The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-01-31

him. And | have kept my word. But,
by heaven"
Astarita did not finish the sentence.
He was livid with emotion, and trem-
bling from head to foot. 1 urged him
to be calm.
eyes, / must be calm," he said.
What is going on on the stage?"
1 stepped forward.
ga troupe of acrobats-No. s."
He leaned back in his chair and wiped
his forehead. l glanced around at the
audience and Immediately felt grip
on my shoulders, while Francesca AS
tarita whispered, almost Kissed, into
my ear:
''She is dead!"
turned and looked him in the face.
"Then try to forget it ALL" 1 said.
"Let the past be buried"
The curtain had descended.
"Give me the programmed" he said,
quickly.
He held it in front of me with the
long thumbnail of his right hand cut
ting through point in the middle of
the page.
Look there! The next item-'MI.
Christopher Quincy, ventriloquist. ;
That is the stage name of the scoun-
drel, Herbert Ross!"
LET US go away" 1 urged ''You are
excited and unwell. 1t will do you no
good to see him. Come away"
mo. no; not yet" he answered.
"Presently."
The bell rang and the curtain rose,
discovering row of grotesque and
grinning figures waiting to receive ami
nation from the magic powers of the
ventriloquist. Christopher Quincy APP
peared and made his bow. Taking his
stand in the midst of the puppets he
began his entertainment. His dia-
logues and jcsts were bright and "up
to date" and peals of laughter were
frequent from the audience.
looked around at Astarita. He was
standing behind me, leaning against
the side of the box, half concealed by
a long curtain. l could not see his
face, and noticed wild madness in his
eyes.
"Shall we go?" l said, again.
presently was all the reply.
The ventriloquist was now making
one of his figures sing a comic song.
1t was accompanied by the band, and
had a refrain that | have never forgot
ten, and that never comes into my head
without bringing back that night at
the Jollity
The song came to an end and loud
applause rang through the building
In the midst of the clamor the per-
former bowed his head, and, to the
alarm of everybody, fell face down.
ward in front of the footlights. There
he lay, motionless, with his row of I'M
canny puppets grinning down upon
him
Attendants now rushed on from the
wings, and as they lifted the inanimate
body 1 saw red stream flowing from
his head and dark stain on the floor
of the stage. The curtain was imme-
diately rung down and the audience
was stunned by the terrible scene they
had witnessed.
turned instinctively to Astarita. He
was pale and excited.
"This did i'll" he said.
He held in his hand an air gun, which
till now he had concealed from my
sight. I was transfiXed 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 awolze
to a full sense of my position and de-
termined to secure the criminal. rose
to do so.
He had gone!
/ went out into the noisy streets.
There was a fine drizzle and the roads
and pavements were slippery, but I
walked along like one in dream.
Where | went l cannot remember, but
1 know that l did not enter my cham
bers until nearly two o'clock in the
morning. 1 was wet through and Gov
cred with mud. AS I crept into bed
resolved to tell the police all that l
knew on the following day.
Next morning l rose calmer, but with
no appetite for breakfast. 1 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
Waterloo 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 As
tarita, but at present nothing is known
of him nor of his motive for commit
ting the crime"
But at the end of the account of the
scene at the Jollity / was relieved to
read:
"On making inquiries at the hospi-
tai we were informed that the injuries
to Mr.. Quincy are not so serious as
were at first feared and there is every
hope of his complete recovery. There
is at present no clew whatever to the
criminal"
] have, therefore, rightly or wrong
ly, held my peace.-Tit-Bits.
A Difficult Subject.
"Let me write you an accident insur-
ance policy" said an agent to we'll
known Pittsburgher.
81 don't think / need one," was the
latter's reply.
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