Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-05-28
ne Decame entirely SOBER only after sew
eral days had passed and then had en-

| Ou UtCu ItOt HtStIltC 70 SpeUh."
tirely forgotten about the marriage
The scheming devil, Montalbon, did moi
remind him of it, but by patient worl
insidiously persuaded him that hC
should be married man. She ever
suggested bride, none other than my
little sweetheart. Her object in this
was twofold, money and revenge By
leading my cousin into bigamous ALI
ance, with her own marriage certificate
as a weapon, she could readily extort
money from him. Her revenge was tc
be against the family of my little sweet.
heart, against whom she thought she
had grievance. Her plotting was en-.
tirely successful. My cousin was hand.
some, was away, and once he had be.
come thoroughly acquainted with the
young creole's charms he became so ar.
dent a suitor that at length she listened
to his pleading and married him. Then
he was in the power of the Montalbon,
and she bled him for five years, by
which time little Rose had been born.
Meanwhile I had completed my col
lege career, but had not returned to
New Orleans because Of my deep disap-
pointment upon learning that my sweet
heart had married another man. AT
this time was in Paris, when one day
/ received piteous letter from the girl
wife, telling me that the blow had fall
en-; that the Montalbon had produced
her marriage certificate and claimed her
husband, thus dishonoring the daughter
of her enemy. The letter also begged
my forgiveness for the wrong done to
me. read between the lines and recog-
nized the cry of a broken heart, the
bleat Of lamb left to die on the frozen
plain. hurried home with but one
thought uppermost--to have revenge up
on my cousin. arrived too late Not
only was the girl dead, but my cousin
had disappeared.
~ heard Chat he had gone out west,
and thither 1 followed him. would
get track Of him from time to time, but
it seemed fated always that he should
have just left place when I confident
ly expected to come up with him. Thus
five years passed, and at last did meet
him. at once charged him with his
crime and asked for revenge. He laugh
cd at me and refused to fight. l then
warned him that l should take his life
at the first chance that offered, when I
could do SO either under seeming provo
cation or else where / could not be sus-
pected." "
"Are you not admitting" interrupt
ed Mr.. Barnes, "that you harbored a
murderous spirit?"
"Mr. Barnes, if all men were punish
ed for their thoughts, the criminal class
would be greatly enlarged. You cannot
call me to account for anything except
my acts. At last my chance came. I
followed him one dark night as he went
off prospecting in an entirely new di-
rection; we were in mining country.
He tramped most of the night, and I
pursued. By dawn we were miles away
from habitation. / then made myself
known to him and once more asked
him to fight it out. He saw that 1 was
in earnest and that he was simply COM
PEELED to battle for his life.
"Under these circumstances, of
course, he fought as the worst coward
would do when driven to desperation.
He decided to use pistols, though I
wished to try our cause with knives. I
confess that I wanted the satisfaction
of stabbing him again and again. l
wanted to see his life's blood flow at
each stroke. 1t seemed to me tame to
stand off at distance and send one lit
tie leaden ball in his direction. Still I
admitted his right of choice, and deter
mined to aim as accurately as possible
and to send my bullet straight. You
see, did not think of my own life. I
had made this vengeance my one OBJ
ject, and after accomplishing that 1
thought there would be nothing more
for me to do. Consequently 1 expected
to kill him easily, and did not care if
his bullet found my heart or not. Per-
haps hoped it would. Just as we were
standing up and preparing to fight,
something occurred that almost COM
pletely unnerved me and changed the
whole result. He lowered his pistol and
said:
"'Wait moment; have favor to
ask. I feel certain that you will kill
me. You have been seeking my life so
long that I am sure you will get it. 1t
is fate. But l, too, have suffered in the
last five years. The favor that ask ia
that if I die You will promise to get my
child out of that fiend's clutches.
"'Your child' I gasped. L thought
it died.
"'That was the Montalbon' g lie. The
little girl lived, and she took it. I have
made will in favor Of my child, leav-
ing her all my wealth; you will find it
in my coat Oddly enough, I named
you as executor. I knew that you had
loved the mother, though, as God is my
judge, did not know it when I mar
he'd her. But am ready if you are.
''Thus we stood up and fred at each
other. The startling news just received
made my aim bad, for instead of hitting
him in the heart, as could easily have
done, my bullet struck him in the head.
He fell, and I rushed toward him, to
discover whether he was badly hurt.
He was bleeding profusely, and l hasti-
ly bandaged up the wound and so stop
ped the flow of blood. I then went on
to the next mining camp beyond. We
returned with litter, and took him
back. There was man among us who
| claimed that he had studied medicine,
and he attended my cousin. He removed
the bullet, and found that the wound
was not very deep, but the skull was
fractured He was i'll for tpvo months