Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-01-16

envied the dead. "Everythinc works for
~you-heaven aud hell, even the night, dark
ness and storm"
The hall clock struck ten. He listened and
counted every stroke as the hammer fell.
M more" he said, taking out his watch,
looking at it, AMI then placing it to his ear.
mo more! The Fates arc with me-. Now
to business! What is there to fearz A dead
man is nothlng-lust, clay, a clol. moth
ing. Come, John Needham, to b~usiness!n
10 reached over to the spirit decanters
and pouring into a glass n large quantity of
whisky drunk it off. Then stretching him.
self ~ to his full height, lie turncl up his
sleeves, apostrophizing the corps as he did
Sc.
"Ycu are John Northampton Needham,
member of parliament, banker, the ruined
financicr, and you must not be found dressed
in Joseph Norbury's clothcs-come! 1t will
not matter to you how you are dressed; it
will to Me. Joseph Norbury must not go
about in John Needham's coa.., nor wear
Joseph Nolbury'S watch; nor carry Joseph
Norbury S purse, nor anything else that is
his! Gomez
1t seemed as if the situation, the whisky,
and the gift Of life with q new name, made
physically a new man Of the villain. He
worked at his CHASTITY business with tho
energy Of a giant and tho vigor of a lootcr
on n battlefield. Once or twice he refreshed
himself from the spirit decantcr, and wiped
the perspiration from his face.
When the changes had been made be-
tween the living and the dead, which tho
living considered sufficient, then came the
no less difficult work of removing the
body; but the murderer was equal to the
occasion. Ho carried it out into the yard
and thrust it into the %brougham, which he
had already dragged out of the carriage
house for the purpose. There was not a
single detail that lie had not thought out on
The lines of his own proposed suicide.
He had not permitted himself, so far, to
change a single item Of his original plan
except this incident Of driving to Hamp.
stead; for he had argued that il his scheme
was simple and had no hitch in it, all lie
had to do was to fit his substitute into the
| plan. The only change was. the %brougham.
His own idea had been to walk to the
scene of his W death, Il ~favorit, resort in
life, and there take his fatal dose. The i'll
PRODUCTION Of the brougham had necessi-
tated the absence of the servants. These
supplementary incidents had worked out
SO far to his satisfaction, the most tremen-
dous Of all of them, the discovery of tho
substitute, having been in Needham's opin.
| ion little less than miraculous.
Having deposited his CHASTITY load in the
brougham, he leaned, gasping, against the
coach house; fer though Ii, had carried his
load with something like the grip of an ex.
pert at such work, balancing tho weight OF
the difficult AMI awkward burden so us tc
make it bearablc, lie could hardly stand
erect for some minutes. PRESENTLY, how.
ever, he won't back into the house, straight.
enea his room, washed and laid aside the
extra coffee cup, placed i'll his pocket tho
pllial Of poison, carefully removed all traces
Of his visitor: then going into the hall and
putting on Norbury's light overcoat, taking
| his own on his arm, ami his crush hat in
his hand, Ee returned to the sta bles AMI har-
messed the cob to the brougham. Opening
the gates st,ulthiiy lie looked cut. No one
stirring, the night dark, Il steady rain fail
ing; everything still favored the criminal
and his work. He lei the horse through
the satsw way, put out the Ian tern, placed it
inside the doors, which he carefully closed:
and then, mounting the box seat, drove
| quietly through tn. News and out into
Marylebone road.
The rain fell i'll u steady downpour. The
perfume Of roses and stocks from adjacent
gardens filled tho dripping atmosphere; but
in the mi gination of the solitary driver of
the silent passenger the gas lamps pointed
their short arms at him. The long, glarine
reflections of the lights Oh the wet pave
ments seemed to follow him. He drove on.
nevertheless. and to his troubled fancy the
wheels of the %brougham made an awful
noise. His horse clatteled over the stones
as if with the design OF calling attention to
the. awful thing ha was dragging. THAT
is why they walk the horses III Il hearse.
and the mourning coaches that follow Green
along," the driver thought, 1.-THE noise is so
great" He pulled the cob into a walk.
"Yes,n lie thought, that must be it; there
is more noise attending the removal of the
dead h the living-a kind of sympathy,
as If the stones spoke, as somebody has, /
think, suggested. But now that his horse
only walked through the rain, lie noticed
that as cabmen ratified by they TUNED to
look at him. He had not lighted the lamps
of his brougham, so that the light of pass.
ing vehicles seemed to flash upon him and
try to unnerve him. He therefore urge
the horse once more into a trot. and ratified
over the stones with the rest of the traffic.
He turned into the Allsopp News and
would have gone through Clarence gate into
the park, hut hc dared not risk having ia
pull mp for gates to be opened and shut; SO
he kept to the road, turning into Upper
Gloucester place, now at Il walking pace,
now at a trot, tho gas lamps pointing at
him as before, and the blood red glare of q
druggists lamp that fell sheer across his
path making him sbudder. But on he went,
round Park road, past Primrose hill, and
now skirting its western side. and so into
Haverstock hill, finally climbing the.stee,
ascent to Hampstead. Passing The last
lights OF house and lamp, the driver plunged
with his silent passenger into the darkness,
made visible at intervals by sharp flashe;
of lightning, the impressive stiffness of til,
night being heightened by thunder tina
rolled over the hill and into the distant val
leys, leaving bshina it long listening
pauses of silence.