The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1876-12-28

the lawyer brought from his desk in the
adjoining room.
bsiore commencing, Seth drew his
hand across his eyes, as if to brush away
ssomething which blurred his sight; and
be had scarcely written the first word
bs'ore he started up and angrily ex-
claimed; 81 din't ask you for red inkl''
The ink was as black as the ace of
spades; ana this being Seth's second op-
cal delusion that morning, the lawyer
shvised him to defer the copying for a
short time. Seth thereupon departed
Tor the doctors cottage, and shortly af
terward came rushing back to announce
that he had found a hatchet imbedded in
his skull.
In consequence of his suspicious con-
duct at lawyer Stones, Seth was
promptly arrested, and was speedily
brought to trial.
Directly after the murder, it trans
plred that the prize for the treatise was
offered by gentleman who knew of the
peculiar situation in which Edward
Stone and Ella Thorne were placed, and
in offering that prize he accomplished
the double purpose of advancing the in
terests of science, and of rendering pc
cunlary assistance in delicate way.
Next TO Ella herself, no one was so hor-
rltied by the murder as this person; for,
as it was followed by robbery, he re-
preached himself for being the indirect
cause OF the tragedy. So, in order to
make all the amends in his power, he
devoted all his energies to the prosecu-
ton of the suspected man. Being an en-
thusiast in regard to the theory upon
which poor Stone had written, he deter
mined to reduce it into practice as
means of conviction. He employed one
OF the most skillful photographers in
New York City to photograph the eye of
the murdered man, and thus obtain the
portrait of the murderer.
On the day of the trial the photograph
so taken was brought into court in a
sealed envelope; and after the prelimin-
ary proof had been submitted, the photo
graph was. ..duly,exhibited to the jury.
The foreman Mas weather-beaten old
trapper, who wbald have looked wild
cat in the eye with perfect composure; ;
but he no sooner saw the photograph
than he covered his face with his horny
hands and uttered cry of horror that
will echo in the ears of those that heard
it until it is shut out by the cofn lid.
twas the photograph of Ella Thorne
Every one saw from the wild excite
ment that it would be useless to prose-
cute the matter further, and the prisoner
was straight discharged from custody; !;
but of course no one was so devoid of
reason as to suspect Ella Thorne of any
completely in the crime. Years passed,
and the people of that village began to
lose faith in the proverb that murder
will out" when Ella, who had devoted
herself to deeds of charity since that
awful period, was summoned to the bed
side of Seth, who had been wounded in
a drunken brawl. On her arrival, the
drunken wretch spoke as follows, al
though some of the words gushed out
with mothful of blood:
There is not creeping thing on
Gods earth that doesn't see the day it
wished for wings; but nobody had the
charity to suppose that ever wanted to
be any better than l was. Ever since l
first saw you l turned my back on God
to worship the original of this portrait %
He fumbled under the bed-clothes for
a moment, and she recoiled in horror as
he produced her own miniature that she
had given to Edward Stone, and which
was now smeared with his blood. Hav-
ing exhibited this, Seth proceeded with
his recital:
"Mine was a nature that could stand
any number of kicks, when single kind
word would have been too much for me.
But didn't get it-so let that pass. Ed
ward Stone was superior to me in every
thing but in love for you; and when he
came between us like snake, resolved
to send him to the only place where ]
could meet him on equal terms. That
place was the grave. A dying bed is no
place for hypocrisy, and 1 admit that the
money was one incentive to the murder
but when 1 saw him gazing at this
miniature Just as l struck him down,
drove the hatchet in an inch or two
deeper as 1 thought of his love for you
l secreted that portrait with the money
and want no other man to wear it next
to his heart, as often did at night wher
no curious eyes we're about; so you are
welcome to it. and all the more so be-
cause it has the blood of Edward Stone
upon it. 1 feel no remorse for what
did, although everything has looked red
to me ever since his blood spurted nj
into my eyes, and even those BLACK
clouds on yonder CRIMSON sky look like
vultures on a field of bloodW
As he pointed upward he fell back
dead but the mystery connected with
the photograph was solved for the face
photographed from the dead mans eye
was the one it had viewed in Ellena
miniature an instant before it had closed
for ever.