The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1880-12-09

A man, tall, slender, WHY as ser
pent and 1.-THE as tiger-a man with
the hair and eyes of All Indian, bit
with features aristocIaticalIy fine, and
fair skin colorless with passion-a
man in the conventional garb of a
trapezist, appeared at the further end
of the rope.
How he came there no one could
conjecture; why he had come was hor-
ribly evident.
For a second he stood there-a Ia
miel form in black, deadly frown on
his palid visage, glittering knife in
his grasp.
"As you would not live with ne,
you shall die with me-" he Kissed i'll
a hushed but intense voice that startled
anew the awed and breathless spec
tators.
And then, with swift but deadly
deliberation, he bent and drew his
blade across the rope.
The sickening thud of q falling body,
the CLEAN Of pearly gauze as the "Sil-
yer Butterfly" leaped from the rope
before the strands were severed, and
the tragic act was ended.
Neither was dead, and both were
conscious, but the injuries of the de
moniacal stranger were dangerous, and
the pretty "Silver Butterfly" wouId
float over the ropes never again
Manager La Roche lifted her up
tenderly, with passionate exclama-
ton of love and grief.
Then the stranger raised his man
gled body upon one bleeding arm; and
glared at them with fiercest hatred.
The blaze of insanity was in his blood
shot eyes, his laugh was the laugh OF
a maniac, and his voice was shrilI and
wild as he suddenly began to sing
''I lnathe We in my bosom,
And scorn We with mine eye;
I'll curse ye with my latest breath,
And hate We till die"
"What is he to you?" Karl Ii
Roche inquired, as the madman wa
taken away.
~ believed hin to be my husband,
she replied.
"You believed him to be, Audrey !?
repeated her friend, wonderingly.
I "Yes," she answered, ''for years
thought myself his wife. For year
silently suffered every sort of indig
nifty that a wife can endure-that
proud and sensitive woman ,oU endur
rather than subject herself to the dis
graceful publicity and scandal of
police court. Then when he had spen
. my fortune, broken my heart an
} crushed my spirit, 1 learned that
was not his wife. His legal wife Wa
yet living. Live with him longer
could not; bat l dared not leave hir
; openly. If l had done SO somethin
like what has happened tonight wOul
have happened. long ago. So file
, like a criminal through the night an
= storm, an outcast, disconnected an
, homeless. And yet loved that ma
with all my SOUL"
y Bitterest tears were falling over h'
cheeks.
: Karl La Roche understood that d
spite all the evil, and the wrong, al
!, shame she had borne, her love W,
l eternal and divine enough to forgi'
/ him who had sinned against her.
It "Be comforted," he whispered, ''pe
It haps sometime you and he may
happy together yet"
+ "Never." she answered firmly, a
/, though she was sobbing. Il pardC
e him freely, but no matter what ha
d pens, l will never again take his haI
nor kiss his lips 4; will never willin
1 ly look upon his face again"
e "She is martyring her own heart
l. thought her friend. but he said
I more.
Sc Six months later the maniac died
n al insane asylum.
NJ His widow mourned for him
l years, but there came Il time when t
a constant devotion, the untiring a,
is unselfsh love of Karl La Roc
touched her heart, and she at leng
o. learned to appreciate the true love
at q noble gentleman. She became
ne wife, and neither has ever had cal
st to regret the dismal night when
lg manager first met the "Siler Butterh
- A wild duck was killed near L:
- caster the other day with a cellul