Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-06-12

longer and hurried otit Of the house. 4
hanson was passing he jdmped into it;
and told the cabman to drive to the ad-
dress of Fermeroy. He was determined
to make clean breast of it to- the gen
oral. G..
Gen. Fermeroy was an elderly officer
Of about sixty, who had seen much SER
vice, and whose hair was grizzled. He
was not particularly imaginative or clev-
er, lat his impulses under all conceivable
circumstances ran straight as lines. He.
had never done mean thing, and could
not hear that anybody had trangressed
without twirling up his mustaches in a
significant manner, that seemed to say:
"'That man and have seen the last Of
each other" He liked John Gold
we'll because he regarded him
as paragon among MEN of business, a
man at once honorable and industrious;
and he was glad his eldest son was going
to marry Goldwells daughter. Conse-
quently he gave start, as if he had been
shot at, when the banker burst upon him
and said: General, have confession to
make! Sit down and hear me to the end.
l need your advice; am miserable man
l.
ly responsible for my acts when I did the
thing that brought me to my present po-
sition."
The two men remained eloseted for an
hour, and John Goldwell unfolded his
wretched story, He had been clerk in
bank, when, falling in love with some
actress, he had spent for her more money
than he could afford, and had one day to
save her furniture from seizure las he
thought), appropriated some moneys in
trusted to him, hoping to make good the
amount before it's disappearance was found
out. Detected Immediately, he was Civ
en- into costody, tried and sentenced to
transportation without any extenuating
circumstances being admitted in his favor
| That was all he had to say, except that
he had repented of his folly in the deep
est misery and sorrow, and had tried to
make atonement for it by leading the most
honorable life ever since he had come to
NJ. He appealed to the general as to
| whether the latter had ever heard of his
doing any dishonest thing.
The general listened III silence. He
was not an emotional man, but in him
| the spirit of justice predominated over
every other sentiment. He glanced at
Goldwell, saw his intense wretchedness,
his wistful, appealing glance, his evi-
dent despair. He cleared his throat and
exclaimed, indiferently: "Well, I'll be
hanged-this is curious start. You say
| this scamp lives in B. street,"
eyes, in B street. I have pre-
vailed upon him to wait forty eight hours
for my answer
| "Well, leave me to deal with him."
"You, General? And may 1 hope that
you will not suffer my guilt to be visited
upon my poor child?'
"Ahem-well, We'll see' The General
| looked fierce at that moment "Call up
on me tomorrow at this hour, and I'll
tell you what think of your commune
cation. You say it's B street. That's
right; I've got it down. Good night"
John Goldwell walked out sad and
anxious, and the general remained alone
He sat done at once and wrote few
unsigned words upon piece of paper,
requesting Tom Dunno to meet "a per-
son who would bring e1,0OO," next day
| at A. park, in the outskirts of NJ.
| When he had dispatched this m1ssive,
the general stepped up to panoply of
arms which adorned his study and took
down two foils. He examined their
points, their edges their suppleness He
made lunge at the wall; he stood for
moment, head erect and weapon in hand,
as if he had an invisible foe opposite
him; but suddenly he threw down his
foil with a sh1ug of disgust II can't
soil sword on such vermin as that. A
pain Of bludgeons will do for this kind
of game;' and he proceeded to look out
two stout walking-sticks from among
several that stood in a rack in his hail.
= x \
Twenty-four hours later the rain was
falling heavily over A-park, when,
| toward seven IN the evening, Tom Dunno
made his way, with drenched clothes and
| cracking boots, toward secluded part
of that pleasure ground. He was parti-
ally drunk, and muttered as he walked.
He had loaded revolver in his pocket
OF his grcat-coat, and growlcd to himself
that he would "do' for anybody who
tired to draw him into trap. He was
not at all sure that he was doing pru-
| dent thing in venturing out thus alone.
but he. had reasoned himself into
belief that John Goldwell would not
dare to play tricks with him. Abruptly
he halted, for he had run almost into the
arms of General F,rmeroy, who was
pacing about solitary, with cigar in his
mouth.
els your name Dunne?' asked the lat
ter, throwing the weed away
eyes, sir" answered the cx-detectiye.
| with start, for he fancied he was be-
ing confronted by some superior police
official,
"And you have come to fetch 81 ,0O0,"
proceeded the general.
eyes, sir, replied Dunno, recovering a
little courage.
Gen. Fermercy drew from under his
Inverness cape two heavy walking sticks
loaded with lead and a canvass bag
which seemed to he heavy. He flour
ished this last article under the nose of
Dunno. "Look here, man." said he
grimly; ''This bag contains $1,000 in
notes and gold; but before you take 1t
you'll have to kill me! Do you hear?"
'Kill you, sir?''
| "fes, kill me. See, I'm sixty-fve, and
apparently ten years older than you, so
the chances arc rather in your favor.
Just take one of those sticks, and we'll
fight. If I kill you, III just pitch you
into yonder river
Tom Dunno hesitated moment, dur
ing which he measured the aged general
from brow to foot. "Come on" cried
he, picking up one Of the sticks. eff
you wish it 50, I'm game
"Come on, then," answered the gener-
al, stamping his foot And the two
men commenced their lonely but resolutc
fight.
Next morning a dead body was found
in the /, and the police took it for
the corpse of a person who had been ac-
cidently drowned. In the course of the
day Gen. Fermeroy called on John Gold
we'll, and holding out his hand, said
simply: "The bygones of your past life
must remain matter for God and YOU.
My son loves your daughter, and that's
enough for me. That rogue who plagued
you won't do SO any more. Now let's
Il