Newspapers / The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, … / Jan. 15, 1909, edition 1 / Page 3
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I Satan Sanderson , By HALLIE ERMINIE RIVES. Author ol HMrulounlMW." tl? Copyright. 190s (he Bobbs-Merrill I Company. Chapter 26 < 'i' the sojnd of steps In the ' Jail corridor and the harsh ' / grating of the key In the ' lock, Harry rose hastily ' \jl from the Iron cot whereon ' c he had been sitting aud 1 took a step forward. "Jessica!" he exclaimed. 1 She came toward him, her breath 1 hurried, her cheek pale. Tom Felder's face was at her shoulder. "I have a 1 little matter to attend to in the office," he said, nodding to Ilarry. "I shall 1 wait for yoij there. Miss Holme." She thanked him with a grateful I look, and as he vanished. Harry took her hand and kissed it. He louged to 1 take her in his arms. "I heard of It only at noon," she be gan. her voice uncertain. "I was afraid they would not let me see you. 1 60 I went to Mr. Felder. They were eaying on the street that he had of fered to defend you." "1 had not been here an hour when ho came." he said. "I know you have no money." she went on. "1 know what you did with the gold you found. And I have beg ged him to let me pay for any other counsel he will name. I have not told him?what I am to you, but I have told him that I nm far from poor and thai nothing counts beside your life. He Bays you have forbidden him to do this ?forbidden him to allow any help from any one. Hugh, Hugh! Why do you do this? The money should be yours.' not mine, for it was your father's! II is yours, for I am your wife!" He kissed her hand again without an swering. "Haven't I a right now to be at your tide? Mayn't I tell them?" He shook his head. "Not yet, Jes ?Ica." "I must obey you," she sr.id, with t wan smile, "yet I woaM share your ?hame as proudly as your glory! You are thinking me weak and despicable, perhaps^ because I wanted yor. to go away. But women are not men. and I ?I love you so, Hugh!" "I think you are all that Is brave and good," be protested. "I want you to believe." she went on. "that I knew you had done no murder If an angel from heaven b 1 co'^ie to declare It I would not have believed it. I only want now to understand." "What do you not unoerstand?" he asked gently. She half tifrned toward the door as she said, In a lower key: "After you bad gone many things came back to tne that seemed strange?something cu rlous In your manner. You had not seemed wholly surprised when I told you you were accused. Why did you shut the cabin door and speak so low? Was there any one else there when I came ?" He averted his face, but he did not answer. She was treading on near ground. "My horse came back this after noon," she continued. "He had been ridden hard In the night, and his flank? were cut cruelly with a whip. You did not use him. but some one did." She waited a moment Still be made no reply. "I want to ask you," she said abrupt ly. "do you know who killed Dr. Mo reau?" His blood chilled at the question. Fie looked down at her speechless. "Ton must let me speak." she said. "You won't answer that Then you do know wbo really did It. Oh, I have thought ?o much since last night! For some reason you are shielding him. Was It the man who was in the cabin?who rode my horse? If he is guilty, why do you help him off and so make your self partly guilty? The whole town believes you are guilty?I see It In all their faces. They are sorry, many of them, for they don't hate yon as they did. but they think you did It?even Mr. Felder. though I have told him what I suspect and though he Is work tog now to defend you!" "Jessica," be urged, "you must trust me and have faltb to me. I know It is hard, but 1 can't explain to you! I can't tell you?yet?why I do as I am doing, but you must believe that I am right" "You speak as If you were sorry for me," she said, "and not for yourself, la It because you know yon are not in real danger?that you know the truth must come out only you can't tell It yourself or tell me either? Is that It?" "It is not that Jessica." he said gravely, "yet you must not fear for me ?for my life. Try to believe me when I say that some time you will under s'-iad and know that I did only what 1 Hi ust" "Will that be soon?" she asked. "I think it may be soon," he an swered. Her face lighted. The puzzle and dread lifted. "Oh. then." she said? "oh, then. I shall not be afraid. I can not share your thoughts nor your se cret. and I must rebel at that You mustn't blame me?I wouldn't be a woman If I did not?but I love yon more than all the world, and I shall be lieve that you know best Hugh." she added softly, "do you know that?yon haven't kissed me?" Before her upturned, pleadlnc eyes and trembling lips the iron of his pnr pose bent to the man In him, and be iook Der into hi* arms ? ?????? A frosty gloom was over t li<- ? Ity of Anlston. moon and stars hidden t>.v a cloudy sky. from which a light snow, the first of the season, was sifting down The streets were a?!eep Only occasional plated pedestrian* were to be seen ilk] the chilly air T <n* a man. hi*] face muffled from . ^-nowfiakes. pass hurriedly toward the fountained square, from whose steeple 2 o'clock was just , striking. The wayfarer skirted the square, keeping In cover of the build lags as though avoiding chance obser vation, till be stood on the pavement ' ?f a Gothic chapel fronting the opeu 1 ipace. On the night of his flight from Smoky Mountain, Hugh had ridden 1 tiard till dawn, abandJUlng the horse ' to find Its way back as best It might. 1 He had slept thrqpgh the next day. For two days after his arrival he had hung 1 about outside the town in a fever of 1 Impatience, for, though he had readily ' ascertained that the premises were un occupied, the first night he had been ' frightened away by the too zealous ! scrutiny of a policeman, and on the next he had been unable to force the iloor. That morning he had secured a skeleton key, and now the weather was propitious for his purpose. After a moment's reconnoitering he scaled the frost fretted iron palings and gained the shelter of the porch, lie tried the key anxiously. To his re lief, It fitted. Another minute and he stood in the study, the door locked be hind him, his veins beating with ex- ' citement. Crouching down before the safe, he took from his pocket the paper upon which was written the combination. The match scorched his fingers, and ? he lighted another and begun to turn the knob. The lock bore both figures and letters In concentric rings, and he saw that the seven figures Harry had written formed u woi?J. Hugh dropped the match with a smothered exclama tion, for the word was Jessica! So Harry really had loved her lu the old days! He swung the massive door wide and took out the canvas bag with the thousand dollars. With this and the ruby ring?it must easily be worth as much again?he could put the round world between himself and cap ture. He closed the safe and with the bag of coin in his hand groped his way to the door of the chapel. It was less dark there, for the snow was making a white night outside, and the stained glass cast a wan glimmer across the aisles. He greatly needed sleep, and tonight in the open that was out of the question. He could gain several houts' rest where he was and still get away before daybreak. He drew to gether the altar cushions and lay down, the canvas bag beside him, but he was cold, and at length he rose and went Into the vestry for a surplice. He wrapped this about him and. lighting a cigarette, lay down again. He was very tired, and In a few minutes he was sleeping heavily. The last half consumed cigarette dropped from his relaxing fingers to the cushion, where it made a smolder ing nest of fire. A tiny tongue of flame caught the edge of a wall hang ing, ran up to the dry oaken rafters and speedily Ignited them. In fifteen minutes the Interior of the chapel was a mass of flame, and Hugh woke gasp ing and bewildered. With a cry of alarm he sprang to his feet, seized the bag of coin and ran to the door of the study. In his haste he stumbled against it, and the dead lock snapped to. He was a prisoner now, for he had left the skeleton key In the Inside of the outer door. Clutching his treasure, he ran to the main entranca It was fast He tried the smaller win dows. Iron bars were set across thpm He made shift to wrap the surplice about his mouth against the stifling smoke and fiery vapors. The bag drop ped from his hand, and the gold rolled about the floor. He stooped and clutch ed a handful of the coins and crammed them Into hit pocket Was he to die. after all, like this, caught like a rat In a trap? Uttering a hoarse cry, with the strength of despair, Hugh wrenched a pew from the floor and made of it a ladder to reach the rose window. Mounting this, he beat frantically with hi* fist upon the painted glass. The crystal shivered beneath the blows, and clinging to the Iron supports, his beard burn?l to the skin, he set his face to the aperture and drew a gulp ing breath of the sweet, cold air. In bin agony, with that fiery hell opening beneath him. be could see the massed people watching from the safety that was so near. "Look! Look!" The sudden cry went up. and a thrill of awe ran through the crowd. Tie glass Hugh bad shattered bad formed the face of the penitent thief In the window de sign. and his outstretched arms fitted those of the figure. It was as though by some ghastly miracle the painted features had suddenly Bprung Into life, the haggard eyes opened In appeal. All at once there came a shout of warning. The wall opened outward, tottered and fell. Then It was that they saw the writh ing figure, tangled In the twisted lead bars of the wrecked rose window. Shielding their faces from the unen durable heat, they reached and bore It to safety, laying It on the crisp, snowy grass and tearing off the singed and smoking ministerial robes. Jndge Conwell was one of these. In the flaring confusion he leaned over the figure. The gleam of the ruby ring on the finger caught his eye. He bent forward to look Into the drawn and distorted face. "Good God.'" he said. "It's Harry Sanderson!" t! IsL 27 3 "f" N communities snoU as Smoky Mouutaln tlu* law 'MB moves with fateful r.i piUity. Harry bud been tw I formally (irraigned t:.e second morning at lor li s self surrender and had pleaded not juilty. The grand jury was In session -ludfiHl, had about finished Its labors ?and there had been no reason for de lay. All neeessary witnesses for the state were on the ground, and Felder ror his part had uo others to summon So that when I>r. Itrent one kwn fore uoon swung himself off a Pullman at the station, returning from his ten lays' absence, he found the town thrilling with the excitement of the tirst day of the trial. Before he left the statiou he had learned of Prendergast's leath aud accusation aud knew that Tom Felder had come to the prisoner's Jefense. Dr. Brent had taken uo stock In the young lawyer's view of Hugh Stiles. He betook himself to the filled court room. The court had opened two hours before and half the jury had been se lected. Ills attention was given first to the bench where the prisoner sat and second to a chair close to the rail ing be?ide Mrs. Ilalloriui's. where a girl's face glimmered palely under a light veil. Toward this chair the hundreds of eyes in the room that morning had often turned. Since the day Mi Hnl lornii had surprised Jessica at work up >:i the rock statue she had ke I her counsel; but. as the physician had eon Jectured, the monument had been >tum bled upon and had drawn curious vis itors. Thus the name on t'.ie grave li ul become common property a id the coin cidence had been chattered of. Tint Jessica had "hlseled the statue was n il doubted. She had bought the to in town, anil oui raauy wisp, trie i smith, had sharpened them for r The story Prendergast had told i i' ie general store, too, had not been f<???ii it ten. and the aid she had givi-n i!ie fever stricken man had acquired n in-w significance in face of the kno >? Ige that she had more than once beeu ad mitted to the jail with Felder. I'roro the moment of the opening of th>- trial Jessica had divided interest wi.h the prisoner. Circumstantially speaking, the evi dence was flawless. Dr. Moreau. while little known and less liked, had figured In the town as a promoter and an In ventor of "slick" stock schemes. He had come there with Hugh Stires from Sacramento, where they had had a business partnership of short duration There had been bad blood between them there, as the latter had once ad mitted. The prisoner had pre-empted the claim on Smoky mountain in an abortive "boom" which Moreau had engineered, and over whose proceeds the pair, it was believed, had fallen out. He had then, to use the attorney's phrase, "swapped ttie devil for the witch" and had taken up with Pren dergast, who by the manner of his tak ing off had finally Justified a jail rec ord In another state. Soon after this break Hugh Stires had vanished. On the day following his last appearance In the town the body of Moreau had been found on the Little Paymaster claim shot by a cowardly bullet through the back, a fact which pre cluded the possibility that the deed had been done in self defense. There was evidence that he had died a pain ful and lingering death. Suspicion had naturally pointed to the vanished man. and this suspicion had grown until, after some months' absence, he had returned, alleging that he had lost his memory of the past to resume his life In the cabin on the mountain and his At Ihe pasted Harry the bent and lata one in hit hand. partnership with the thief Prendergasi. The two had finally quarreled, and Frendergast bad moved to town. Subsequent to this the latter had been heard to make dark Insinuations, unnoted at the time, but since grown significant hinting at criminal knowl edge of the prisoner. The close of this chapter had been Prendergast's dismal end In the gulch when he had produced the scrap of paper which was the crux of the case. He declared he had found Moreau dying; that the latter had traced with his own hand the accusa tion which fastened tbe crime upon Hugh Stires. In his cross examination Felder fought gamely to lighten tbe weight of the evidence. All rested, be ssld. upon a single scrip.of pa|>er, a fragment of handwriting in no way difficult of Imi tation. and this In turn upon the alle gation of a thief, struck down In an act of crime, whose word In an ordinary case of fact would not be worth a farthing. No motive had been alleged for the killing of Moreeu b.v the pr)?- 1 oaer. tint I'reudergast had had motive enough iu his accusation. H had been c.wu knowledge that be '< ..ted Hugh St Ires. aud tils own character made It evident that he would uot have scru pled to fasten a murder upou him. But an Kelder studied the twelve grave faces in the Jury box. who In the last analysis were all that counted, he shared his client's ho|?eIessues?. Judgment aud experience told him how futile were all theories lu the face of that Inarticulate but damning witness that I'renderg;ist had left behind him. So the afteruoon dragged through, a day for the state. Sunset came early at that season. Dark fell, and the electric bulbs made their mimic day, but no one left the room. The outcome seemed a fore gone conclusion. The Jurymen no longer gazed at the prisoner, aud wheu they looked at one another It was with grim understanding. As the last wit ness for the state stepped down and the prosecutor rested the Judge glanced at the clock. "There Is a bare half hour." he said tentatively. "Perhaps the defense would prefer not to open testimony till tomorrow." Felder had risen. He saw his oppor tunity?to bring out sharply a contrast ing point In the prisoner's favor, the one circumstance, considered apart, pointing toward innocence rather than guilt; to leave this for the jury to take with then., to offset by its effect the weight of the "vldence that had been given. "I will proceed, if your honor pleases," he said and acid a rustle of surprise and interest calleJ Jessica to the stand. As she went forward to the wltaess chair she put back the shielding veil, and her face, pale as bramble bloom under her red bronzed hair, made an appealing picture. A cluster of white "That man's name," he blazed. "is not Hugh Stircs." carnations was pinned to her coat, and as she passed Harry she bent and laid one In his hand. The slight act, not lost upon the spectators, called forth a sibilant flutter of sympathy, for It wore no touch of designed effect Its Impulse was as pure and unmistakable as its meaniug. Harry had started uncontrollably as she rose, for he had had no inkling of the lawyer's intention, and a flush darkened his cheek at the cool touch of the flower. But this faded to a settled pallor as under Felder's grave ques tioning she told in a voice as clear as a child's, yet with a woman's emotion struggling through it. the story of her disregarded warning. While she spoke pain and shame traveled through his every vein, for, though technically she had not brought herself into the per plexing purview of the law, she was laying bare the secret of her own heart, which now he would have covered at any cost "That is all, your honor," said Felder when Jessica had finished her story. "Do you wish to cross examine?" asked the judge perfunctorily. The prosecutor looked at her an in stant He saw the falntness in her eyes, the twitching of the gloved hand on the rail. "By no means," he said courteously and turned to his papers. At the same moment as Jessica step ped Into the open aisle the ironic chance treated the spellbound audi ence to a novel sensation. Every electric light suddenly went out and darkness swooped upon the town and the courtroom. Hubbub arose?people stood up in their places. The Judge's gavel pounded viciously, and his stentorian voice bellowed for order. "Keep your seats, everybody!" he commanded. "Mr. Clerk, get some can dles. This court is not yet adjourned." As the pall of darkness fell upon the courtroom It brought to Jessica a sense of premonition as though the Incident prefigured the gloomy end. She turned sick and stumbled down the aisle, feel ing that she must reach the QUter air. To Be Continued. THE SLEEPIN8 SICKNESS WHICH MEANS DEATH Row many read era have beard of this terrible disease? It prevail* In tbal far-away country?Africa?especially the Congo district. It Is caused by the bite of the tsetse fly. When It bites a person, the sleeping symptoms begin and Anally the sufferer sleep* until death occurs. Contrast this with the peaceful, balmy sleep of health. Ia there any thing more wearing than to lie awake at night, tossing about, nervous, with cold feet, hot head and mercy knows what else? Short of letting the tsetse fly bite us we would do almost any thing for relief. How can we pre vent It? Mr. George Hayes, of Union City, Pa., writes: "I had lost my appetite, was all run-down, could not sleep nights. I had tried every thing without relief. Vlnol was rec ommended, and to tny eurprlsa, It helped me at once; gave me a 'plendld appetite, and now I sleep soundly." What Vlnol did for Mr. Hayes, It will do for every run-down, nervous and overworked person who cannot sleep. Sold by HOOD BROS., SmithfieM, N. C. Cotter-Underwood Co. have Just re ceived a lot of fine young mules. See them. ' ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS AN INDIAN, Who was taken to Massa chusetts when four years j old. He grew up, not only with the New England ac cent and prejudices, but saved his pennies to give to missionaries that they might convert the Red Man. "On the plastic mind of a jj child, you can make impres ts sions that are indellible." If you will teach your child the value of saving his pen nies, and show him the im portance of a growing Sav ings Account, you need not give yourself further con Icern about his future finan cial salvation. It will help him to build character, too. His account will be wel comed at ~W>e BANKofWAYNE ? * THE JNO. A. McKAY MFG. CO. ft Dunn, North Carolina. Founders and Machinists, Mill Supplies and General Machinery. We make the most satisfactory STALK CUTTERS in America. Our Cutter won highest prizes at both the North Carolina and South Carolina 1908 State Fairs. The world is challenged to show the equal of the "McK" Cutter. Sold almost everywhere. Two I Big I Stores We have opened a full line of Furniture of all kinds, next door to our large Hardware stoie, and have new Furniture at lowest prices. Buck Stoves and House Furnishing Goods sold from this store. This store is in charge of Mr. Crosby Smith who will be pleased to have his friends and the public generally to call and see him. Don't forget that we have a full stock of Hardware at same stand. The prices are right. Hall Hardware company, Benson, N. C. ************* ************* 1 rE of Stoves i 8 ? * 8 We have just added to our % J stock of furniture an excellent J * line of cook stoves and heaters Jti which are guaranteed to give ? w perfect satisfaction. They are X * made of the best material ob S tainable and so far as quality, "if J long service and satisfaction Jf y are concerned they are unex- ^ ftj celled. We carry stoves and ? #j heaters in all sizes and styles X 5 and at prices to suit you. ? a ? ? ?* * i Md We have also just received one carfurni- ^ V ture and two cars of American and Ell y wood field fencing and are now prepared y to give you excellent values in both fur- , y niture and fence. When you are in need I % m/ of furniture or stoves or anything in ms home-furnishing and wire fence.lt will be mJ greatly to your interest to call to see us. ^ m Yours very truly. 3 I Rose & Co., VS | ***********
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 15, 1909, edition 1
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