Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-08-13
A STRANGE CONFESSION.

A great mystery surrounded the sud
den death Of Alexander Dale. Certain
metropolitan e papers claimed that
he had committe suicide. while others
contended that & murder had been per
petrated The detectives were all at
sea in the matt r and refused TO express
an opinion.
So far as tn, public knew. the facts of
the case werp these Alexander Dale,
president Of the Western Land I'm
provement company with Offices in the
Hollis building. New York city, had
been for years a prominent and re-
spected business ma of the metropolis.
He had been a member Of several ex-
elusive clubs, and had kept bachelors
hall In handsome style. One morning
he was found dead in bed. a dagger
through his heart. The weapon was
so situated that two theories regarding
his demise were tenable-either his
own hand OF that of a murderer might
have struck the fatal blow.
The weakness of the position held by
those who considered him a suicide lay
in the fact that no motive for self de
~struction seemed TO exist. His fnan-
cial affairs appeared to be in a flourish
ing condition. and no complications
with the gentler sex were known to
cloud his record. His fellow clubmen
testified unanimously that he had been
a consistent woman hater, that he was
not prone TO m~elancholia, and that on
the night preceding his death he had
left their company in unusually high
spirits.
On the other hand, there was not the
slightest clew to a murderer. His
apartments were on the second floor of
a large building on Fifth avenue, and
he was in the habit Of remaining out so
late at night that his incomings were
never noted by the j%anitor, who usually
retired long before Dale left his club.
The mystery caused much gossip and
discussion for a few days and was then
practically forgotten. Some new sensa-
ton had turned the attention of the
metropolis away from the Dale case.
There was only u man in the world
who knew how Alexander Dale died
that was the murderer. Eugene Scran-
ton. secretary and treasurer of the
Western Land Improvement company,
had killed the. president. Why3 Be
cause Dale and Scranton were scoun-
drels Of a strictly modern type. They
both knew that the w. L. |. c. was a
gigantic fraud. No one else did. So
Scranton murdered-D Dale in order that
he might alone reap the profits of n
great swindle and retain in his own
keeping a dangerous secret. Greed and
fear were the monsters that urged him
20 commit the worst of all crimes.
Eugene Scranton sat at the breakfast
table slipping his coffee and glancing
over the morning newspapers. He was
a tall, spare man, about forty years of
age. His gray hair and black mus
tache formed a combination pleasing to
the eve. To the close observer, how
ever, there was something about the
mans face that chilled the heart and
awakened suspicion. Was it in the
mouth or In the eyes that this father Of
distrust was bornl 1t was hard to tell.
Nevertheless, bis was a bad face,
though a handsome
Alexander Dale had been dead a
month. Eugene Scranton smiled as he
realized that the newspapers made no
reference TO the mystery that had caused
such a Juror some weeks before. He
laid down The Morning Wasp and APP
Piled himself with considerable enthu-
siasm to an omelette spiced with
chopped ham. He had been made
president Of the Western Land Inn
provement company. and had placed
the affairs Of that organization in such
shape that he would reap most Of the
profits and stand IN no peril from any
mans knowledge that he was a high
toned crook.
The study Of the mans life had
been to make selfshness a science He
perceived thar the modern world pays
adulation { him who holds the golden
keys Of power. Cold, remorseless as an
iceberg, h. had aimed At the tRrget Of