Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-07-17

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the slave Of my intellect had q fascination
which ] could not resist saw you, COM
PEELED you to confde In me the story Of
your trials and hardships, and you became
mine Ny influence over you began at the
moment ! met you In the Faubourg St
Honore, and you have been my tool ever
Since. At first made you per-
form all sorts Of silly tricks in your room.
By and by sent you on fools errands to
different parts Of the house. You acted
like somnambulist, but always performed
the duties required by me. As my
influence over you grew, my desire for fur
Their experiments became craze; and from
foolery led you to crime.
"'In my youthful days l had been Tilted by
young woman. My love for her had
changed into hatred. For years had
waited for an opportunity to revenge my
self. The opportunity came with you. ]
imbued you with the idea to Kill this
woman's only surviving child, a girl SIX
teen years OF age. / guided your steps
through the streets leading to her house,
and you performed the deed as / wished il
TO be performed. will not enter into the
details Of the crime which Afforded me more
genuine pleasure than had felt for years.
You returned to your room, where / kept
you in a semi-cataleptic state, until my de-
sire for revenge, which had grown after
the slaughter Of its first victim, compelled
me TO send you on q second mission. .
This time you plunged dagger In the
heart Of the womRn's husband Once more
allowed you to rest--only to prepare You
for third crime. All Paris was horror
stricken when It heard that Nine. R,
the only survivor Of family whose other
members had been assassinated within
four months, had been found dead In her
bed with poinard in her bosom. Venge-
ance had been nine. was satisfied, both
with my power over you and the results Il
had accomplished. / freed you from bond
age. You became q popular physician, Q
successful politician, q favorite Of society.
I was glad Of your success, for a. grew
older began to repent Of my wicked deeds,
and now, on the brink Of the grave, feel
it my duty to communicate to you the part
you played Is an instrument 70 my re-
venge.
"'Morally, my young friend, you are guilt
less Of the crimes committed by your hands.
am convinced Of that, after carefully CON.
sidering the matter. But would the law
look upon the deeds in this light doubt
It. Ny revenge was cruel but my anguish
1T this moment il more terrible than was
the physical pain experienced by my, by
your Victims.
"'Prosper, forgive my selfshness. Seek
refuge in some far-away land and pray
for the soul of the man who betrayed you.'
sand now am aimlessly tramp.
ing through the frontier territories of
America. The last Of Slmon's blood-money
10 spent. Ny life, failure from its start,
Ii drawing to its close. May he who reads
these lines judge me mercifully. In all
these deeds Of wickedness was but the
unconscious instrument. And yet they
have brought me to want, to misery, to
degradation, from which there Is no escape
but death. Before another sun sets viii
meet my Maker.
"Deliverance is night FAREWELL Fare
WE'LL PROSPER DE BELAMY.n
=
Were a sensational or untruthful story
teller, would close my narrative with the
Chevalier de Belamy's signature, and allow
the reader to ponder over the sad fate of a
wrecked life. Truth, however, compels me
to add another chapter.
A few months after had prepared this
story for publication, and while the impress
sions created by the confession were vet
fresh in my memory, visited friend at
Neville. In the course of my rambles
through the streets Of that beautiful city
entered the lobby Of the principal hotel for
the purpose of buying cigar.
Imagine my surprise when beheld lean
ing against the cashiers desk the form OF
man resembling the Inflated chevalier. At
this moment the man turned his head.
His eyes met mine, and ! knew that I had
made no mistake. Had the unfortunate
fellow repented his suicidal resolution and
had he concluded to resume the struggle
nXIafQnRat k6o
which presented themselves to me. While
thoughts like this were rushing through
my head the Frenchman approached me.
and bowling with the same grace that had
characterized him at the Nebraska railway
station, said:
"Glad to meet you again, SIR"
l will not punish the reader by repeating
our conversation, which was closed with the
following remarks:
"When met you In Nebraska mistoolr
you for tenderfoot from the East who had
come West to invest in land. After handing
you my confession-an excellent document,
as you will admit followed you to your
destination. / stopped at your hotel, in
room adjoining yours. The next morning
found out that had been a fool-in other
words, that instead Of being a capitalist you
were nothing but apoor scribbler. knew
SAAe@S
you. You can't squeeze blood out of a
turnip, you know. avoided you, regret
ting the loss of my neatly-written manu-
script. Two days later made the &C
Quaintance Of a young man after my own
heart, who-it 10 hardly necessary to say
my misery and my conscience by
applying plaster Of greenbacks. Ahimy
dear sir, the sympathy racket is great, espe-
cially when adorned with Q French name
and made interesting by q bit of mysticism;
and should you ever get stranded in an out
of-the-way corner Of the earth work it on
some young fellow who has just enough
to be easily duped."
l was too astonished to reply TO the
rogue's glib talk. But before he left me
managed to ask:
"Then you are not . Frenchmanl You
are not the Chevalier de BelamyP'
"No," he replied, bowling nonchalantIy,
81 am plain Jack Thompson, of Bellevue. /
am not French Knight; but am, as you
will perhaps admit, q very clever cheudIIsr d.
tndustrtc. &C. w. Weippiert, in Detroit
Free Press.