The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1889-10-24

MIGHT have been her hand which held one
81 should sns ~ Ss'': and q ins s"n nss.ei s'' ~Ss .s s@s
as We could dese. mime .he had taken
her to the bank and drawn out and pre-
sented to her the sum Of 80. This she
had taken. As wa her light. but the few
when we searched b dead body. I bad
not thought to overhaul her wardrobe, bat
she had s snms 70 hs s% IL IN s Ssr : bS SSsn sSi
Her hest was . black silk, q hne red
shoes. She would not only look very
much like n lady, hut she would mot set
out for 2 walk ccrcs: the wet aeid. Or
take the train at the nearest point, OF
course. and that happened tn he ~ n sta
cabin and on his land. Freight and ac-
c~ommodation trains topped there always
for water, and the regular passenger
press for Cincinnati would not stop at
the village, hut would at this county sta
ton tn get ~ supply Of water for the ngine
As soon as l struck this trail i was only
n few lays i'm ascertaining that Mrs.
Thatcher, drs.sss,d i'm her best, did actually
board the express tha, night as !, s,oPpsd
and was carried to cincinnati She had
four weeks the start Of me, hut l had
that the fact of her being simplc-minded,
and never having travelled much, would
make her keep clear Of the hotels. She,
for the old mans death, and n search
made for her. In that case she would
hide herself. I had my mind made up
when L reached Cincinnati to look for her
among the boarding houses, and look l
did. After n vain seach of of "a week I got
or ers w %. iH Sc cs s"s srass Of Ser.s i'm ao III an i%,o
the city she had entered into conversation
with q fellow passengcr, and he had rec
by his aunt. They gave her q room at the
house, but soon saw that she was queer.
The situation sharpened her wits and she
who had come To search out relatives. Al
she never went out, received no letters,
and employed no assistance, her story was
wonder To the other boarders. Ia about
three weeks she one day paid her hill and
walksd OH; bus one OF the boHrsiers f g
hoped and expected To find her there, but
she had changed again and no one knew
locate her again and this time we were
too late by an hour only.
In making her second change Mrs.
kept by a woman who had n brother on a
arm. He supplied her with vegetables,
and as he came i'm one day Mrs. Thatcher
his farm. She arranged for her board,
bought herself a cheap dress or two, and
the pair had been gone about an hour or
two when we rang the bell. The detec-
tive was busy on another case and decided
that he could not go with me. ! therefore
got a hJrS. n : cii,sfy T.; nn she arSxs OH alone.
June day, and ! was hardly clear of the
city when / noticed that "a thunder storm
which I was headed. I drove fast, hoping
Ia make the ten miles before i was caught,
but when seven miles from the city the
storm broke. The only shelter could So
c,is. was AN old wagon shed. hut while
the thunder and lightning were severe,
but little rain fell.
the lightning struck near me three times,
and l was greatly relieved when the storm
PASSED ON. drov" orWara Tor about. a
curious sight in the highway. A farmers
wagon was smoking and burning while
one h"r.S lay stone dead and i the q, other he.
wagon lay the body Of n woman, ON the
side that of a man. / lcaped
the man was the first a%pproacS.d.
His clothes were on fire over his breast
and his face WAS ~discolored. One glance
lay i'm IA heap, hut when I took mold
Of her hand there was u hutter of the eye
4 bolt of lightning had killed one
had only been stunned: My first move
was just what any physician would have
dress and cut her corset strings to
give her lungs "a chance To play. As the
knife parted The strings and the corset
reached for IL, and one look told me that
il was the last will and testament Of JAS.
Then the woman must he Mrs. |
Thatcher. but I should never have known
her, DRESSED as h was. She came out
while l was releasing the plung-
ing horse aud putting out the fire in
wagon. The accident had come about
as ! supposed, and in half an hour she was ,
herself again. I went tn the nearest
farmer, got him to come back and as
sumo charge Of things. and then drove
back to the city with my prisoner. On the
way i'm she fully explained everything.
When Martin found himself about to die
he told her tn burn the old will.
her nervousness, and being unable
Ia read. she burned the wrong one.
When he discovered this he bcratcd
her i'm as forcible language as he could
call up-indeed. he fell back and died
while cursinR her. Fearing that she had
committed some awful crime, and hoping
that IL she carried the other document of
with her she might escape all conse-
q~uences, she DRESSED herself, took the
paper and her money. and walked over
and boarded the train.
Under the will I had recovered all the
relatives shared alike, which was fair and
just under the circumstn noes, and instead
Of making any trouble for the grass
widow. they presented her with n purse
Of $500 and headed her for Oregon. where
she got another sba i'm less than a
month after her arrival.
Pnr~lvsn1.