The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1893-05-20

and az easy chair In front OF blazing
| fire.
| must have dozed OF and slept
great deal later than I expected. for
| woke with start to find the fire
almost out. and the lamp very low. !
was not alone In the room. Seated in
a chair by the expiring embers OF the
fire was one OF the most pitiable OBJ.
jects that had ever seen.
| In the thin-pinched cheeks. the
shrunken form and the shabby gar.
ments had officially in recognizing
my quandOm acquaintance, the once
jovial major.
The melting snow ran In little
rivulets from his clothes and formed
pools OF water upon the floor. aud
icicles glistened In his bristly gray
mus.ache. One shaking hand held q
battered brown derby. the other was
thrust into the semblance OF pocket
In his seedy great coat
He explained in rambling way
how he happened to be there. BY
some instinct he had found out where
! lived. and finding the door only
partially closed had found his way i'm
and sat patiently there waiting for me
to wake up. His story was of the old
threadbare type. The story old as
Adam OF a mans weakness. OF a gem
eral descent into the pit of degrade
tion from which one gambler in
thousand Is digged. The evening
games OF poker had been exchanged
for the mOrcSopen and deadly fascina-
tons of the professional gambling
house.
His face had become as familiar to
patrons OF i1ankins' (then in its
zenith) as that OF the city hall Be-
coming at last too penniless and
shabby to he granted admission even
there.yhe had drifted from one to an
other of the smaller and less reputa-
Bile gambling houses that flourish in
Chicago. When fortune smiled he J
dined. When she frowncd he starved.
Possessed always of one idea Follow
ing the same insaiic' will-o-the-wisp
that has lured thousands to destruc-
ton. the hope of making a lucky coup
that should enrich him at stroke.
he lived out his miserable eyiste, re.
His wretched story was followed |
BY an appeal for money. just enough |
To give him another start. a. loan |
to be repaid when he brought OF his |
coup. He left the house AN hour
later with money in his pocket: once
only saw him again.
II was Christmas Eve: LATE "a the |
hour was. the streets were still filled /
with people. 1t had been an excep-
tionally mild winter. and 'driz2ling
rain fell. The sidewalks. sticky with
half-melted snow. made walking any,
thing but pleasant Quite rs much as a
matter of precaution as anythin.
else. FOE | was in one of the lowest
and most dangerous parts of the city.
] took to the middle OF the road. I
had arrived al "A quiet and littlc-frc-
quented street; not soul was in <
sight. The noise of my footsteps on
the sloppy stones was the only sound |
that broke the silence A sudden
turn brou2h; me close to the river.
\ small crowd had gathered there. (
and ! joined them. In the center of
wv e''ht' iluBnl-n-
able mass dripping with water:
policeman knelt beside it. As the
crowd slightly separated pushed my
way to the front. and saw that the
object was body just taken from the
river.
At that moment the policeman
raised his lantern and the light fell
full uDon the face OF the corpse.
swollen and bloated beyond descrip-
tion. were the features: sodden with
water and reeking with the river
slime. dead for several days said
the policeman as he allowed the head
TO fall back and rose from the ground.
The friendly darkness hid the body
from view. The glance / had had
was sufficient. | had taken my last
look at the major. Chicago Inter
Ocean.