The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-07-24

VIZ aStl& Ibplc vi LIlC 81 VIGIL kIlowIl
Marie La Cour. Occasionally, at long
intervals, they would invite q few
bachelor friends-myself included--to
witness their bliss, and on such even
ings the great bull-frogs which invaded
the gardenof "theC CASTS, as their place
was rightly named. would hush their
vile croakSnga as Sylvester's wife thrilled
forth some gay chansonette to the ac-
compartment of the Broadwoodwhich
Dirk specially imported for her from
Europe; or sometimes the happy pair
would ride over to a picnic on the
banks of the meandering Modderriver,
and Mrs. Sylvester would deign to as
tonlsh lis with the feats OF marksman-
ship which she would accomplish with
thepretty revolver-ivory handled and
chased with gold-which Dirk had
given her.
One night as Istrollcdinto the Albert
saloon for a game of billiards, / found
a knot OF diggers gathered around a
new ARRIVAL handsomelittle French
man, who had come to the Fields to
look after some claims in which a Pari-
sian firm had invested. Hewas laugh
ing conceitedly, and stroking his care
Attiiy NCbNtd lIIlpcIiul Will 1t SCll-SitJlS-
fled air, when Dirk came in, and was
Immediately hailed by aman who was
nc friend OF his-tha manager of some
ground which was always tumbling in
to Dirk's claims. and smashing his
gear.
i did not hear exactly what he said,
but my attention was suddenly arrest
ed by seeing Dirk make a bound atthe
%Frenchman, and seize him by the
throat, while his eyes fairly blazed with
passion. The Frencllman triedt to elude
his grasp, but in a moment Dirk had
dashed him tothe foora and was stand
ing over him, raging with fury.
"Yon miserable liar and scoundrel,"
he sad, III ever hear ofyonmention-
ing my wife's name again, Illkill you!''
Then he strobe out OF the saloon.
a silence fell on the company stand
ing around the fallen Frenchman, and
as he staggered to his feet and SUNK
away into q side room, where the rat
tie OF dice went on all day long andfar
into the night, no one found SO much
as a word to throw after him.
/ met Dick on several occasions af-
ter this curious episode, but, as if by
mutual consent, we avoided the sub
Ject. One night, however, when the
moon was sailing majestically over
head and lighting up the dusty road
between the Pan and Kimberley with
q flood OF lambert light, was riding
slowly into camp when l heard the
pattering OF Il horse behind me, and
turning in the saddle confronted Dirk.
He was agitated and angry, and with.
out a word OF greeting plunged into the
subject uppermost in. his mind.
"Do you know, old fellow" he said.
Eve just been told by a digger at
Hallis's that that rascally little
%Frenchman has been repeating his lies
about being intimate with my wife in
Paris before she came out here. Not
only that, but he says he has a minia-
ture OF her which she gave him, set in
gold. The nnlnitigated liar! If l find
time | shall canter over to his cabin
the other side. of the mine tonight, and
il he can't produce that souvenir it
will be haId for him. II he does, it
won't be in his possession long,
Don't do anything rash, Dirk" /
said. Remember, there is another to
think OF beside yourself"
~ IiA1O NIliV IL lS tlldy DOUlleFS ME,
old fellow, he replied; and then, rein
ing III his horses. and jogging along by
my side, he told me his trouble. 1t
appears that his wife denied any
intimacy with the Frenchman, but
stated that her father tried to force
his attentions on her in the old DAYS
when he was O h~alf-starved ballet mas
ter, and she a struggling aspirant at a
Paris theatre. The miniature was q
new feature in thestory, and Dirk firm
ly believed it to be q myth, but was
bent on finding out whether it was so
or not.
After awhile he grew calmer, and
paid more attention to my e%ntreaties
to him to proceed with caution.
On parting he shook me by the hand,
and his last words, shouted to me as
he galloped off at the turning for the
Oasis, we're
81 shan't trouble the little French
man tonight, but let him keep out of
my way"
The next morning the body of Jules
Lacroix was found lying on the floor
OF his cabin with an ugly hole in the
left temple. In one hand he grasped
tightly part of a gold chain, and the
l.swivel OF a miniature. There was the
fresh spoor of a horse not farfrom the
door, and the bullet found inthebrain
fitted Dirk's revolver to a nicely.
1t was not long before Dirk was in
custody, and the case looked black
against him. His threat to shoot the
Erenchman WIS we'll remembered; his
excited demeanor in Hallis's bar at
the Pan, when the news OF the French
mans reiterated assertion of a former
intimacy with his wife was brought to
him, was commented upon, and the
circumstantial evidence was strong.
As for Dirk himself, heutterly denied
going lei the Frenchman's cabin on
the night OF the murder, and he ac-
counted for the fact that he did not
reach home for nearly an hour after
leaving me by saying that, feeling hot
and excited. he went for a scamper
over the veldt, and the beauty OF the
moonlit night caused him to stay out
longer than he intended.
He pressedmetotel l all Iknew about
the matter, and | reluctantly did so,
making the most OF his expressed de-
termination on leaving me not tovisit
the Frenchman that evening.
The trial dragged on until latein the
night, and at IL O'Clock the jury came
into the court with u verdict of
Guilty"
shall never forget the look Of mute
agony on his wife's face as Dirk stood
up to be sentenced to death, or the
calm, proud way in which he heardhi lis
doom.
aMark my words, boys, Sylyester's
wife will get him reprieved."
The speaker was lounging at the
counter ofthe Yellow Bar, in theTrans-
vaal road, and his words evoked a
mnrmur of sympathy.
Ever since t~heconviction efforts had
been made in all directions 70 nrerent