Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-02-25

my love for her entwfne and grow
about the root of my. heart. You ould
scarcely Decentralization Fairfelds
were it not for my assurance, that this
exquisite baby Observation-Disclosures,
bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked-and my
daugh ter Aloe are one. But for me
she might have been the flower OF
Devonshne Il is I, her father, who
made her what she is, who have de-
prived her of 1ife's best seasons, and
who, il loves light does not shine upon
her, have condemned her through all
her DAYS to cold and cherries winter.
Let me recall the fatal day which led
to nv act of madness. had left my
home on q matter of business, and was
to be absent only twenty-four hours. 1t
was the first night ! had passed out OF
my house since my marriage. Why
did not my horse fall down with me
and kill me, instead of bringing me
safely back to the home had left hon.
ored and happyp But what some men
call fate, others chance, others destiny,
ordained that / should live and grapple
with my misery. For when my journey
was over, and I reached my house.
with my heart pulsing with tender an
ticipation, 1 found that my wife had
f1ed-had fled with him / called my
friend. / learned that she whom L
loved faithfully and truly had betrayed
me; that he whom l trusted with my
whole soul had played the Judas. No
letter was written to guide me to this
conclusion Ny wife was gone, and
that was enough. My friendwas gone,
and that was enough. I had not been
in my home five minutes before the
truth flashed upon me, as might a pict-
ure suddenly revealed. For a moment
I was dazed and stunned; then came
the despairing reality. The past years
spread out before me like a map, and
every glance and word that had passed
between us came to me with a new sig
MITIGATION. Her love had been a simu-
lation, a cheat; her heart had never
been mine. She had been to me liv-
ing lie, and all woman's artifice had
been employed to conceal the truth.
Too well had she succeeded. What
would you have done, William Fair
field, had You been stricken with such
a blow? What would you have done
had You found your life's happiness
thus suddenly burnt to ashes upon your
household hearthp"s - a. - tt ~
He did not wait for reply, but went
on: ~
1.-The thoughts and memories which
chung about me those few moments
would make an epic. Amidst them all,
one picture struggled to the fore
ground. saw in my fancy the face of
my wife lying upon the pillow in the
early morning-a face of child-like, an
gelc beauty-a face which. could an
artist paint, and call it Innocence,
would immortalize his name through
all ages. She had fallen asleep in my
arms but a few hours before, with
/ words of love upon her lips. 1 gazed
upon her with a heart full of worship.
/ saw her face, and it was Heaven to
me- But her inner life was hidden
from me; and now that it was laid bare
in all its naked deformity, faith, love,
religion, belief in human goodness,
fed from me affrighted. was as one
suddenly and unnaturally maddened.
Infatuated, l looked around and saw
her child lying in her cot-her child!
She opened her eyes and smiled upon
me, and as in that innocent smile I
| caught the reflex of her false mothers
beauty, raised her in my arms, and
dashed her to the groundr'
The memory of that terrible act
raised thick beads of perspiration upon
his face; and again, in wild, reckless
| manner he scooped up handful of
show, and scattered it over his head.
So 1 scarcely remember hatfollowed;
do not know whether ate, or drank,
or slept; 1 only know that fled from
the house, with the intention of pursu-
ing them day and night. From that
| moment my life was comprised by but
one intense, maddening desire-to
overtake and kill them. was soon
upon their track, and flung money
about like a mailman, but still with an
instructive method in my madness. I
followed them from place to place,
through England, out of England into
foreign countries, and back again.
Hearing that l was in pursuit. they
schemed and baffied me. I was always
day too late; I reached every spot in
which they tarried in time to hear Of
their departure from it. But they could
not forever escape me; knew i'll
felt it; Fate was on my side. and would
bring me to them as sure as there was
a Heaven above us. Every sign that
made itself visible to me-in human
face, in clouds, in trees-bid me pur-
sue and kill them, and never faltered,
never wavered in my resolve. Pictures
formed themselves for me in the clouds
in the plains as / dashed past them
in train or carriage; in the full sum
light as it cleaned in clear waters; in
the night, with shadows and darkness
around me-pictures which imaged
false wife and friend crouching before
a desperate and dishonored man.
Blood was in the air, and in the fields
it swan before my eyes, and made
me oblivious to all else"
William Fairfield shuddered at the
vehemence of the mans speech, and
almost imagined he saw flying through
the air the. dark shadows of the picture
drawn by Stephen. #Esske
eat length l came upon them.
When had lost trace of them, and
was standing in doubt as to which way
to turn, their faces flashed upon me
one night at railway station. Despite
all warning cries, jumped with a tri-
umphant laugh upon the step of car
rage as the train was moving away. i
did not think of my own danger as l
was swhirled along-I only thought
that they were there, and that I must
get to them, if l had to fight my way
through a hundred deaths. The wide
dow through which had caught sight
of their faces was far in irons of me,
and with frantic impatience I worked
my way along the side of the train.
How l escaped being dashed to pieces
was a mystery which some persons
would call providence, but which l
recognized as the working-out of a
sure retribution. It was not long be-
fore reached the window of the car.
rage in which they sat. and. peering