Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-12-17

/ hour o. nightr
! Uncle Noah sat down in his chair and
watched. Before long he saw the figure
! slowly descend, turn and come eastward
toward the house. Nearer and nearer it
! came, the form of n man walking slowly
I and with bent head, n form that every
! footstep brought nearer and moro familiar,
until there burst from the watchers lips:
/ ''Jehosophat! Mr.. FullarI"
The moon waned, and the planets slid
! down over the rim of the horizon, but
still over this incident Uncle Noah sat cog
/ itating. Finally, however, he began to
+. feel chilly, and telling himself that he
. didn't calculate to stand this sort of thing
! any longer he returned to bed.
Next day the news flashed through the
, village that Uncle Noah had induced Jim
! Trudgeon to go out and dive. He was CO.
! ing to find out what was ut the bottom of
that there thing il there was any bottom
! to it. So, partly from desire TO please
! Uncle Noah, for whom he had a great re-
! spect, and partly for consideration, the
| diver, with n rope under his arms and his
! claspknife in his hand, went down to in
| vestigate.
When they hauled him up again, no
| threw a heavy iron horse weight into the
| boat and scrambled in after it, white with
! suppressed excitement
| What's that, Jim-a pot O. gold:'' in
] Qulrcu one OF the men. Erlnnlng-
Jim did not seem to hear him as he I'M
wound the rope from his body.
| Hustle, you fcllowsI" be said huskily.
Wen all go up to Unclc Noah Pyc."
The men glanced at Jim's face and rowed.
Uncle Noah had been watching them
anxiously from his window.
There! There's n sooveneer from the
bottom o. the bay said Jim, grimly pro-
| ducing the horse weight rs he entered. 1t
| triangular and
! the ring sunk deep in the center.
| ''Ye don't mean to say ye got that
| there?' cried Unclo Noah in amazement.
! Why, there's only two such weights in
this world, mine an Mr.. Fullar's. Mine
, is out on the farm; left it there for John
when he'd drive into town with that skit-
fish mare. Sam Brunt took n freak an
made en- one afternoon when he d moth
| in else to do. l laughed at the shape o.
| EN-, but bought one, all the same an
sam told me Mr.. Fullar took the other.
But how dye s'pose the thing cum to be
| There?'
Jim did not suggest any reason, but his
face was indicative of mystery. He set
| his lips together. and the men looked at
him mutely, waiting, while Uncle Noah
sat staring at the horse weight, his mind
laboring over Mr.. Fullar. The silence
| grew and intensified. Then out of it Jim
Trudgcon spoke, first clearing his throat.
Uncle Noah an you fellows, it's my
| painful doOty to let you know that l cut
that there horse weight from a dead man S
! -lC X"
| Startled cxclanations burst from the
| little assembly. The room was full of hOr
| rnr stricken faces.
| L cut that weight from n dead man :
! neck" repeated Jim solemnly. Hes bin
| sunk there with n bag o. stones about his
| middle an this tied about his neck
Boys" said Uncle Noah, recovering
/! .pccch, jest shct that door behind there
| will We: Now look a-hcrc, there's bin
some devils work there, that's plain, an
it pears to me jest plain that the finger
| a God has been p'infin this here thing out
| .'vCr since the ice went. l amt agoin to
! =ay what I've seen when bin lookin ont
! ,Icrc o nights, an l amt agoin to say
what l think. Its Il mighty serious thing,
is lindin fellow crittcr weighted down
| under thu water he can't float. Looks
rs Ct the man that put him there meant
him to lie there till the res rection. ch?''
That's so. Uncle NOAH You bet lie
did Bin Il murder sure, - they respond
ed all together
But what's to be done is this: Yc fell
lowsli have to go back an get that poor
dead man, whoever he is, lOatcd, an the
coroner sent for, an the body put into Il
decent coffin-Ill fork out my mitC-an
must a belonged To somebody
The whole village became agitated when
it was known that il was Il dead man who
lay below that weird. still patch of water
| and the little town hall was crowded when
| ale poor Cof1inCd remains were brought in
| before the coroner. BY various tokens
| fund ON the body it was recognized to be
1llt of - stranger who had come to the
ilage nigh year ago, take a room in
t. hotel. with "A view tn purchasing some
Land in the vicinity, hut who had Unac-
cnuntably Disappeared one night, leaving
his belongings behind him. His valsc
| still lay at the hotel awaiting his return.
| After hearing Jim Trudgeons story,
corroboratcd by the men who went with
him in the boat, the policeman was dis
| patched for Mr.. Fullar to come and &C
| count for the presence of his horse weight
| in such u place. Mr.. Fullar had left his
house early in the morning and had noe
returned thithcr since.
The coroner took notes, the body was
| consigned to the bosom of mother earth,
and then another CHASTITY discovery was
| announced TO the Mortified tOwnspcoplc
| In a COpsc little TO the west OF the
| Town MIR. Fullar had been found lying
| among the brush, pistol by his side and
| II small powder stained wound in his tenn
pie. He had been dead for some hours In
| his pocket was found n manuscript ad-
dressed to Noah Pye
The coroner himself, with Jim Trud-
Fron and some friends brought the manu-
script to Uncle Noah. He glanced at it
} and requested the coroner to read it aloud.
| 1t began:
To Mr. Noah Pye and Whoever Else Ii
May Concern;
Before making atonement for my crime
desire to confess what led me on to 1t.
Many years ago 1 was head bookkeeper in
n largo wholesale commission house in
England and had large sums at my mercy.
Ny salary was fairly good, but unfortu
nately l contracted expensive habits, and
before long found that double the sun
would scarcely cover my yearly liabilities
| At first 1 borrowed and paid my debts
then borrowed ut heavy interest to pay the
| lender. Finally began to cook the book:
in order to square myself with the world
making it appear that large sums which
had been paid in full had only been PAID
in part or not Mt ALL but fear of discovery
> now began to lay hold of me- felt had
, but woven a net for my own feet. I saw
that my assistant had begun.t to suspect me
: could read the distrust in his eyes, in hi
| actions. He pointed out to me certain
Observation-Disclosures on my part-omis
, | sions l could not explain. l lived 70
weeks in a state of misery in daily appre
hension of exposure. Though 1 had re
! trenched closely, could not retrieve m,
. position.
lone day had the opportunity to escap
before me-the handling of n large sun
a of money. The temptation was too much
laid my plans, and in disguise fed t
+ Canada with the money in my possession
did not attempt to find n situation les
u it might lead to inquiries. Instead drift
|! | ed down here to Mapleville as a man c
some means and settled here. 1 married
o tried to forget and do well, to live n ney