Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1896-01-17


herl
II said, Il will avenge your
No, no. she cried, for my sake do not
raise hand against him. Promise me,
promise me, francesca
What could l dor promised her that
while she lived l would not touch him.
And have kept my word. But, by heav-
en-
Astarita did not finish the sentence.
He WIS livid with emotion and trembling
from head to foot. urged him to be
calm.
eyes; must DO calm, " he said. "What
is going on On fh" stagef'
steppu'' forward.
"A troop Of acrobats-No. g."
He leaned back in his chair and wiped
his forehead glanced round at the au-
dienco and Immediately felt u grip on my
shoulders, whilo Francesca Astarita whis-
pered, almost Kissed, into my ear:
"Sho is dead"
turned and looked him in the face.
"Then try to forget it all, 1 said.
'Let the past be buried"
The curtain descended.
"Give mo the programme" he said
quickly.
He held it in front OF me, with the long
thumb nail Of his right hand cutting
through point in the middle of the page
''Look there! The next item-'Mr
Christopher Quincy, ventriloquist. That
is the stage name of the scoundrol, Her.
bert Ross!"
"I,et us go away" 1 urged. "You are
exciu'd and unwcll. 1t will do you no
-
"Nu, no; not YETI he answered. "Pres-
entity"
Tia bell rang, and tho curtain rose,
discovering row of grotesque and grin
ming figures waiting to receive animation
from the magic powers of the ventrilo-
quist. Christopher Quincy appeared and
made his bow. Taking his stand in the
midst of his puppets, he began his enter
tainment. His dialogues and jcsts were
bright and up to date, and peals of laugh
ter were frequent from the audience
looked round at Astarita. He was
standing behind me, leaning against the
side of the box half concealed by long
curtain. | could see his face and noticed
wild madness in his eyes.
"Shall we goY' l said again.
Presently" was all the reply.
The ventriloquist was now making one
of his figures sing comic song. 1t was
accompanied by tho band and had re-
frain that l have never forgotten, and
that never comes into my head without
bringing back that night at the Jollity.
The song came to an end, and loud ap-
plause rang through the building. In the
midst of the clamor the performer bowed
l. l., 4 H., IS ,I1I,
fell face downward in front Of the foot
lights. There he lay motionless, with his
row of upcAnny puppets grinning upon
him.
ATTENDANTS now rushed on from the
wings, and as they lifted tho inanimate
body saw red stream flowing from his
head and dark stain on the floor of the
stage. The curtain was Immediately run
down, and the audience was stunned by
tho terrible scene they had witnessed.
turned instinctively to Astarita. He
was pale and excited.
This did itp' he said.
He held in his hand an airgun, which,
till now, he had concealed from my sight.
l was transilxed with horror at his crime.
l sat like one dazed looking into space,
and just conscious that some one was
standing before the curtain addressing the
audience. Then l awOke to full sense OF
my position, and, determined to secure the
criminal, rose to go.
He had gone!
went out into the noisy streets. There
was fine drizzle, and the roads and pave
ments were slippery, but 1 walked along
like one in n dream. Where Invent can
not remember, but know that | did not
enter my chambers until nearly 2 o'clock
in the morning L was wet through and
covered with mud. As / Crept into bed
resolved to tell the police all that knew
on tho following day.
Next morning l rose Oalmer, but with
no appetite for breakfast. l took up my
newspaper to see if there was any account
of the tragedy at the Jollity, when my eye
fell first on the following paragraph;
Late last night man was seen to
throw himself into the Thames from Wat
erloo bridge. Attempts were made to save
his life, but without success. The river
police, however, recovered the dead body.
From articles found on the deceased it
would appear that he was an Italian,
named Francesca Astarlta but at present
nothing is known of him nor of his mo-
tive for committing the crime"
But at the end Of the account of the
scene at the Jollity was relieved to read:
ION making inquiries at the hospital
we were informed that the injuries to Mr..
Quincy are not SO serious as was at first
feared, and there is every hope of his COM
plete recovery. There is at present no olew
whatever to the criminal"
l have, therefore, rightly or wrongly,
held my peace.-London Tit-Bits.