Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-10-14

50 the lawyers WSro con5uAtcu III " gard to Delaro's estate, and after sever al disputes settlement was agreed ppon.
 Delaro's sorrowing wife. finding that the horrible associations of the district would be too much for her, resolved to sell every thing and move to Santa Rosa where her friends and parents had long resided.
 Tn all her negotiations and other business matters, she was ably assisted and indeed guided by Joel Wilcox, and this proved a fortunate arrangement for her. For a woman with no more knowledge of law and business than Mrs. Delaro would have been a pliable tool in the hands of so unprincipled and crafty a man as Velasquez.
 The estate, including the wine eel lars and every thing else connected with 1t, was sold. and, after all the final details were settled, Velasquez re- ceived check for very nearly the same amount he had agreed upon with Mario Delaro on the night-of the murder. He lost no time in bidding Good bye' to the Valley, bending his steps toward his old haunts in Frisco. 1 His stay there was not of long dura- tion, for he became fearful that Anton Reyman might be acquitted of the charge of murder, following which event the impetuous Joel Wilcox would, undoubtedly, make matters rather un- pleasant for him, if his whereabouts were known.
 So he realised on all valuable papers in his possession and started East.
 Nearly a month elapsed between the enactment of the vineyard tragedy and the time of Leon Velasquez's final dis appearance from the Sonoma valley. With the assistance and advice of Joel Wilcox, Mrs. Delaro was preparing to dispose of her house and leave the dis trict. Thanks to the old Yankees busi- ness tact she found that she had suf- ficient money left from the proceeds of the sale to keep her in comfort for a number of years. Still she was anxious to be rid of the house also.
 In any case she would have been com pelled to sell it shortly afterwards, for on the twentieth of tho month, thirty days after Delaro's death, a notice was served on the executors of the estate to the effect that a note for $50, ,oOo) hfty-thousand dty.iars drawn in favor of Leon Velas- qGsz and discounted by him in San Francisco, was due and must be paid in three days.
 This threw a new light on affairs, and Mrs. Delaro was amazed. Why had her husband given Veiasquez a note at thirty days for such an amount of money? She was utterly unable to solve the riddle, and at once sought her old friend for aid.
 This is what old Joel Wilcox, the millionaire, said about it: "You kin depend upon it, Mrs. Delaro, that there is more in this than you or I know at present. This note that's a lyin' in the bank for you to meet was drawn on the night that my friend Mario was murdered, and I'm as sure that it's got sumthin' to do with that dirty work as
 l am that Anton Reyman is innocent of it all The note'll hev to be met hut
 it'll knock a big hole in what you got } out of the sale O the vineyard to do 1t. So when you're ready to sell your house don't go to anybody else. Pll buy it and give you fair price for it.'
 Mrs. Delaro was much stirred by old
 Wilcox's words, and 1t was with a
 blanched face that she looked up at the big millionaire, and said: ''Mr. Wilcox, do you think for one moment that Leon
 Velasquez had any thing to do with the
 death of my poor husbandq"
 ''Yes l do," was the reply, land
 what's more I'm going to find out just . how much he did heV to do with 1t, or } my name ain't Joel Wilcox"
 'I don't like to think this without } some good grounds for the belief," said } the beautiful woman; ''but 1 will l arouse myself at once. am unusually
 quiet and do not as rule jump at con clusions; but when my husband was } cruelty taken from me 1t seemed as
 though my heart had been forcibly torn from its place to he replaced by e spirit ) of revenge. Henceforth my duty shall
 be to find Mario's slayer. I, too, do not believe Anton Reyman guilty, but here her voice became choked with . emotion and passion. The quiet, pas. . sive nature of the lady was fast fading
 before the hot southern blood of ar . aroused woman, and it was with flash 3 ing eyes and panting breath she l earnestly exclaimed: "T IcM find his