The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-08-26

NO, not Il-that's certain. But
you'll propably learn something of their
fate elsewhere
'Fate,' he echoed, in a broken voice,
and then suddenly grasped me by the
collar and began shaking me. Tell me
what is wrong this Instant he cried,
hoarsely. DO it or I'll throttle you in
your tracks.
"'Try to bear up, Pat I muttered,
holding him off and trying to soothe him.
I'D sooner take a stretch in Jail myself
than break the news to- you. Both Jenny
and your child are dead, Pat
"'Dead2 he yelled-'deadl deadl'
"The two last words came out in hor-
rihed, bewildered gasps, and springing
to his feet, he staggered back against
the wall, as white as ghost.
"'Yes,' I explained hurriedly. 7 was
out of town the whole winter, and 1 only
learned the particulars day or two ago.
The gang, in obedience to the majors
orders, first turned her into the street,
and then hunted her from place to place,
SO that she could not procure employ
ment.
"And then while he stood there gasp
ing and glaring at me, | gave him the
whole sad and bitter story, much as you
had it, but more in detail.
ooh, the fiendsl the demons!' he at
last moaned, beginning to wiring his
hands, but without a tear upon his white,
horror wrinkled face. And you Near
dle-even yon did not lift hand to save
her.
"'By heaven, Harnden! cried, he'd
I been in the city and known your wife
was in trouble or in want, I'd have lost
my arm at the shoulder blade sooner than
let her perish. 1t was no fault of mine.
"'OL, it matters not! Words-words
are nothing now,' cried the poor, bereav-
ed fellow, suddenly towering before me,
with blazing eyes and cloudy brows, like
an avenger of old. 'At last, 1 am alone
alone in the world, with every hope,
every tender feeling blasted. They have
killed my wife among them, Mac-my
own Jenny, that was all the world to me
and my child, that was as innocent as
the angels in heaven. Oh, had they no
mercy? Could they not have spared them
and let me suffer- Listen to me, Mac,
and what am about to solemnly swear
before high heaven. I'll have life for
life, hunting for hunting, slenth-hound-
ing for sleuth bounding, so may the God
of justice and of vengeance, help me in
my hour of bitter needl / swear, by all
that is sacred, to live but for one object
to tear the mask of mystery from the
majors face, and to hunt him off the face
of the earth! And not him alone but all
of them, all, all, all! Not villain shall
escape, male or female. Every one of
the accursed Silver Gang-every moth
er's thief of them-shall feel thief's
power, thief's vengeance! 1 constitute
myself their Nemesis, to hunt and hound
them down forever more!
''Harnden fairly shrieked forth those
wild, threatening words, after which he
staggered into the chair again, breathing
SO hard and looking SO white that hast
ened into the adjoining saloon to procure
him some refreshment, fearing that he
would faint. But when I returned he
had partly recovered, and gently but
firmly refused the glass of stimulant /
proffered him, and the former indulgence
in which had not little to do with his
swift descent amid crime and sin.
81 may conclude my sketch by saying
that he has never touched drop of Ii
quor since, and that he fulfilled the re-
quirements of his terrible oath, wild and
fitful as they seemed at the moment OF
their utterance, to the very letter"
''He turned detective, then, and hunt.
ed down the members of the gang, one
by ones"
eyes, or in pairs or groups, replied
my narrator. ''Of course, it was some
time, owing to his antecedents, before he
could be intrusted with regular detective
work. But it was not long before he
made himself equally admired by the
force and feared By the thieves in an
auxiliary capacity; and when he was reg
ularly commissioned as detective, the
cold blooded, patient, relentnes and sys-
tenatio tenaoity and persistence with
which he began to hunt down, entrap.
inveigle and pick off the members of that
gang, was caution"
''And the major?"
"Why he was the fourth or fifth that
Harnden disposed of, by strange and
exciting stratageu, an account of which
would make capital sen sation story of
itself. His arrest, unmasking and expo
sure was one of the newspaper hits of
three years ago. He turned out to be a
big gun named Monseith, VINO, while
planning robberies in secret for hong
time had been living at the best hotels.
and cutting swell in fashionable circles.
which afforded him ample opportunities
for concocting the long series of burg
laries which he planned fo- ais saoor-
Gi-a.es 10 eSeolts. He was sent up for
twenty years, chiefly upon Harnden's
testimony, and died miserably in prison,
OF pneumonia, contracted in the quarries.
only short time ago.'",
..'And tie tWo thieves convicted the
other day We're, then, the last of these
banded ofiminais3"
eyes. Harnden has only been five
years in pursuing the gang, often at the
imminent risk of his life, and numerous
and powerful as .Ley were, moi one Of
tlelA remains today to curse our commu-
nifty. Either dead, fugitive, or within
prison walls, they have all disappeared,