Omaha daily bee., 1889-10-20
HUMAN TIGERS.

| -
| Adapted from the French: Wan,
| hollow jawed, sunkep-eyed-a frlghtful
| vision of sorrow and madness-Chris-
tine Evig wandered always through the
| streets OF the city, for her child had
| been stolen from her under her very
eyes in the midst OF the crowd that
swayed about her in the street OF the
| Trois Bateaux.
| Two years ago this sorrow had come
| upon her-two years ago deprived her
of reason-and from that.d on Chris
tine Evig, as I've told you, wandered
always and cried continually, her voice
more and more dull and feeble:
"Deubeche Deubeche! Where art
thou, Deubeche?n
| Poor soul. poor mother" said the
worthy bourgeoise, as they fed and
clothed her from their ample store: and
even the police, IN the presence of this
universal sympathy, allowed her to
roam at will and to cry her plants prac-
| tically unmolested.
Yes, two years had come and gone
since Deubeche Evig slipped from sight
in the street of the Trois- -Bateaux, and,
strange to say, from that very moment,
as if the disappearance of Christine's
| child had been a sinister signal, chill
dren were lost upon every side. Some
| times weeks, sometimes months elapsed
between these strange disappearance,
| and sometimes, more frequently Of late.
the little victims of these cruel and sur
| prising events were taken from among
the children of the higher classes.
| child would advance to the door
step, it seemed but for q moment-the
mother would follow it to find it gone,
to call aloud, as Christine bad done
Karl" "Ludwig!' "Lotele.' to meet,
as she had done, with no response, and
to rummage and search in vain. Truly
the streets of Hesse- -Darmstadt, desp pite
| the police, the provisional arrests, the
| perquisitions and the terror of the peO-
| ple-the streets of Hesse- Darmstadt
were filling with mourners.
Such was the condition OF affairs,
when one evening, late in October,
Christine seated herself to rest upon
the margin of the fountain, called by
the people of the town because of its
position, the Fountain of the Bishop"
Night was falling rapidly, and the SER
wants of the neighborhood, infected with
| the general alarm. instead OF stopping
to gossip as usual, filled their cruises in
| frightened haste and hurried to regain
their dwellings.
The poor mad woman remained alone,
mouonless under the frozen rain which
sifted through the fogs of the Rhine,
and the tall houses, with their sharp
pointed gables, slowly enveloped them
selves in shadow. The bell of the
Bishops chapel sulleniy tolled 7, but
still Christine Evig sat without stirring,
her eyes fixed upon vacancy, her lips
grooming their eternal plant.
"Deubeche. Deubeche! Where art
thou, Deubeche"
Ali ct once, as the pale hues Of twi-
light stretched themselves to the sum-
NIT of the roofs. she trembled from
head to foot, and the blank stony face,
impossible for two years past, took on
an expression of intelligence so keen
and piercing that Margot, the house
keeper of the Councillor Trumf,
dropped the pitcher she was filing and
ran with fright.
Christine's eyes had fallen upon a
distant figure crossing at the further
end of the palace, womanS figure
running with bowed head, and holding
in her arms, wrapped in a shawl some
thing that struggled weakly. This
woman, seen through the rain and fog Z,
presented strange and startling as
pecU: she ran like thief who mad ac-
complshed her work, dragging behind
her in the mud of the street, her dirty
tatters, and keeping close in the
shadow of the walls.
| The eyes of the maniac fell upon her
suddenly: she watched her intently,
then, with wild and frenzied cry,
bounded to her feet and ran across the
square to the corner of the Vielles-Fer-
rallies, where the crouching figure OF
the runner had abruptly disappeared.
Here she stopped, breathless and pant
ing; the stranger had buried herself in
the darkness of filthy alley, and on all
sides you heard but the monotonous
drip, drip, OF the water falling from the
cutters.
What had awakened this spark Of
intelligence in the brain OF this unhap-
py woman? What had she seen or re-
calledg What abyss of the past sud
denly unveiled before her in that fla sh
from the soul?
All! | can not tell you-nothng, in :
deed, but that reason: what else but
reason could it be? had come again and
that without losing single instant,
Christine Evig doubled like a hare
upon her trail, mounted the srteet of
the Trois-BateaUX, aud threw herself
into the presence OF the preyot, Kaspar
Schwartz, crying as she ran:
Come! come! M. Prevot, for God Is
sake, come! The child-thief, Nj. Prevot,
the child-thief, COME"
"rhe child-thief! and Christine
Evig! and here in his own dining
room!n Kaspar Schwartz, a grave,
methodical man, who loved to eat and
digest his supper in peaceable quiet,
set down his tea-cup and turned with a
frown. The sight OF this ragged
phantom was more than he could
stand.
"Am never TO be free?n he cried.
sam never TO know minutes peace?
And thou. Christine Evig, what mad
ness brings thee here?"
Christine trembled at his tone, but
still held her ground and responded
clearly, though her voice choked with
sobs as she told her story, and her