Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-05-02

fluttering strip OF blue silk, evidently
the hem Of a a,woman's dress Up to
this moment had been too busy to
think, but this rag set me to wonder
ing. How ON. earth could woman get
into that .thicket, I thought, and get
ting down on my knees I found the
prints of narrow, sharp heeled shoes in
the moss. covered turf. 1t was woman
sure, and after securing the last note in
sight I followed the trail, picking from
the bushes on either side of the way an
occasional bill. A hundred yards from
the locust tree, the track led to the
edge of the river between two water
willows, and in the soft mud for several
feet from the shore l could see foot
prints leading out towards the channel.
went back through the willows and
assured myself that the tracks were not
doubled, and then I walked up and
down the rivers edge for quarter of a
mile hunting for further traces of the
feminine boots. There were none, and,
conluding that the wearer must have
committed suicide, l returned to the
willows and began search there. l
walked out in the tracks as far as my
hip boots would permit me to go, and
much fur ther than l could see bottom
in the dirty water. Then was satisfied
that whoever she was she had drowned
herself after disposingJof her wealth.
Ireturned to the locust then, and TAX
ing up the strip of silk rolled it up
carefully, and put it in my vest pocket.
Il was in no mind for shooting and
was about to start for homo when /
thought of Belle, and whistled for her.
She did not come, and l moved on
through the thicket. AS / passed an
opening l caught sightiof her stanchly
pointing, and walking up flushed and
missed a wood cock. The bird circed
out over the river and plunged back to
the thicket some where in the neighbor-
hood of the willows. l was vexed at
missing the bird, and determined to
get il if there was chance. So, send
ing Belle ahead, l pushed on toward
the willows, and was soon gratifed to
see Belle point again. This time
h 1oI l. Ill aft ,f
She retrieved the dead bird beautifully,
and, dropping it at my feet, made
another dash into the brush, and mo-
ment later came back with an allig ator-
skin hand bag, which she held in her
mouth until took it. opened it and
found it one quarter full of money in
bills of large denomination. Besides
the money there was a small morocco
case containing hypodermic syringe, a
small bottle labelled morphine and con-
tanning few grains of the drug, q
pair of kid gloves, button hook, and
dream book. That was all. Not a
scrap of writing or any thing to betray
the identity of the owner of the bag
and money. In returning toward the
road pucked piece of gray os-
trich tip from the branches of tree
and found ladies' watch neatly bedded
in boil of moss with the chain care
fully coiled around it. kept my eyes
open then and looked at every inch of
the way, following the footsteps care
fully and coming out on the road with
out finding anything more.
81 went straight home, carry ing the
bag in my hand, and when got in my
bedroom l locked the door and began
to empty my pockets on the bed. When
the last bill was in sight arranged tho
bills according to their denomination
and began counting. There were thir-
teen one hundred dollar notes, one five
hundred, seventy-four fifties, eighty
twenties. fifty three tens, and nineteen
fves, or $7725 In all.
''Now ldon't believe anybody will
be surprised when say that kept that
money. l commenced spending it the
afternoon of the day l got it. / put
500 in my pocket and went to New
ark, and as natural consequence got
on Fourth of July spree and did not
show up a. home until my money was
gone and had borrowed 10 cents from
a friend. That was on the morning of
the 9TH, and felt like fool. I made
up my mind then to take care of every
remaining dollar. 1t was the basis of
what have got now, and / think
have doubled it twice since. I have
told this story to two or three persons
and / am not afraid to tell it to the