The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-04-18

To my great surprise, the man 1 had
believed in q dangerous fit rose and
moved toward the. door. Ican scarcely
describe the way in which he walked.
1t was as though his whole nature was
striving to prevent the ton. and yet
some stronger power compelled him to
advance. saw him raise the latch of
the outer door and then l followed him
to see what would ensue. never even
thought of speaking to him; could feel
that were to do SO he would not hear.
The storm had reached its height as
ing in clouds across the little patch Of
grass. and now and then piece of
white foam. blown up from the seeth-
ing caldron below, would fly past us
into the darkness beyond. The man
made but one step from the doorway
and stood still, with his eyes fixed on
the sea- He seemed entirely insensible
to the war of the elements and to the
dash of the rain in his face. Something
beyond outward sensations had abb
sorbed all his faculties for the time be-
ing. We stood thus moment, and
then coming now from the ocean itself
or the air above it, sounded those words
again, "Come, come, comet My COM
panion made another step or two
straight EDWARDS.
"Are you mad?' 1 cried, rs sprang
forward and caught him in my arms.
Zone pace more and you will be over
the cliff! Where are you goingP"
He Needed me no more than if I had
been myself phantom of the tempest
instead of being of tlesh and blood. l
felt that had no power to restrain him,
SO shifted my hold and caught him
round the knees. We fell together on
the ground at the very verge Of the
precipice.
Then began a terrible struggle. He
fought with the strength of a mailman,
l with the desperation of q man who
contends for his life. The storm howled
about us, and the whole air seemed full
of hooking voices, shrieks and laugh
ter. Slowly but surely he was dragging
me to the edge. would gladly have
r. LEASED him now to save myself, but he
would not loose his hold. Soon / felt
that he had got himself half over the
cliff, and knew that l was too ex-
hausted to hold on much longer. Near
er and nearer I came to the fatal spot.
/ gave myself up for lost, and tried my
best to frame prayer. At least. l
thought. if die, it is in good cause.
Suddenly strong hand caught me
by the collar and drew me violently
back. The wretcbed man lost his clutch
of me and fell. A long shrek came up
from below and mingled with the exult-
ing shrek of the wind.
l was borne into the house and laid
on a couch. am not given to faint
ing, but it was some moments before
my nerves could recover the shock they
had received. At length looked about
me and saw my Sergeant, the landlord,
and another well-dressed man whose
face did not know.
swell. sir" the Sergeant was saying
to the latter, ''your work seems to have
been taken out of your hands tonight.
We we're only Just in time!"
''Only just in time, indeed!" was the
answer. Snow. sir, see you are your
self again; and l must ask you to tell
me how the scene came about that we
were fortunate enough TO interfere in.
am a police officer from Bow street."
As well as I could, told him all that
had occurred. He heard me to the end
quietly, and the Sergeant, meanwhile.
at the earnest re uest of the landlord.
translated the story into Welsh as i
went on. When l had finished the de-
tective shook his head.
7 10, a fol la
1 can for my superiors, he said. mo
ofiense to you, sir; but they wouldn't
believe word of what you have just
been telling me. can't say just what
l think about it myself; | never heard
of such case before. Why. he must
have gone quite mad! / knew he was
very fond of the woman, and thought
something of the kind was likely; but
what you told me YOU heard is beyond
me, confess. Had you known any
thing of the murder sir?"
mo-" said 1; "surely you don't
mean to tell me that that man was a
murderer"
"He was, indeed, sir, and l came
here tonight to arrest him. He had
evaded us all for the last week; but
yesterday got a clew rs ito where he
had gone, and followed him down. /
got your Sergeant here to act inter-
prefer for me with the Ian ilord. when
1 met them both in the village, and
from what he said 1 knew that his
quiet gentlemen who collected bits of
rock was the man l was after: SO
came on here at once, and you know
the rest. 1t was lucky for you that we
did not enter the house by the back
way. Five minutes more would have
done for you, sir!"
"They would. indeed" answered,
! shuddering a little at the recollection.
"But who, then, did he murderp
"His own wife, sir; woman from
all accounts as fond of him as she
could be. Some one have yet to find,
forged a letter that made him
think she had ceased to care for him.
l fancy he was always subject to fits of
madness; anyhow, no one knows ex-
actly how it happened. hut she was
found dead in her bed, with the marks
Of fingers on her throat, and he had
disappeared. taking with him all the
loose money he had in the house. He
had a good sum lying in the bank,
which he could have Withdrawn at any
time by writing check, and his not
having done so. is a rreof to me that he
had not premeditated the murder. !
daresay the temptation came to him all
on sudden-it usually does. I have OBJ
served. Anyhow. he is dead now, poor
gentleman, and may God have mercy
on his souln'
"Amen." answered.
That is the story o my night of ad-
venture. | have often thought over
what appears the supernatural part OF
it since, but without much effect. The
only theory can frame to account for