Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1892-11-26

| account, on condition that the clock
| should be that same evening installed
| An his dining-room ut his house.
This evening, friends" cried Locard,
"we1l drink to my new piece of furni-
| ture."
"At what hour?"
"Ninc o'clock"
AS soon as Lierrct found himself
quite alone, he burned the bank rote
in the flame of n candle. Then he went
into the room behind the shop and took
UP small box, on which there were
pasted New York labels Returning,
he opened the case of the clock, no
doubt to regulate the movement.
Within the promised time it was
placed amid the rich fvSniture of
Locard's dining.room.
Around the table, from which, point
upward, a goodly array OF bottles
stand, Locard and his old friends -t.ink,
laugh and sing
Eleven o'clock, this silver bell re-
cords the hour. What voice.
song, rathcr One could listen to it
through the whole night. Midnight
the voice puts forth all it's delightful
power.
Attention! One, two! Light the
punch! The flame fits, goblin like,
over the surface of the bowl tapping it
with upthrown tongues of yellow and
blue. The sugar frizzles. Now put
out the lamp. Tluzzah! Hush! the
clock is going to strike.
No, it speaks.
jacques Locard! jacques Locard!"
"Eh! Who spoke! Who said that2"
''Jacqncs Locard! Confess. confess!'
"Locard! Locard! What jest is this?
How very pale you arc!''
The voice sounds us if it came from
the cellar.
Jacques Locard, you are murder
crl''
1T is false! Who has dared to saw
that?'
jacques Locard, it is you who killed
old Licrrct! Assassinr
There are cries, groans. Loca-d has
risen To his fcet--lost. mad. lie clutches
at his cravat to tear it from his strang-
ling throat The voice still pitilessly
continues-vciled, distant, rs if coming
from the tomb. 1t repeats the word
''assassin."
Locard falls upon his knees, rises and
falls again.
81 confess. Icoufcss!' he cries. "Yes,
it was who killed the old man. and
robbed him; but let that horrible voice
cease"
1t did not stop, but went on repeating
its dreadful dcnunciations with the per-
sistency of machine in motion.
1T is the clock that speaksl'
screamed Locard, scizing it, shaking it,
dragging it from its place, casting it
upon the floor The works were scat
tered, and in their midst was seen
small cylinder covered with metallic
paper.
Lierrct, VINO had heard all, sprang
into the room through the open window
and seized Locard By the throat.
You are all witnesses that this man
is the murderer of my father!" he
cried.
Murder will out; but men who take
the lives of their fellow men for gain
always think their cunning more than
a match for provcrbial wisdom. So
thought Locard, and had not seven
years ilnpunity justified his estimate
of his own cleverness? No; it had only
put him off the guard which the MUIR
derer must never for Il moment cease
to keep. The police had utterly failed
to tract, him down-had not even as
sociated him in any way with the
crime; yet there had been detective
at his heels, as he now saw with hor-
ror.
A few years in the army do one of
two things-sharpen or deaden the
wits of Il soldier; they sharpcned Lier.
ret's. The failure OF the police left in
his mind /. deep and bitter disappoint-
mcnt. His father had been cruelty
murdered and robbed, almost in the
light of dIy-a kindly but undemon-
stratiyc man, respected by all his old
townsmcn; who was never known to
have made an enemy, who had many
friends--Locard among the number.
Who but one OF his friends could have
known that he had. by the rlerest ac-
cidcnt of circumstances, the whole saw
ings of his life in his possession that
day, in view of an advantageous invest
ment, to be completed on the morrow
that never came for him? No stranger
could have known Of this.
No stranger? That idea haunted
Licrret's mind day and night and goad-
ed him to action. Step by step he
pashed on inquiry. Bit by bit lie came
upon the history of all his fathers old
friends and associates, and at length
suspicion pointed to the sudden and
vaguely explained uprising of Locard,
nearly simultaneous with the old clock
makers assassination. There was tho
murderers false reckoning of chances;
too eager for the enjoyment of his
murder stamped gold, he surprised his
acquaintances by his ostcntatious dis
play of means, but Llcrret he provoked
to make inquiry as to their origin.
Still the proof, the legal proof,
eluded the young mans search, though
he had come close enough to it to salts
fly the instinct of his heart; while the
persistency with which Locard. who
had been an almost daily visitor to his
/ fathers house avoided him yyos in IT.