The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-12-01

BY her, through an Open Window,
caused her ~ hasten to the door; and
ecdfcely had the bell ceased to ring
before she greeted her lover.
|, Her demeanor was SO strange that
he was Immediately filled with an in
definable dread. She appeared to be
calm, but was deathly pale, end her
hand was cold as ice and trembled
when he touched it,
AS soon as he entered she handed
him the letter and simply said, III
cold faraway tones:
DO you know what this means?"
He unfolded the letter with hands
that shook in spite of oil his efforts
at selfcontrol. He rapidly caught
the drift ofits contents, and stagspred
as if stricken With q blow. His eyes
were cost Gown, great drops of per
spiTauion stood on his brow, and the
agony, ind helplesenBss Of the man
were absolutely pitiable.
at is true!" she almost shrieked.
"Great God, yesI' he answered III
thick accents, as he smote his brow
with the palm Of his right hand:
"But have mercy; let me explain!"
"Never; you're a monster!"
Edith, / entreat tou."
ut is TOO late, Joe; how could you
be so cruel? My heart is breakingl"
She few by him with a moan, and,
flying up the stairway, sought to
hide her agony. With outstretch
arms, Williams ram into the hall aft
er her. He believed that he would
find her fainting, and he expected To
catch her, falling soffn.
When she reached the head of the
stairs she turned and cried:
$50, go; cannot bear it longerl"
He hurried from the house and
wandered like one Insane through the
streets. He passed d sleepless hight,
and rose in the informing, hageard
and desperate. He did hot, care
what became of him, and almost
hoped for death I'd end his misery.
Mechanically, at II a. M, he took
charge or train bound for New York.
He was now comparatively calm, al
though it seemed as if there were no
future for him except one of misery;
but from long habit; he attended to
his duties we'll. At the edge ofthe eve
ming he stated from New York in
charge Of another train. During the
day he had resolved to end his life.
His plan was to ascend To the top Of
one of the cars, shortly before the
train arrived at a covered bridge,
ABOUT 80 miles out from the METRO
polls, and allow himself to strike the
roof of the structure as the train
passed under it. He would be killed
at once and his body would fall to the
ground. The verdict would be that
death was caused by an accident,
and he would escape the bdiuia which
attaehes to Suicides.
In accordance with this resolve he
climbed to the top of the car, next to
therear one, when the train was with
in about four miles of the bridge, and
SO, waited his doom.
1t was cloudy, but not intense
ly dark, a storm was brewing
and over the indistinct landscape.
through which the train rushed
like an unclaimed monster that
seemed to delight in newly found
freedom, there rested portentious
gloom. Puffs of damp air came from
the sea and smote the desperate
mans cheek; and he saw the faint
CLEAN of lantern rocking from the
gaff of some vessel that was blowing
the dark waters. Once he thought
he heard the slow, solemn wash of
the surf but he probably imagined
it, the cars rafting so loudly as to
drown all common noises in the
vicinity. Turning his eyes inland,
he saw the dim outlines of wooded
hills in the distance, and the light of
lamps around which he imagined
happy families were gathered. And
yet nothing seemed real to him, and
he could scarcely believe that he was
not in a world where all objects were
unsubstantial and intangible.
Everything appeared to be fieeting
and evasive, and he bt gan to think
that he himself was but a shadow
and his previous life nothing more
than a dream, the latter part of
which was an appalling nightmare.
There are conditions of extreme
peril when the mind of a sensitive
temperament is subject to aphenom-
enon in which time seems to be an
initiated. 1t often occurs, we are
told, to person drowning, who, be-
ing resuscited, have said that their
lives were brought before them as if
condensed in a panorama, as it were,
and in the few moments ofstrangula-
all the good and ill of their past have
been flashed before them. We all
know from experience that to one
overcome by fatigue, in sleep ofone
minute q dream has had existence
that called for an hour to relate.
This is what happened to Joe while
standing upon the roof of the car; he
sawswiftly approaching the dim, huge
form of the covered bridge that was
to be his death. His life came before
his mind as in a flash of lightning;
and not only were the events crowd
ed into one horizon of his view, but
those events seemed to assume rela-
tions to each other that were not on
ly novel, but instructive to him.
Cleaning over all was not the light
of sin, but that ofweakness and folly,
and, as of consequence, power yet
left him ofretrieving himself tugged at
his will, and urged the abandonment
of his purposed suicide. He saw how
in his early youth he had permitted
himself to become entangled in an af-
fair with vulgar. ignorant, and as
he now believed, a vicious girl; how,
in a moment OF generous impulse, he
had made the wretched creature his
wife; and so, without lifting her from
degradation, had been dragged down
to abject misery. Life with her was
intolerablet to both. They had separ-
ated, although he yet supported her
in wanton extravaganza that kept
him in poverty.
THE xpo q MT civ. - r,o q foI1,, Fybo