Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-02-26
THE MARK OF A CRUTCH
Or, a Victim of Circumstantial Evi-
dence. .

Old Adam Hardburn was al
ways accounted very eccentric
but when. he adopted Malone's
boy people thought that his &c
: .centricity amounted to madness
The Malones were a lad lot, and
this boy was not, as far as any
one knew, bettert than any Other
ofthe family. Moreover, he had
fallen from a tree which he was
robbing of peaches in his youth.
and crippled himself so that he
must always walk with crntch;
What did old Adam want with
him? But Adam cared nothing
for criticism; he knew that no
one ever pleased all the world
yet, and, when his friends proph-
esied that he would be sorry, he
laughed in their faces. Old
Malone was dead, two of the
boys were in jail, one gone a
way upon a voyage. He found
Dan deserted III the miserable
hut they had inhabited, friend
Hess, with no one to help him to
such work as he could do, and
he had taken him home.
"There could not be a better
boy" old Adam said; and after
Dan had been with him two
years be was stili so much of
this opinion that he made a will
lin his favor. Dan Malone, the
old,rufian's lame boy, had come
to be the prospective heir of the
largest estate in the place.
lie was gentle-looking boy,
who grew refined in manner,
learned rapidly; but even when
he had come to be q, people
were still plejudiced against him.
Adams venture might turn out
well, but they doubted it.
Atlast' something happened
that seemed to prove that they
were all right.
Old Adam was very fond of
| fishing. Sometimes he spent
long days'beside certain trout
stream, and often his boy, as he
called Dan, was with him; but
one summer day Dan was not
we'll, and Adam went out alone.
The hired man was chopping in
another direction, and the old
woman who washed and cooked
kept TO her Kitchen But about
/ S o'clock that evening, Dan,
very pale, and with a-strange
look in his eyes, came into a
neighbor's house.
"I came because | wanted
help" he said. "Mr. Hardbun
went away tofish this morning.
I was Sick. / grow giddy when
l try to stand. l can't go after
him, and he's not home yet. /
wanted Simon to go, but he
says his master is old enough
to take care OF himself, and has
probably gone somewhere to
supper. But that's not like
Mr.. Hardburn; besides, he had
on his fishing hat and linen
jacket. / wish some one would
do what / am'unable to do. I'm
alarmed-yery much alarmed"
The neighbors were kind.
The men started out for the
trout-stream, and. the women
comforted Dan, telling him that
good news would come soon;
that it was too cool for sun
stroke, and that the stream was
too shallow 10 be dangerous.
But the young man sat pale
and shiyering, partly with ILL
ness and partly with anxiety,
until news came. 1t was the
worst news possible. Mr.. Hard
burn had been found dead, shot
through the head. A pistol lay
near him, and his pockets were
turned inside out and his watch
was gene.'
When Dan heard the news he
tainted away, and for awhile ev-
cry one sympathized with him.
But soon the tide turned.
Detectives came down from
the city and made their explora-
tions and inquiries. The watch
was found in a hollow Tree, and
aIIalong the soft woodpath were
peculiar footsteps. They trac-|
ed them from the woods to the
gate of the old mans home, the
mark of a shoe, and whore the
other shoe-print should have
been, a phrncture. Some one
has been here who walked with
a crutch, was the conclusion.
/ In the whole village was but
one who used a crutch-young
Dan Malone. The clouds Of
suspicion began to gather. Dan
declared that he had been i'll in
bed all day; but Simon, the man,
knew nothing of Dams where
Iabouts from the time he left
home until he returned, and
Betty only knew he had come
down to dinner. The pistol
with which Mr.. Hardburn had
been murdered was one always
kept in his own dining-room.
A nd finally Dan and no other