News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-05-26
TERMS S1.5O.

iiVhOhOl IL, VI dCb dS blOuSl ,NO
noticed it. III explain after dinner.
| acquiesced wonderingly, and woT
dered still more after | had met Mrs
Halleg an. for / was quite positiv
that had never seen her before, AM
there was ample opportunity, durini
the course of the excellent dinner W
presently sat down TO, to study her
She was slightly above the medium
height, and of perfect, though rath
er slight, figure. Her hair and eye
we're dark, setting off exeelIently he
clear olive complexion, and her fea
lures were all that an artist coult
desire. She was hardly what one
would call a beautiful woman, how
ever. Handsome" would be a bet
ter word-or, perhaps, striking.
There was something about the firm
set Of her mouth when not speaking
and the strong, rather masculine CHR
In which, oddly enough, there was
q -eh9rmin.ly. feminine dimple--that
Sess - N( - One woule
never have taken Mrs. Hallegan fol
the daughter of the. little, white
haired, sweet-faced old lady who sat
opposite me, and whom she addressed
as mother"
No, L had never seen her up to hall
an hour ago. so | gave up studying
her and fell to wondering what Halle
gan was going to explain"
Dinner over, the ladies rose to leave
us, smiling over the broad hint Ter
renee had lust thrown out utconcerning
a desire to smoke. As they reached
the door Mrs. Hallegan turned and
bowed mockingly at her husband,
whose hand was just reaching for the
bell. L hope, Sir Terrence, that the
cigars may prove dry company.
Then, with bright smile, she van
ished.
| Ifioped into my chair breathlessly.
Where had l seen that mocking bow
Then suddenly, there came before me
that little scene in the mountains two
years since; the dust, the heat, the
sleepy cowboy inside the coach, the
dapper little chap who so politely
took our money and watches. He
bowed just that way when he finished
his work and departed. Her broth
er, | thought" black sheep, blot
on family escutcheon. How much
they resemble"
We'll, me boy?"
Hallegan was looking at me quizzi-
cally through the smoke, we having
lighted our cigars meanwhile. / sup
pose looked embarrassed. Ofcourse
it was all bosh; the idea of there
being any connection, however re-
mote, between the stately creature
who had just left us and the little
rascal who had engineered that hold
up.
Hallegan spoke:
Billy, my boy, l won't make a
short story any longer than is nee
essary. You remember the little fell
low who held us up two years ago?
"Of course l do"
Yes, very likely. Well, | fancy I'd
better begin at the beginning"
Three years ago a young fellow
named Wilson, who had been employ
ed as cashier by the l.. and A. stag
| express company, got into troubl
/ over his accounts. The manager
Ilobinson-charged him with short
! age amounting to several thousan
] dollars. There was an investigation
and on the strength of certain cir
cumstantial evidence, which need no
be stated, as it is immaterial, backeC
by the testimony of Robinson, the
manager, Tweedy, the superintend
ent, and Frank Robinson, son of the
manager-who, by the way, had al
ways been Williams bosom friend
the cashier was convicted on trial
and sentenced to "a long term at
Canon City. Strange to say, he of
fered no testimony and made no de-
fence except his plea of not guilty
"Well it killed him. Inside of a
year the worry and disgrace, along
with the hard work and close confine-
ment-he had never been very strong
had wasted him to a shadow. and
when, at last, he knew he couldn't
live very long, he sent for his mother
and sisters to come to him.
His mother was too i'll herself to
travel, and one of the sisters-a Grip
ple-was obliged to remain with her;
but the elder sister went.
"She found him dying-dying in
prison. 1t was the first she had
known of his trouble, and, naturally,
she was terribly shocked.
"He told her the true history of the
affair-that young Robinson, between
whom and himself had existed a sort
of Damon and Pythias friendship,
was the guilty one; and how, when
some of the stockholders got wind of
the shortage, the two Robinsons and
Tweedy, who was a brother-in-law of
old Robinson, had conspired to shield
the guilty man by sacrificing an in
nocent one, who would not defend
himself. The confession made by the
dying man was not altogether a vol
untary one. His sister, who had
known nothing, except that he was
innocent, caught a hint of the truth
from him when he was raving in de-
lirum-the rest she made him tell her
after young Wilson's death his
sister went quietly to work to see
what could be done to prove her
brothers innocence and to place the
guilt where it belonged, but soon
found that nothing could be proved.
The Robinsons were too strong for
her.
"About this time Mrs. Wilson and
her younger daughter were obliged
to 90 South on account of i'll health,
leaving the elder daughter, who was
studying medicine, here in Chicago.
Not long after this the hold-ups on
the different lines of the l.. and A. De-
gan. For the first few times there
was only one road agent-a little
chap, but a nervy one. who got talk
ed about by the newspapers "A good
deal; but pretty soon there were 9th
ers, until band of eight or nine had
been organized, under the little fell
lows leadership, and they made life a
burden to the l.. and A. people. 1t
made no difference what precautions
the company took or how many
guards it employed, the road agents
were too smart, and the boldest kind
! of hold-ups were successfully made
and. bv Jove! 1t busted the com
pany's business. The l.. and A.
wasn't heavy concern, of course,
but had always made good deal oi
money. The frequent hold-ups oni its
lines though, proved a settler. II
wasn't long before nobody would
ship or travel over any of the l.. and
A. company's lines unless actually
obliged to, and the company was
kept pretty busy settling the loss o
it's customers. Then came the crash
and somehow people began to sus
pect that the Robinsons had run
things as they should not have beer
handled, and the stockholders inves