Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-09-06

Morton Frazier thought of it though,
thf next day, for the events of the night
were such as to bring the circumstance
yiyidly to his mind.
About 3 O'clock on the morning Of
thc 5th, Ere broke out in tho great
Rockwell block. More than $50, 600
went up in smoke. The whole town
was out to see the sight, and TO help.
lessly mourn the event. The Rockwell
block had been built IN the "boom'
da7s, two years before, and though it
was out Of all proportion to the town,
everybody was sorry TO see it destroyed.
'Wandering Mac" was among the
first on the ground, and as soon as he
had seen the fire well under way he had
reused up the telegraph operator and
sent this message, which appeared as a
special in the mornings Gazette:
DoBBvILLE, July 5th.-A terrible flre
took place hers this morning. It started in
Rqckwelrsstore ana burned into Ffy's gro
Gerry; then into the insurance company's
Office. The flames leaped 40 or so feet In
height. Everything IS excitement.
The next morning revealed several
things worthy of mention in this MARIA
tiou.i The smoking ruins were sur
rounded by scores of men and boys.
busy discussing the cause of the fire.
Aud they. tod Of the probability that it
was an act Of ihcendiarism that it
STARRED If an out of-thc- way place; that
but one theory was held regarding the
firebugs; eand their conversation always
came round to the mysteriou, word
"speafmen.
Then somebody would explain that
the Spearmen was body Of rough boys
and young men who gathered in un-
canny places at night to plan deeds of
misch ef AMI meanness Another
would add that the spearmen had
particular spite against Rockwell for
having them arrested once for trivial
offence. A third had heard Roy Reueal
boast that he would ''gst even" A
fourth had just found that Roy had not
been home the night before, and was
yet missing, though his widowed mother
and his sister were searching every
where.
All these scraps of information were
unitel into complete history, and the
news went over town that Roy Reneal
had set fire to the Rock well block to
''sftt eyen' with the proprietor for ar
ressng tho spearpep, and had fed the
country. .strss.rs.-s.s.s
.sasatton .Fsazsor was ia despair. & At
'exT clock he was met on the street by
the Western Union messenger boy, who
handed him dispatch. He tried not
tsNsok self conscious as he read it, but
the effort was failure. 1t said:
GARrEN, July 8
MORTON FRAZIER, Dobbville:-S' md full
account of-firs by mil at noon. Insurance
Loss, cause AMI everything Gazette
Isay Frazier was in despair He had,
of course, heard the reports in circula-
tion regarding his brother-to- be Roy,
and yet how could he blast the boys
good name by sending the rumor TO the
CARTE. He must decide quickly, for
the on'y mail train that cod d get his
letter TO the paper in time for its next
issue left at noon, and nov it was past
eleven.
While he sat in his office. pondering
over the matter, there was great bat
tie fought between his great love for
nows and his great love for Marion.
Added to the first was the stentor,an,
1--WE want the news and all the news,
.o1.ihe iitor, and to Il >. second, the
fair features of his sweetheart. Which
should he obey, Cupid or Mammon?
lie reflected that the Daily Hastrd, the
Gasett5's riva', would 'scoop" its
competitor, unless he furnished the re
quired information, and resolusely put
his pen to paper, and ground out
heart rending accoun of the confagra.
tion and Of the ugly rumors that were
reported around the city. The noon
train carried the correspondence to Gar
ten.
When the train had gone, he sat in
his office studying over the matter.
Had he done right Perhaps the boy
was really innocent. If 81, he had done
the worst thing he could have to harm
him; he had committed the sin that lies
at the door of every newspaper writer
sanc!um, the shattering of fellow
beings peace of mini and perhaps repu-
alton, by careIcs; word or phrase or a
bit of unsub ,tantial rumor, glowingly
written up.
As he pored over the matter there was
a tap at the door, and upon opening it
ne was greeted bY Marion. her face
wreathed with smilei, AMI such evil
IDENTITY kissable lips that he hal no
hesltancy in-well, it is not necessary
to go into details.
oh, Mort, = she gasped, after a
moment, "whcre have you been todayl
] " ntel to see you so much.
Frazier remembered that he had not
been to the home Of his betrothed, and
knew that it was because he doubted
her brothers innocence.
You don't know" she ratified on.
without giving him time to respond,
'how worried mother and | have been.
R9y was not to ha found and that hor