Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1878-11-14


A cooked pistol in one hand
with the other | removed tn,
wig. All, ha! my conjecture
were right; | had here an ugly
little brute of a man in woman
clothes. Elated with my sue.
cess, / attached no significanc,
to three successive loud coughs
until the curtain parted and one
of the walters glared in upo1
me, ,and the next moment a hand.
kerchief closed my mouth and
felt myself sinking beneath {
clutch at my throat-then al
was oblivion. / recovered my
senses at my botel in bed. Ny
friends said | had been put il
the carriage drunk, and the dri-
yer had fetched me to the hote.
and put me safely to bed.
81 kept my own counsel, but
as I expected, the birds had
flown, none could tell whittier
[ cursed myself for Il clumsy
fool and bided my time. Last
summer | was on a train coming
to New York; between Wash
ington and Baltimore an under
sized man, with a long, flowing
gray beard, got on. lie had be-
tween his teeth tooth-pick, the
visible end Of which had been
bitten square of. The train got
under way, and l rose from my
seat, walked leisurely over to
the one he occupied, and was a.
bout to seat myself on the va
cant seat beside him when he
looked up, and if terror was ey-
er depicted upon human face, /
saw it therein those wavering,
wicked, black eyes. 1t was my
man, and he knew me!
"'For Christ's sake, he whis-
pered, don't make a scene, and
L swear to you I will not try to
escape. l give up!'
'I saw that he meant it. /
wrote dispatch, which the con-
ductor sent from the first sta
tion we stopped at. Arrived at
my destination, we were met by
a welcoming party with a con-
veyance, and the fellow saw it
was, indeed, all up with HIM;
and, fancying | knew more of
his career than | really did, as
he supposed | had tracked him
here as he imagined | had in
he made q clean breast
Of it. lie had got intimate with
the dashing young wife of an
Italian Count and, being sus-
pected by the husband, she had
him of large sum of
money, and with her personal
valuablos she had fled to this
country with him. She was a
perfect DEVIL said he. 4 sup
pose the Count was glad to get
rid of her at any sacrifice. We
lived high, and travelled about
and quarreIed for about a year;
[ couldn't shake her. and she
the life out Of me. So
one night, in a rage, l struck
her, and she sprang at me like a
hyena; in defending myself she
got the worst of it, and | had a
dead woman on my hands. We
were living in furnished rooms
at the time in Chicago; l had no
in getting her body
packed as you found it, although
it was a disgusting job; and /
felt sorry, too, for she was
fine figure. Bus she had the
devils own temper, and | carry
the marks Of her finger-nails
yet The man was brutally
unfeeling in his recital, and the
only emotion he exhibited was
a round of curses when ! told
him that he was brought to JUS
tice by his peculiar fondness for
always chewing tooth-picks.
When / showed him that tress
of hair, he looked at it long,
then he begged as favor that
he might be permitted to retain
it: just tonight he begged;
you can have it in the morning
again before they remove me to
Illinois, / saw no reason for
not granting his request, and
supposed he had some human
sense of feeling left, thinking he
wanted to sentimentalize over it
in remorse.
"When the door of his cell
W as opened next day they found