Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-10-06
Is IT SUICIDE


door every morning and evening. At
first he only wished me good day, when
seeing me at my window or IN the gar
den; then we exchanged few words,
and now we are so well acquainted that
he visits me half an hour on the average
every evening to read my newspapers.
His presence not being very agreeable
to me, I do not take much notice of him.
but lay the papers quietly before him,
one by one, in which only the murders
and accidents excite his interest. Some
times he reads me murder, but when
he finds / do not listen, he goes away as
harmlessly as he came.
The other night he called at his usual
hour, and as usual I placed the papers
before him, and he began to read them
one by one.
Suddenly he sprang up as if taran-
tula had bitten him.
''That's strange!" he calculated, "just
listen"
[, as usual, paid no attention to him.
"No, this is too interesting" he con-
tinued, pulling my paper away from me
in bis excitement; "just listen to me for
few moments.
I placed myself in listening attitude,
and he began:
''' In Moabit they have lately got on
the track of a suicide or murder whose
mystery meets with many difficulties in
solving, as nothing has yet been found of
the unfortunate, except"
Here the reader stopped short and
looked at me.
"Well, what do you say to that?" he
asked.
shrugged my shoulders and wanted
to take my paper again.
''Those must be mine," he quietly
continued.
81 have not the pleasure of under
standing you" said hastily.
At last he came to his senses with the
words: "Oh! you haven't heard the
story" here he tapped his forehead with
his fingers; ''then let me tell it to you
Do not be afraid, it isn't long"
Resigning myself to my fate, [ lis
tened.
'It was on the third of July" he be-
gan, cor was it on the fourth-oh, now
I recollect, it was on the third, that /
rode to Moabit to visit the family of a
friend [ do not know whether you are
acquainted with them, Pfeifer is the
name. No? I thought you were. Old
Pfeifer owns charming little villa near
the water; you would have seen it had
you ever rode past. No? [ thought
you had.
Arriving, I found large company
assembled, composed chiefly of five or
six families from the neighborhood, the
Mehltheuers, the Pangelons, the Sci
demmuellers, none of them sound famil-
lar? No? / thought they would.
Of course all of these visitors moved
In the highest circles of society, and the
greater part of them were very learned.
AS if by instinct, I had donned my
finest suit of clothes for the occasion, the
one in which passed by here last Sun
day. Don't you recollect? No? [
thought you would. A dark blue coat,
dark blue vest and light gray pants.
After we had dined and the dessert
had been served, out Oh the piazza, with
lots of learned conversation, I betook
myself to the porter for a fshing-rod
Unluckily, the fish would not bite, and
feeling drowsy, [ lay down on the grass
and soon fell asleep.
Suddenly was ava kened by the mu
sic from the saloon. I rose, returned
the fishing rod, and went in to join the
company.
Young Pangelon was just beginning
that beautiful duet, 1.-The Secret Mar
riage, with young Seidemmueller. You
have heard it? No? I thought you
had.
While listening attentively. I felt
something tickling and scratching on
my left leg. It was without doubt some
insect that had taken advantage of my
quiet sleep to hide in the folds of my
brooches.
81 put on an innocent look, and tried
to kill the little tormentor by beating
time with the palm of my hand on that
part of my leg. In vain. The 'thing,
whatever it was. kept on scratching and
tickling all the worse.
'.The cold sweat stood In large drops
on my forehead by this time, and ]
saw that I could not stand it much
longer
ssPerhaps the creature might be pois-
onous, and I would have to die miserably
by it's sting.
"While these thoughts were passing
through my brain / kept my outward
composure for few minutes, and theI
rose and prepared to leave the room.
Hardly was the door closed behind me
when anguish and despair stared me IL
the face. Like mad animal, / rushed
up the steps and opened the first door
came to. A look from the window
showed me that I was In a wing of the
building built out over the water. With
wonderful alacrity L pulled off the
treacherous pair of pants, and. holding
them out of the window, shook then
with all my might. I saw small, dark
colored object fly out and fall into the
water.
Simultaneous with it's meeting tn,
water large pike swan up and swal
lowed it.