The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-07-26

property. This was his reputation. And
yet the handsome Young fellow was not un-
popular. Pearlle Bra 1street had gone fur
ther when she offered her hand to him to
shake that evening" despite the quarrel they
had, than any girl had ever gone yet, but
half score of good girls would have ac-
cepted his attentions. He knew his reputa-
tion; he knew the excuses all his acquaint-
ances were always ready to make for him
"a worthless fellow" was usually said in
pity.
"Too late l''
The words were those OF utter despair and
WEAKNESS, hiding for a little, at least, the
anger he had felt.
In great crises In life we often give atten-
tion to very little things. AS Bill Fedden
turned away he saw man bow his head sud
denly and kiss woman he held in his arms.
They were standing in front of the window
which was to have been the point of view
when Charley Chase received his thrashing at
his hands. And in among those ideas that
make lives tragedy stole one of those which
make 1t a comedy.
''He'd better open now That's better than
seeing man licked"
But the comedy OF his life was forever over
for Bill Fedden in half minute more, for as
the couple turned to enter the house again by
the door through which he had lust come
and through which they had doubtless pre-
ceded him by only a little time, the light from
Chase and Alice Brown. t
The stars shone down on face hardly less
white than they; the teeth cut Bills lips until
the blood came; his groan would have made a
listener shudder; but he tramped away toward
his home, leaving Alice Brown won and
Charley Chase unpunished.
CHAPTER H.
Fedden slept late the next morning, so
late that a score of men came to arouse
him. But Charley Chase slept later, and
only one fair woman tried vainly to rouse
him.
Bill came down, hardly more than half
dressed, when he heard the confusion be-
low stairs The kitchen was full of armed
men, Judge Lynch was not entirely unknown
In the region, and whatever Bill knew of the
past or the present, he knew at once that he
stood almost on the threshold of the great
future. Whether his visitors came there to
hang him or not, they could never afterward
agree themselves. At any rate they didn't do
1t. Two men out of the twenty or more, one
OF them sheriff, insisted on an arrest. Strong
wills overcame weak ones and by noon BilI
Fedden could have been lynched only by men
bold enough to have stormed the county jail
Weak wills had become resolved too late to
succeed.
Bill went quietly with his captors He never
asked why they had taken him. He paled a
little when they passed the house of the Widow
Chase with the Grape on the door-knob, but it
might have been at the thought that his life
was In especial danger just then. The man
VINO said 'sPoor Charley !' certainly looked
quite capable of shooting him at this moment.
He flushed little when they passed the min
lister with his daughter closely yelled, by his
side. But he asked no questions.
The trial took place at the county seat,
twenty miles from the country neighborhood
where the murder had taken place. But every
one was there. 1t was crcunstantial, the evi-
dence which convicted poor worthless Bill
Fedden, but terribly pointed, nevertheless
Charley Chase had gone home alone or
In the loneliest spot in the vicinity and not
half mile from the Fedden homestead. The
bullet was evidently from revolver, of
which Bill Fedden owned the sole specimen
ever brought into the neighborhood Bills
lawyer made strong fight on that point.
The peculiarities sworn to might not be pc
cullarities; the ball might have come from
another weapon; other weapons of the same
sort might be owned near by.
But In a country neighborhood, where men
hunt together in favorable weather, and gossip
about it when they cannot hunt, the LAWYER
was working against fearful odds. Every
body knew that the ball came from Bill's re-
volver and no rhetoric or logic could shake
that conviction. Bill was shown the ball,
and, before the lawyer could shut his lips,
had admitted that it came from his weapon |
His plea that his revolver had been stolen |
was considered too trivial to be seriously en-
house had seen it hanging against the wall |
less than twenty-four hours before the muir |
der. That 1t was missing was true, but the |
fact was not considered important.
Tom French swore that Fedden was So |
Der. 1t was rather remarkable for Bill Fed |
den, and the prosecution took some pains to |
prove the fact.
Len Edwards testified to the intended |
thrashing.
One man swore to the strange mental state |
that made man object to paying his honest |
debts; another to the reckless mood that |
left man careless as to whether he receives |
his just dues or not.
The old maid testified to the oath the /
minister to the hurry Fedden was in.
Pearlle Bradstreet, who evidently thought |
1t sign OF some terrible mood for a man to
be Indifferent to her, testified to what oc-
CURED between the prisoner and herself 1t
seemed grand show for her; uncharitable
persons said If she had only had man killed
for her sake her measure of gratiied pride |
would be complete.
Bill Fedden was convicted and sentenced
Tor life. When asked why judgment should
not be pronounced against him he simply
denied the murder. What French and Ed
wards and all the rest had testified was true.
He had seen Chase kiss Miss Brown. He
had loved Miss Brown. He had hated
Chase. He simply had not killed him. His
revolver had been stolen.
III L ever come out of prison | shall come |
back here. And if l come back here the
world shall know l am innocent
CHAPTER III.
When the old maid who had hoped to con-