Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-15
DEADLY VALENTINE

The colonel had received valentine, and
as he looked it over and read its pretty
verses he handed it to the writer.
from a lady?" smiled the writer.
Yes, from my wife, She never forgets,"
and the coloners face wore the look Of
sweethearts.
Surely" said the writer, mo better val
entine could be than that"
The colonel took it again and held It in
his hand tenderly
when she and I were married." he be-
gan. in reminiscent way, I'VE went to a
post in the far west, where as a lieutenant,
that was thirty years ago, was stationed
Not far away was town of the class not
uncommon at that time, and chief among
its well-known characters and prominent
citizens was man known as Bug Thorn
ton. He a bad and the bar
keeper in the leading hotel of the town.
The landlord of the hotel had a daughter
of twenty-five CIR thereabouts, who was by
odds the best looking woman in town and
a very nice girl. barring the fact that she
was in love with Thornton.
''At first he was fiattehsd by the favor in
which he stood with the young woman, but
her attentions in few months Wearied
him and he made her wildly jealous by de-
voting himself to the cashier of the Golden
Lion restaurant, a young woman who
owned half interest in the business and
was considered a good catch. This oc-
CURED about valentine season, and when
| the day came around the landlords daugn-
| ter received a comic valentine, setting
| forth, as those things do, the delightful at
tractiveness of a jealous woman Inc &C
companyimg verse was more CALLING than
| the picture, and the girl was frenzied by it.
1T was unusual matter for BUG
Thornton to have a scrap once or twice z
| day with the rough characters who fire.
quented his saloon, and every now ana
| then he added a feature to the bill by
| shooting somebody or getting a shot him
self. though, up to that time, escaping with
slight wounds. Late in the afternoon OF
st. Valentines day he tried to put a gang
| of miners out of his place and the Whoe
| crowd surged out into the street IN front
of the hotel. There the shooting began,
| and it lasted long enough for those not in
| terested to get into what shelter first pre-
| scented itself.
| Il ran into the hotel and as / did so,
| noticed Moliie, the landlords daughter, sit
| ting by window with the shutters hait
| closed looking at the fight When it was
! over three men were dead on Inc GROUND
| and the others had disappeared Ore OF the
! dead men was Thornton, and, as ] knew him.
| | ran to him first and lifted him up TO see
| ho,y badly he was hurt. AS raised him
| up Wit, my arm under his back bullet tell
| from his coat into my hand. thrust IL
| into my pocket without thinking and help
ed carry him into the house. OF course, the
| town was considerably excited over three
| KILLINGS at one time, and as All SORTS "a iu-
| laQrs wore flying about hurried TO the post
| to let my wife know was all right. Young
| husbands you know. think first of their
wives. When / found her and told her the
| story she became very nervous and asked
| about Mollie. told her had seen the girl
at the window during the fight, and that
| made her worse.
| Then | became provoked and said Mollie
| hadn't anything to do with it. Then my
| wife told me that she had seen Mollie at
noon, and she had told her she was going
| to scnd Bng Thornton a valentine he would
not forget, and that very day, too. That
| night | went back to the hotel and found
| that Thornton had received bullet in the
arm and one in the thigh, but the one which
had done for him had gone square through
| his heart. | also found Mollie in a raving
delirum. With all this going on around
me it wasn't any wonder that l should for
get the bullet l had put in my pocket, and
there's no telling when l would have re-
membered 1t if it had not dropped on the
floor that night when 1 took off my coat to
so to bed.
My wife picked il up and asked me what
it was. Then l remembered. and quietly
took it from her without saying. She in
! sisted. and as she showed signs of hysteria
about it l told her 1t was the bullet that
had killed Bug Thornton. She grabbed it
from me, held it close to the light and then
collapsed in a dead faint. She became
conscious in half an hour or so. but l had
to sit up all night with her, and the post
| surgeon was also in attendance until nearly
and ] took look at the bullet. 1t was a
~ long and was not much roughened ! y
the deadly work it had done. AS ] turned
1t over in my hand, thinking what a fatal
effect small a bit of lead could have l
noticed a mark on it. and taking it out
| where ] could better / found it,
scratched deep with large needle, cyl
IDENTIFY, one word and part of another: My
l Valen-.' That told a dreadful story and
explained my wife's hysteria
WAT to do now l scarcely knew. Molle
had shot Bug Thornton, that was circum-
stantially proved by my wife's testimony
and the words on the bullet, but no one
knew it save myself and wife. No one
: knew so much as that had the bullet, ex-
cept my wife We had both known Molie
and respected her, and it seemed to be
sonnet hing awful to give her over to the law
when it was so easy to let it all go to the
! credit of the miners in the fight. After an
| hours thinking l SO near hySteria my
self that | went to the doctor for some
thing to quiet my nerves.
AT o'clock l started into the town
leaving my wife asleep under the influence
of opates and half way there l met q
messenger coming for my wife to come tc
the hotel, Molle had shot herself an
was dying. l turned the messenger bach
, and hurried on to the hotel. When
reached her room she was dead, and neal
? her on q table lay a .44-caliber revolver
! It was the same one that had sent Bug
E Thornton his fatal valentine, but didn
go around looking for any more bullets.
had already found one too many.
1T was a positive relief to my wife wher
f [ told her as carefully as I could that Mol
= lie was dead, and talked it all over
, | coming to the conclusion that the girl hat
seated herself at the window, half con
cealed with the object of killing Thorn
II ton when he came out to go to his suppe,
e and had marked the bullet in the strang
t freak of a crazy woman. That her sho
n | had been so true was a piece of chance o
s luck or retribution, whatever you ma
e call it, although she was not unskiled il
| -1,> of firoDr hn logs was
chance that the fight in the street shout
have taken place at the time it did"
what did you do with the bullet?" in
e CURED the writer.
d Dropped it into Moles coffin when m
) | wife and I went to her for the las
, | time. And" concluded the colonel, 'neithe
u of us ever tcid our story Of the TRACED
d until five years ago, when the last membe
y of Moliie'l family died and buried
It the same graveyard where the bodies c
e H1oliie and Bug Thornton lie molderng
n the clay" w. j. HAMPTON.