Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-06-19
AWFUL SUSPENSE.
The Result Which Followed Per-
usal Of Bad Literature.
week OF Anguish and Trepidation I'm .
Chicago HOusehoId-Hard Work
and Hot Blood-A Ten-Year-
Old wouId-IBe Assassin
1ChIcaZo Tribune.i

head Of the househol at the breakfast
ta'le an innocent-looEing scrap of paper
which she had found on the hat-rack
when Attending to her mornings dusting.
| PaterIumil as adjusted his spectacles,
glanced ct the paper, gave an odd sort
Of start, AMI read to the wondering
family the following rnmnrkab'e eff usion:
Grand pageant of robbers to- morrow night,
and murderers also, at No. - street.
SUFFERING.
This was. o. course, incomprehensible.
Various theories were advanced as to the
authorship of the mysterious note o.
wsrning, and each one looked at the
other, while grave faces expressed the
horrible thought that some member OF
hitherto res Dectable family was earning
secret spending money by contributing
to the pennv-dreadful PAYERS and had
dropped some "copy." The mystery was
passed or with a joke, and the matter
would have been soon forgotten had not
the next morning furnished n similar in
cident and provided another sanguin sry
and Anonymous epistle. This had been
found on the 81 'eboard in the cheerful
dniuS-ro pm itself, and ran as follows:
We look for a good haul and a hard II hit
to morrow night. BLACK DEEDS.
Tho considerats attention of Mr.. Black
Deeds in notifying his inten led victims in
advance was refr reshinE and eucoura giug,
but IL was at leas lilo .ical in him to sex
pect a good h )" when he must know that
the entire family would be up in arms
waiting for him. The only reasonable hv-
potnesis was that the worthy burglars
desire FOR a hard fi ight" had overcome his
profess onal penchant for "a COOL haul"
ard thai he had taken this IN athod OF Sc
curing a sufficient number of foemen
worthy of his reputation among the out
laws of great city. The affair began TO
look serious, AMI the young ladies limited
blandly that they really must make their
lonc-deferred visit to the Misses Blank on
the South Side. However, "Biack Deeds"
seemed TO be too thorough a man of the
world md far too considerate a gallows
bird to cut the roats of unarmed women
allCit he Iii write a most treg cherous-
looking hand, 50 It was decided to leave
the custody of the family plate to the
house cur, a majestic terror OF Alder
manic proportions, whose appalling bulk
would have staggered the strongest house
breaker.
The night passed quietly, but morning
brought another anonymous epistle. anl
with it renewal OF the anxiety which
was slowly but surely turning the old gold
hair OF the young women to the color of
old snow. The letter was discovered on
the parlor mantel, and was bristling with
suggestions of the after r-death what? de-
scription. At last the terrible land seemed
60 have abandoned all thoughts of mere
plunder-perhaps they had learned from
81. l. .s..It -
was plated-and life itself was the stake
they were playing for. The cut .h.oats'
warning was as follows:
Look out for your lives to might.
RED HAND.
This seemed TO mean business. Exactly
how an interesting and numerous family
VAS to be swept off the face of the earth
vns not, perhaps, clearly enough indi-
Gated, but the intention was evident.
Knives, pistols, chlorofOrm, tn rope were
suggested. but seemed too commonplace. tt
BE- employed by such deliberate and
thought ul murderers. Some terrible tor
ture was sure to be resorted to, and the
worl would ring with the diabolical in
genuity of the daring villains. Would
the family be suffocated by deadly s-wer-
gas? Was an Internal machine of Irish
parentage in contemplation? Would Car
ter Harr; son b come the tool of assas sins
an cons mt to talk people to death Just
because they were Republicans. Would
Joe Mackin be induced to display his 'fina
work" and swear an unhappy family into
untinely graves? Most horrible thought
OF all, Would that aw ul brass band, COM
posed of misguided foreigners, which has
ravaged the fairest portions o. the "Nord
Seite" for years, and which ia more 10 be
feared than the smallpox or the False
Prophet himself, be hired t station itself
before the house and blow its inmates in
to eternity?
Coffee and cakes were bolted with an un-
certainty begosten of the conviction of
8 ender hold on life, but all was serene un-
{ the morrow, when the now eargerly ex-
pected note read as follows:
DEATH is the call RED GLOVE.
This was not much more threatening
than that of the morning before, but there
seemed to be a deep significance in the
fact that the communication from "Red
Hand" had been followed Y one from
'Red Glove" which appeared to indicate
that the gore whica stained the convict's
palm had. during his procrastination,
gradually oozed through his mittens. h
was, in eff ct, throwing down his gauntlet
preparatory to immvlating whole fam Iy
on the sanguinary altar OF his mysterious
AID unaccountable enmity. The weapon
upon which the carnage was to be inaugu-
rated was next delicately made clear, and
the fact that it, too, had not escaped the
d In of blood which seemed to be swash-
ne around in the owners neighborhood
was Indicated in the following:
Hard work and hot blooi
BLoopY DAGGER.
In spite Of the fact that the promised
s Slaughter seemed TO be sayed most unac-
countably. the ass ssin was evidently be-
coming thorou ghly crimsoaed, the tidal
wave OF blood having worked its way in
81 liously upward from his hauIs to his
face, as was delicately hinted in she fo.-
lowing:
We will drink hot blood to- night
BLOODY BEARD.
This was worthy of the exalted atroc ty
OF the most famous Huron braves, but the
thing was growing monotonoIs. Having
become covered from head to foot with
the hearts blooi OF previous victims, the
muir ierer seemed intoxicated with his own
gorv glory, Having an entire family
breathless with excitement bat disguised
a. his evident attempt to ape the Dam
rosch Opera Company and keep the audi
sncs waiting his lordly pleasure, after
which he w''uld turn up at the eleventh