gans who lost two of their generals
killed one wounded several officers
captured and sixteen men killed and
wounded
After inflicting this punishment the
United States forces withdrew and the
Newark sailed for Guantanamo
Evidently the situation in San Do
mingo is becoming intolerable The
barbarian degenerates who inhabit
that part of the island are only one de
gree better than the negroes who com
pose the population of Hayti They are
not fit to govern themselves and they
are becoming a menace to the peace of
the whole Caribbean region
The United States can not long per
mit this state of affairs to continue al
most within hailing distance of its
island possessions It is bound by
every consideration of selfish interest
as well as by every moral obligation
to the family of nations to put an end
to it We do not want the island of
Hayti but for the sake of our com
merce we must take such police meas
ures there as will prevent any further
disturbances
It is a satire on our civilization that
at our very doors one of the fairest
and richest islands of the sea is be
come the prey of savages in perpetual
riot many of them sunk in supersti
tion and barbarism not found else
where on earth outside of the Austra
lian bush and the interior of darkest
Africa
If is time that the United States in
terfered to police this island We can
not permit any other nation to do so
and it must be done Chicago Jour
nal
r
FARMS ARE BIG IN DAKOTA
Agricultural Munchausen Gives an
Idea of Things There
Yes sir resumed the Dakota
farmer as the crowd of agricultur
ists seated themselves round a Httlu
table yes sir we do things on rath
er a sizable scale Ive seen a man
on one of our big farms start out
In the spring and plow a great fur
row until autumn Then ho turned
round and harvested back We have
some big farms up there gentleman
A friend of mine owned one which ho
had to give a mortgage on and I
pledge you my word the mortgage was
due at one end before they could get
It recorded at the other You see It
was laid out in counties And the
worst of it is it breaks up families so
Two years ago 1 saw a whole family
prostrated with grief women yelling
children howling and dogs barking
One of my men had his camp truck
packed on seven four mule teams and
he was going round bidding everybody
good by
Where was he going
He was going halfway across the
farm to feed the pigs replied the Da
kota man
Did he ever get back to his fam
ily
It Isnt time for him yet Up there
we send young married couples out to
milk the cows and their children
bring homo the milk London Tit
Bits
TRUE TO HIS WORD
Incident Shows J P Morgans Keen
Sense of Personal Honor
A certain underwriting syndicate in
volving a good many millions was or
ganized on the eve of Mr
departure for Europe but not com
pleted when he sailed Upon his re
turn he asked to see the subscription
list and the balance sheets the work
of the syndicate having been com
pleted and the books closed As he
glanced over the list he noticed that
one name which he presumed would
be there was missing and he said to
his partner L do not see the name
of here The reply was Wo
were able to organize the syndicate
without them and we therefore did
so
Instantly Mr Morgan replied But
I promised them that they should
come m
Then making a rapid computation
of what these bankers profits would
have been had they been admitted to
the syndicate Mr Morgan drew his
companys check for the amount
which involved several hundred thou
sands and sent it to them Every
bodys Magazine
Turning the Tables
The late Charles Denby former min
ister to China practiced law in Indi
ana before the outbreak of the civil
war and a lawyer of Kvansville said
of him the other day
Col Denby as a lawyer was par
ticularly good in cross-examination-He
could confuse and frighten a wit
ness and make him contradict himself
in nine cases out of ten One day
though the tables were turned
The witness on this occasion was
a mild young man with a slow care
ful way of speaking Col Denby put
him through a terrific ordeal In tho
way of cross examination but to no
effect The young fellow couldnt be
swerved an inch from his first state
ment
Now young man look here said
Col Denby finally is it or is it not
the truth that an effort has been
made to induce you to tell the court
a different story from this
Yes sir its the truth
Ha Now on your oath said
Denby I demand to know who the
persons are who attempted this hein
ous thing
Why said the witness youre the
principal one I guess Buffalo En
quirer
Smoothing Thinks Over
Senator Clapp of Minnesota is a
great campaigner and is constant I
called upon to make speeches in his
own state
Last fall he was asked to go to a
town called Erin Corners which i
not far from his home town anl
make a political speech
Erin Corners is a Democratic ham
let with no Republicans living with
in its limits Clapp is a Republican
He got to the village and found th
town hall packed with Democrats IU
tried to talk and they howled him
down He tried half a dozen time-
and each time was compelled to stop
because of the noise and disturbance
in the hall
He was just about to quit when an
old man who had worked as
man on the farm of Senator Clapp -father
came up to the platform an-
said Dont mind them
a lot of loafers and rowdif
None of the decent people wou
come Washington Post
NEW SERIAL
STORY
John Burt
BV
FREDERICK
UPHAA1
ADAIS
A powerful portrayal
of Amarican life of
to day will be com
menced in these
columns next week
