St. Landry democrat., 1882-07-29

mean and treacherOus. Il swore it,
he said. and he remained.
The desk in which John Land kep
his papers was easy to find and easy t,
open. Bundles of letters were cas-
aside, Old account-books We're no
opened. Presently neat bundle wa:
found. The first paper was The Las
VIII and Testament of John Land
Inc next was an envelope, closely
sealed, and addressed to the lawyer
VINO had written the will. 1t was in,
dorsed: ''Io be opened only at my
death. - But Thomas Crane opened it,
inside was another envelope indorsed
10 be opened only when some person
shall have been indicted for the murder
OF Charles jackson, january I. 1857
Crane opened that also. 1t was a
long and clrcumstantial account of the
murder and all facts connected with it.
Mrs Lands brother was a dissolute
fellow, who was disgrace to the whole
family. He had been with Land the
whole OF the day before the murder. A
| package, sad to contain five thousand
dollars, had been found at night to con-
tam only one thousand dollars. The
! express authorities did not suspect Land,
| but they did suspect his brother-in-law.
They boldly claimed that he had changed
packages, having had access to the en-
Velopes IN which money was sent. They
offered to retain Land, in spite of his
carelessness, if he weuld get the money
back. The bank to which the money
was sent agreed with the express man
ayers. The whole matter should be
hushed up on the return of the money.
He returned home to find that his wife's
brother had gone away, no one knew
where. He must have the money, or he
must face disgrace and dishonor. He
had seen a gentleman draw five thou
sand dollars from the bank while he was
there. He resolvedt to get it, The man
was gambler, usually successful one,
and would go home late at night Land
resolved to watch for him. He told
those who had given him time that he
would find his brother iIl-law during the
night, secure the money, and get him to
leave town. He mistook Charles Jack
son tor the man with the money, and
was being oyerpowcred by him when he
managed to get his knife and escape by
killing him 4 haIf-hour later he
robbed the half-drHnken gambler with
out difficulty. The robbery, reported
the next day, sunk into insignificance
beside the murder, and had scarcely
been heard OF outside Of police circles.
The five thousand dollars which Land !
presented at the bank the next morning
was expected there; Land believed his |
wife S brother was suffering no injustice |
IN being supposed to have given it up
under threat, and so he sad he had. |
Land closed with solemn protestation
that the man ach0 hal cb41aged the m0acy |
pachaJe cns alone responsible for the
17urder.
And Thomas Crane shook his head
and said: Il believe he is right and I
shall try to find that man But he
had the following message sent to the
city, through which the passengers for
Florida would pass the next morning,
sor all that:
Arrest John Land for the murder of Charles
Jackson, in this city, on January eth, 1881.
At home-that is at Mrs. Jackson's
lie found letter from his father. He
aid it unopened upon the table while he
'ade his wife and her mother good
light. II shall sit up in the parlor to
Wait Tor answers to my messages he
aid, after he had explained all, .'and
Will come up later
In the morning, when Mrs jackson
nd her daughter came downstairs, the
able in the hall was seen to have been
moved to the foot OF the stairs On it
ay the letter which Crane had received
rom his father, open now. They stood
ogether and read it: q
Come down and help us straighten ont
ueer mistake; for 1plsich nor arr res o,1sit7e
N January 18th, 1881 after had left thu bank,
on transacted two items of business as shown
y the books. One was the putting away of |
ackage said to contain $1,000 TIE other was /
ending to the - Bank a package con- ,
hing 5000. The express company have s
one SO much business with us that they might :
OF inquire closely, but why the bunk never
!ade Trouble | don't understand. But in a ! 5
utsheH, the package here was opaned to-day |
nd contains 5000 and as $1,000 left our bal .
ace all right, only $1,000 went to the Bank {
ONE and help US fix it all right, as you are
They dropped the letter The bride
q day glanced at her mother, and her
other back again to her There was 8
othi1lg of hope in either white face for i
ie other. Both. looked towards the {
arlor-door and shuddered.; The utter r
ISOLATION of despair in their new loss .
as chilling their hearts. There was $
} need to open the room to know the i
orrible thing it held for them.
The chain was complete. Thomas
'o1ae sras responsible; and they knew b
had heptkis oath. = 2
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affections for Pets. q u