Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1884-10-16


The evening passed after our usual
quiet fashion, We worked little and
read little and played soma half
dozen duets, and chattcd between
times, till the clock pointed to 1890,
at which hour We generally retired
for the night. My last duty every
evening was to go the round of the
hose and satisfy myself that all lights
were out, that the fires were safe, and
that all the doors and windows were
properly secured. When this duty had
been duly accomplished that night the
drawing room lamp was extinguishcd,
and then Bessie and | took our bed
candles and marched upstairs, leaving
darkness and solitude behind us. Mary
Gibbs and Kitty had retired long ago.
My sisters room and mine adiOincd
each other, with door of communi-
cation between, which generally stood
partly open at night for the sake OF
companionship. The windows Of both
rooms looked into the garden, which
ran in wide strip along that side OF
the house. and was shut in by Il wall
some seven feet high, beyond which
there were three or four meadows, and
then the boundary wall of Dorrington
Park.
1t was close on o'clock-as found
out decentralization | awOkc sudden
ly from sound sleep. The instant |
opened my eyes the room was illumin.
ated by vivid flash of lightning, and
it was in all probability a peal Of
thunder that had broken my slumbrrs
Another flash followed after brief in
teryal, succeeded again by the dcafcn-
ing accompaniment. My sleep was cf-
fectually broken. | arose, flung Il
shawl over my shoulders, and Cross
ing to the window, drew back the
blind and pccked out. As long ago as
can remember, lightning has always
had singular fascination for me. As
a child | loved to gaze upon its vivid
splendors, and in this respect at least
years have left me unchanged. a
board crcakcd as crossed the floor.
"Is that you, Barbara?' asked my
sister from the other room.
Eyes, dear. am going to look out
for few minutes. Is not the light
ming beNutiful?'
"Vcry beautiful; only | wish it were
anywhere rather than here, answered
Bessie, who al such times was Just as
nervous as | was the reverse.
The flashes followed each other at
intervals of about a minute. | had
witnessed three CT four when suddenly
| gave start, and an exclamation
broke Involuntary from my lips.
The last two flashes revealed to me
the figures of two men in tie act Of
climbing over the garden wall. One
OF the men was stranger 10 me, but
in the other, instantaneous rs was the
revelation, | recognized Tie omcwhat
peculiar face and figure of man
named Dethcl, whom my brother had
employed temporarily during the last
week or two in the garden, our rcgu,
lar man being laid up at the time with
rheumatism. There was something in
the looks Of the man in question which
had set me against him from the first;
but if we were all to be judged by our
looks alone, what would become of us?
For aught know to the contrary
Dethcl might be an honest, hard
working fellow, with wife and
children dependent upon him; but for
all that, on the days he was working
for us | carefully refraincd from going
into the garden,
And now, here was this man, and
another with him eilecting sur
rcptitious entry of the premises ut |
O'Clock in the morning! Such Il pro-
ceeding could have but one end in
view. Two questions at once put
themselves to me. Firstly, were these
men aware that my brother was from
home for the night, ana that only
three helpless women and girl were
left in the house? Secondly, had they
by some means become cOgnizant of
the fact that few hours previously
Mr.. Shillito had paid my brother a
considerable sum of money, which
must necessarily still be somewhere
on the premises? In my mind there
was little doubt that both these facts
were fully known to the men. My
brothers movements were as open as
the day, and Drthcl had doubtless as
ccrtaincd from Reuben the groom that
his master would be from home on
this particular night; while as for Mr..
Shillito, everybody knew how he
talked in his loud-voiccd way about
his most private affairs when he had
taken more to drink than was good for
him. At the bar of more than one
tavern that evening, every one who
might chance to be within hearing
would not fail to be informed that Mr..
Shillito had just paid John Waldron
his half-ycar's rent.
These thoughts flashed through my
mind almost rs quickly as that flash
which revealed 20 much. Breathlcssly
l waited for the next flash. 1t came,
shattcring the darkness for an instant,
and then it, too, was swallowed up.
The men were no longer visible. Be
tween the two flashes they had had
time to drop on the inner side of the
wall, where the thick clumps of ever
greens which clothed that part of the
grounds would ellectually screen them
from view. At that very moment
they were doubtless making their way
stealthily toward the house. What
was to bo doneP Never had realized
so fully as at that moment how help
less creature woman is. Drawing
my shawl more closely around me and
putting on pair of list slippers which
| wore about the house in cold weather.
! crcpt noislcssly out of the room. AT
the top of the stairs | halted and lis.
tened; but all was silence the most
profound. The corridor out of which
the bedroom opened was lighted at
the opposite end by a high narrow
window which looked into the garden.
To this window now made my way,
and there, with one ear pressed to the
cold glass, stood and listened. Pres
emily heard the faint sound of foot
steps, and then the subdued voices Of
two people talking to each other. Di-
rectly under the place where l was
standing was the back drawing-room,
which opened on the garden by means
of French window; and although this
window was secured at night by shut
ters, l had an idea that the security in
question was more fancied than real,
and was of kind that would be
laughed to scorn by any burglar who
woe acnuainiod with his husinnce n