Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1886-12-06

went into the room where the skele-
ton had been laid the year before,
and from the window of which we
had seen the old face peering down
at us. The skeleton was still there,
and ragged, bent old man was
there with it. If he had ever had
the slightest claim to personal beau
ty there was no trace of it left, for
his dark eyes had feverish bright
ness that lent an odd look of youth
to his withered face.
"Good-morning, SIR" said Frank.
"Good-morning, good-morning,''
he answered. care you the sheriff?
I've been here waiting for you these
three months. Thirty-six years ago
/ killed a man in this house. | had
/, to do it to save myself from prison
and my wife from starvation
81 had been manufacturing squeer'
for while back, and was having
good luck at it. | was running the
business alone, taking all the risks
and all the profits. You see l had
married a pretty young girl against
her fathers wishes. He turned her
out of the house and swore that she
should never come back or have
cent. I was forced to bring her to
this hole, but was doing my best to
get her away from it,when one night,
United States detective came spy
ing round. 1 always had quick,
womanish way of seeing how to turn
things to the best advantage.
| Lois-that was my wife-was just
going to spend the night at sick
neighbor's. I suspected the mans
errand and hurried her off. He tried
to worm himself into my confidence.
| pretended to be very frank, and
told him all he wanted to know about
my ostensible busness-horse and
cattle trading. Then he got to talk
ing about the house, and brought it
round, in the most natural way in
the world, to ask to 60 upstairs. /
started right along with him, inno-
cent as baby,to show him the rooms
and ask him which one he had rath-
er sleep in that night. The one at
the head of the stairs is the one the
queer materials were in. [ had al
ways kept it locked to be on the safe
side, for l was too bright to let
woman, even my wife, know that |
was counterfeiter. I pretended
Lois had locked it, as it was room
seldom used. He gave me quick,
sharp glance.
wait here minute, 1 said per-
fectly cool. I'll run down and see if
the key is in the old place.
| handed him key when I re-
turned; it wasn't the right one, but
: while he was finding that out / drove
a long, sharp knife into his neck,
and knocked him over so that he
tumbled heavily down the stairs.
sin less than three minutes from
the time the crime was conceived it
3 was committed. Nothing but expe-
, rience will ever give man any idea
how he will feel or act under the cir
i, cumstances. | never was cooler or
quicker-witted in my life. 1 went
down stairs with the lighted candle
< in my hand, picking up the knife on
my way. | noticed blood here and
there on the unpainted stairs, and
knew 1t would leave stains that no
water would wash out. 1t at once
&. occurred to me that l could cover the
t blood stains with ink and account for
. the splashes in a perfectly natural
manner. The man was not quite
dead, but faint and helpless from the
4 fall and loss of blood, and | soon
q finished the business.
. Before LOIS got home in the morn
ing the body was buried five feet
deep under the kitchen hearth, every
trace of blood, dirt and disorder re-
/, moved, and the detectives horse
$ poisoned so that he dropped dead be-
. fore noon. | stayed round here for
the best part of year, not daring to
! go away for fear of exciting suspi-
d cion.
e Sir, do you want 10 know whether
: murderers 60 to hell or not? They
don't go; it comes to them. They
begin to carry it around with them
from the time the crime is conceived
S until it is repented of and atoned for.
: I'm an old man now. I've been
n wandering up and down the earth fol
more than thirty years. meant
} to be rich man, but I've been g
n rolling stone and gathered no moss
e They say that the thoughts and de.
e sires of the old turn with intense
o. longing, as death approaches, to the
. home of their childhood perhap:
: some similar law of nature draws thu
h criminal back to the scene of hi
h crime.
l. came and found my poor old wifi,
was gone, froze to death, after al
awful storm when the roads were i'm
u passible. / have concealed my
|. crime so long that the relief it gives
r me to confess it is indescribable.
have dreaded the gallows so long
, that it is almost pleasant to know
- that / am likely to be hung at last
o But am firing you, sir, with m.
1t long story"
j. ''Not at all. 1t is proof that
/ have been seeking, but hardly daret
hope to stumble upon. Is il chance
or fate, or God, that brings so man.
diverging paths of different lives to ;
point where for some seemingly wis
1 purpose, they touch and then diverg'
10 again? This skeleton is that of you
victim. | am the man who, yea
: ago, disinterred it from beneath thu
le hearth-stone where it had lain unsus
y pected, since the night of the mur
l. der. My wife lost her way on
% night last summer, and took refugs
here until morning. Your wife, glaC
y to have a woman to speak to, tolC
= her the story of her life. In tn,