Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1886-01-29

seS OF my education. l never agall
heard of my father, and I alway
mourned for him rs dead"
. The poor boy buried his face in hi
hands and sobbed with emotion. whIl
every one in the rough band Leaned
toward him and iisteded with breath
less interest. In moment he con
tinued:
''Tlme rolled on and / grew NJ
until 1 was almost woman
s'A womanp'
The men sprang to their feet anG
gazed upon the youthful form in as
tonishment.
"a womanl"
"Yes, men, there is no use fol
longer hiding IT. am a woman.
One day my cousin called at the
academy, and received him with
love and gratitude, for / had been
taught to regard him as my bcnefac-
tor. After talk of an hour he ask
ed me to take a walk in the grounds,
and when at distance from the acad-
emy he assailed my ears with story
of love, concluding with a vile and in
famous proposal. / drove him from
me with scorn, and all my former
love for HIM turned to bitter hatred.
ga few days later, on my birth
day. l opened my trunk and took
therefrom my mothers last message,
and after kissing it fondIy, broke the
seal. Oh, Godl why did 1 ever read
it!''
Again she broke down and wept
bitterly, but soon controlled her grief
and continued:
'The letter was short one, and
told me that my own mother, the
blessed angel who gave me life, had
fallen victim to the seductive wlles
of my accursed cousin, and was no
longer fit to live. She bade me when
[ had read the letter, seek for my
father in the West and tell him the
sad story, and implore him to for
give her ami not curse her memory.
'"Then l got down on my knees
beside my bed and asked God to reg
lister an oath in heaven that If ever
again met the destroyer of my angel
mother / would kill him as would a
snake. left the academy that day
and sought employment as music
teacher to private pupils. L sue
ceeded in securing a large class,
and for whole year 1 tolled and
saved my earnings until 1 had accu-
mulated handsome sum. Then
started for the mining camp in Col
orado, where my father was last
heard from, but upon my arrival
learned to my dismay that he went to !
New Mtxico several years before. 1 |
returned to Denver, and, while lay
ing my future plans, conceived the
idea of avoiding insult by dressing in
boys clothes. ] secured suit at
secondhand dealers and the next
daV was en- route to Santa Fe, in al
most hopeless search of my Iove1
father.
SAT Santa Fe secprc1 trace of
him, and soon learned that he had
once been in that town, but had gone
further south For almost a year I
have wandered about from one min
ing camp to another, and on yester-
days stage reached Chloride. Dur
ing the evening 1 was strolling about
peeping IN the windows of saloons
hoping to catch his familiar face,
and in one of these houses saw that
accursed destroyer of my sainted
mother standing at the bar. The
fierceness of a tiger seemed to fill
my soul, and rushed to neighboring
store and purchased revolver and
had 1t filled with cartridges. Re-
/ again peered in the WIN
dow and saw him still standing there
and in an other moment / rushed in
and shot him dead. I then ran out
and seeing hores standing In front
IF the saloon, sprang upon his
back, hoping to escape.
"Men, this is my story. The man
I killed, and whom you call Dandy
Frank, was my cousin, Frank Mar
tin, and
uFrank Martin y,
Apache Bill sprang to his feet and
stood tremllng in every limb. His
face turned deathIy pale, and in a
horse, ,shaky voice, he asked:
"Gal, watts your name?"
"My name is Cora Martin, the
same name my poor mother bore"
With glad yell that resounded in
strange echoes through the adjoining
gulches Bill sprank forward and
clasped the boyish figure in his hos
om, and for few momeets all we
could hear was:
''My daughterI My long lost dar-
ling danghterl''
"oh, papa, papa, papa!''
The culprit was taken back to
Chloride and, after the story was
told, instead of lynching bee the re-
united father and daughter were
rendered the most rouslng reception
the country had ever known.
Bill had heard of the suicide of
his wife. hnt thrnnnh the nachina.