Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-02-20
A PURSUING DEMON,

scribed to me recently by medical man
of my acquaintance. The woman who was
the victim was Of French extraction. She
was fine, handsome woman of between
IS and 40 years Of age. Her name was
Valerie Lestrange, and she was one of that
wretched class of beings who live by the
levying of blackmail and other evil prac-
tices.
She made DR.. X s acquaintance as an
ordinary patient and had occasion to Gull
upon him at his consulting room several
times, SO that he came to know her pretty
we'll. He had no idea of what or who his
handsome patient was, and no suspicion
OF her evil character ever suggested itself
to him. Therefore he was quite UMPIRE
pared for the terrible danger with which
he suddenly found himself confronted
when she threw off the mask.
The charge she brought against him was
that he had made serious mistake in her
medicine by putting in poison in such
proportion as to have endangered her life
If she had taken It, She alleged that she
had indeed taken one dose and had only
escaped its fatal effects by the assistance
of chemist, who had administered to her
an antidote.
TWAS late at night when she had called,
and DR.. x. had met her in his consulting
room.
"Do understand" he asked, rising to
his feet as he realized the nature of her
scheme, that you expect to extort money
from me under threat of bringing against
me this charge and SO injuring me in my
professionf"
Doctor" she urged, II don't want
much. It's mere nothing to you, while
to me it's matter of life and DEATH l
must have 95 by tomorrow morning, or I
shall he turned out of house and home
It's nothing to you, but to me it's every
thing"
Don't talk to me like that" he replied
angrily. II would sooner loso the money
ten times over than be poltroon enough to
pay it to you as you have asked it,
"Then look to yourself, DR.. x, look to
yourself, for what I say can do. Twill
expose you, and, what is more, the chemist
will corroborate what say"
''What do you mean? What horrible
plot is this against me?"
'You will see. tell you have the
bottle of poisonous medicine as evidence,
and the chemist will bear me out in all
say"
DR.. x. was desperate. Mover for one
moment did he entertain the idea Of buy
ing her off, for he held, and held rightly,
that the man who submits to an imposi-
ton of this kind is traitor to society and
public enemy scarcely less worthy con-
domination than the blackmailer herself
And yet something must be done, for the
danger was imminent.
At this moment there was sound at
the window, and looking up Valerie L.
strange saw looking in at her face like
that of demon. 1t disappeared almost
Immediately, but she saw it distinctly.
The creature was of dwarflsh build, had
reddish brown hair about Its face and
eyes which shone in the darkness. At the
sight she shrank back in terror and de-
manded of the doctor:
"What is itf Who is it, and what does
he want?"
"Never you mind who 1t is. It might
be Jack the Ripper, or the Old Man Of tho
Sea, or an imp of satan come to fetch you
before your time"
"Jack the Ripper!"
At the word the wretched woman turned
pale to the lips and leaned against tho ta-
BILE for support. She had read the CHASTITY
details Of that strange series of murders
till they had become kind of nightmare
to her.
Seeing the terror his words had aroused,
DR.. x. conceived an idea for his deliver
ance.
Stepping forward, he seized Valerie by
the wrist, and bringing his lips close to
her ear he Kissed between his teeth:
woman, have told you the truth,
but don't drive me to do it, That unclean
creature whom you saw is really what I
called him in jest. 1t is indeed Jack the
Ripper, and If you do what you have
threatened he shall go like bloodhound
on your track and hunt you down, though
you shelter in the darkest corner Of the
earth"
For moment the bold eyes of tho wom-
an quailed before the fierce, threatening
glance of DR.. X. Then, with laugh, she
turned to the door, saying:
bah! You can't brighten me with a
bogy. Unless you pay me in the morning
your reputation Is gone forever"
So saying she banged the door behind
her and went out into the night
That was the last time Dr. X. ever saw
her alive.
What really happened to her after she
left his house was this
In spite Of herself she could not alto.
gether shake off the sensation of fear which
the uncanny appearance and the DOCTORS
words had reused within her. Ever and
again she glanced backward over her
shoulder to see that she was not followed
and assured herself in an undertone that
1t was some bogy with which the doctor
had endeavorcd to alarm her.
She had reached the corner of the by.
street in which she lived and had almost
got the better Of her nervous fears, when,
looking back along the road she
had just traversed, she saw that which
froze her blood with sudden fear.
She was being followed by the dwarfsh
creature she had seen on the window sill
If the Doctors consulting room.
With cry of terror the wretched WON.
IN sank down beneath the shadow of a
doorway and for moment be
came unconscious.
When she opened her eyes, her pursuer
was standing over her, and with a shrek
II frenzied terror she flung herself fiat
Town upon the paving stones. A long arm
reached out to seize her, and with the ter.
or of 1t she again lost her reason.
The following morning she was found
" a police constable lying in the same
pot, and above her, crouched upon the
threshold Of the doorway, was large In
lian monkey. This 1t was that had aroused
Ter fears when 1t climbed up to the doc
or's window sill from its kennel in the
,ard beneath his window. And this It
vas which by some chance had followed
Ter when she left the house. Sheffield