Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-05-19

AZ this time In the morning there are
not many people TO be met on the road
leading 10 Hammersmith Bridge; bat job
saw small group gathered there, and IN
stinctively turned his steps in that direc-
lion. As he drew nearer he saw the toll
keeper standing outside his little lodge.
The man was talking loudly, and evident
ly impai ting interesting information TO the
others.
ale was the first to go on the bridge
this morning" he said, ..and he went,
should think, about halfway across. I
bad just gone inside when / heard .
splash. rushed out, but il was too late.
Some men, from the boat-house below
here, got him out rs he drifted down, but
he was quite dead. They said he had
razor in his pocket, 30 that looked as IL he
meant it."
Some one in the crowd said: poor fell
low" Then another voice, choked with
emotion, asked if he were really dead.
Everybody turned TO look at Job.
"You can see for yourself the man an
swered roughly. .'rhe body was carried
TO the police station yonder"
IL was not far TO the police station. and
yet Job had the greatest difficulty in drag
ging himself there. Suicides are common
enough in London. and yet he felt but too
sure Of what he was 10 see and hear.
"Ah! You have come to look at the
suicide" said the policeman outside. "Go
in; he is there"
They had placed the body on long
table; over it WAS thrown coarse rug.
group Of men were in the room, and a
couple Of policemen, all talking with
lowered voices as il in church.
job said gently. "Can sec him 7" and,
receiving an asserting nod, the cashier
walked up to the table. After moments
hesitation he drew away the covering
from the marble face.
'She killed you at last, dear old friendf"
murmured Denman. in choked voice.
The others in the room had drawn q
little nearer to look at the dead man, but
remained silent and uncovered.
Look. Doctor" said one at last. "his
hand is closed on something"
! "a very ordinary occurrence in these
cases. answered the doctor, making an
effort TO unelose the poor stiff hand.
1T is q letter. he said. and was abou.
tn read it, when, suddenly recollecting
! himself, he handed it to Job. "lf you
were friend of the deceased. sir. you had
better read it. 1t may be the last express
sion of some last wish, or an explanation
Of the cause which prompted this sad act"
Denman tottered TO the window. The
room was gloomy, and mist was over his
eyes. He deciphered these words on the
torn and crumpled page:
IL love you. l love you more than ever,
and for ever. Why should we struggle
longerf We were destined for each
other ~
Ii was the letter written by Frank 10
his sister-in-law more than year before.
Sylvia had sent it To her mother the day
after her flight, meaning to revenge her
self on him and on his brother at the same
time and by the same blow.
Florence lived through the treachery Of
his wife; but his brothers falsehood
killed him.
When Jobs bewildered brain finally
gr.sped the fatal meaning Of these words,
he stood thunder-struck, looking through
which saw nothing.
, A clock struck six. Yonder lay London.
overhung by low clouds Of smoke and
mist. By degrees, a spire, tower. or the
solid front Of a stone building. emerged
| from the fog. And, all at once, a thousand
chimneys bclched forth dense volumes Of
black smoke. The work Of another day
had begun.
Denman extended his trembling hands.
Wretch he cried, with angry vehe-
mencv-.wretchr
But no one about him knew whom he
Observation-Disclosures il Was the crowded,
busy Babel, or the guilty woman who had
wrought such infinite woe.
THE END.