The Coconino weekly sun., 1895-02-07
MYSTERY OF A BOARDING HOUSE.
Who Was It swore MT. Bourdon's
 Liberty Awayi

tim of a dark boardinS-house cohsp'r- acy in three acts. He was P. J. V. Bourbon, who was arrested at Williams and given free transportation to Flag staff upon conviction of laying violent hands upon pretty waitress in his wife's boarding house. The charge was that Mir. Bourdon in a s"irit of alcohol, which jag was superinduced and aggravated hy the fact that anoth' CT year had tripped merrily around on it's axis, "did beat, abuse, wound and assault one waitress" one of the ap- purtenances of the aforesaid boarding house. The affair created no little ex- citement in the immrdiate neighbor' hood. and the village paper, always alert for good. readable matter of tn" sensational order. swooped down upon the story as an eagle lights upon its prey, and the gifted and versatile writer of short stories for hoys eager ly bore the material to his sanctnm and there dilated upon tho narrowing details. The article was chiefly re. markable for it's condemnation of Mir Bourdon. He was described as an hahitual wife-b -brater. q chronic hooz"r and a general all-rnund villain ot th" deepest carmiuc tint The vivid word painter exhausted all of the superla. lives in his repertoire with which ,o depict the appalling wickednesS ot tn" defendant, aud then called on the gods for more Mention of his virtues was carefully avoided, so that the readrr at once formed the conclusion that he was q hopelessly wicked. irredeemable man.
 And now comes Mr. J. P. V. Bour don out of the county jail with a story that is a startling revelation of love and intrigue that halted not in its has" designs until tho conspirators had placed him in dungeon cell. MT. Bourbon is a man of more than ordin- arv intelligence and he is naturally boiling over with indignation at hay been pictured as gross fellow whose | instincts led him to become involved in an undignifed altercation with a kitchen abigail. His story Is as fol- lows. and THE SUN regrets exceeding ly that it is beyond the possibilities of cold type to convey the force of rhetor- ic and the dramatic effect of the ges- lures with which the injured man em- bellishcd his parts of speech:
 life ran smoothly an0ngh in the hoardine.honsc," said he, "until this cvurl--like a great many other gyurls when they have gotten on familiar terms with the hill of farc--forgot her station. I had occasion. several times, to speak to her in gentle. persuasive way about the proper performance oi her dutias as waitress. You see shc 1 had a prcdiIrction for these smirking judes. It Eas s,rkhHing to see the an. tics some of thGm wcnt through, They would currel the enis of ihe,I mustaehes and smile and smirk until il drove me fairly wild, and she would 1 sigh and take on like lovesick ninny 1 Meanwhile. the common working man with overalIs was neglected and lad to await the pleasure of my lady. whilst she fed noodle soup to hel 1 iudes. One day I saw her jab her fin gars into pot of preserves. and "i course I remonstrated with her and tried to correct her fault. mildly pro- testing that I did not believe in ap' peasing the appetites of the bpardor' without satisfying ihrm. But the proud and imperious beauty only sniffed contemptuously at me and hade me % saw wood. Such indignitiss as these are calculated to drive man to ! despair--oP worse.
 "Now it so happened that among the Miss Nancys who worshiped ai inc shrine of the gyurl was purse, proud newspaper man who also figurca, believp, as play actor. Here is where the plot thickened. He became the avowed champion of my lady-in- waiting. and his cnmitv toward me was strongly marked. On the night in question (New Years eve) I was quite full. frankly admit that part of the allegation. although the statement that , have been trying 10 ,hoar' the whisky market at Williams is mons,PoTsly and ahsurdly fa'se. Well, I really was so much under the influence of the climate that night that in passing through the dining room I may havn uninien,ionallv staggered against the gyurl, hut as am an honest man l never laid hands on her. Yet this | man. upon whose testimony was con vicied. comes into aGDrt and swcars that I willfully and maliciQpsly as- saultrd her. ] do not believe he even saw me stumble against the woman. I understand the article Ca copy ot which have not se"n} accuses mo of beating my wife. That statement is an outrageous falseh0nd. I am Do coward, and only coward strikes 2 woman As matter of fact, was gverinusly assaulted that night by q mob of judrs, some of whom didn't seem to understand the merits of the case. but they did not Eui me into a puddle of muddy water. There gre no pools in nuy backyard. 1t is 2