Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-05-13
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
1 MAKE UP MY MIND TO FIND CAPTAIN
SHANNON.

SHANNON.
The striking Of that fusee was crit
ical moment in my life, for before thu
thing had Missed itself into black ant
crackli ling cinder had decided to follow
up the olew which had been so strange
ly thrown i'll my way. My principal
reason for so deciding was that want
ed rest-the rest of q change of occu
patton, not tho rest Of inaction. an
by profession what George Borrow
would have called Zone of the writing
fellows" But much as love my craft
and generous and large hearted as ]
have always found literary men-at all
events large Drained literary men-to
be l cannot profess much admiration
for the fussy folk who seem to imagine
that God made our world and the in.
finite worlds around it, life and death,
and the human heart, with its joys and
sorrows and hope of immortality, for
no other reason than that they should
have something to write about.
Instead Of recognizing that it is only
life and the unintelligible mystery of
life which make literature of any conse-
qu5nce, they seem to fancy that litera.
ture is the chief concern and end Of
mans being. As a matter of fact litera-
ture is to life what dogs tail is to his
bcdy-.a very valuable appendage, but
the dog must wag the tail, not the tail
the dog, as some of these gentry would
have us to believe. The dog could at a
pinch make shift to do without the tail,
but the tail could under no oircum-
stances do without the dog.
You may screw pencil into one end
Of pair Of compasses and draw as
many circles Of different sizes as you
please, but it is from the other end that
you must take your centers, and what
the pivot end 10 to the pencil life must
be to literature.
Hence it is my habit every now and
then to put away from me all that is
connected with books and the making
of books, and to seek only to live my
life and to possess my own soul and
this wonderful world about u.s.
At the particular date of which am
writing the restlessness which is SO
often associated with the literary tenn.
perament was upon me. l craved
change, excitement and adventures, and
these the following up Of the olew which
held to the identity Of Captain Shan
non promised in abundance.
As everything depended upon the as
sumption that James Mullen was, as
was stated, Captain Shannon, the first
question which I felt it necessary se-
riously to consider was whether the in
formers evidence was to be credited,
and did not lose sight Of the fact that
his confessions, SO far from being en-
titled to be regarded as bona fide evil
dence. were to be received with very
grave suspicion. At the best they might
be nothing more than the invention Of
one who had no information to give,
but who hoped by means Of them either
to prevent or at least to stave off for
time the otherwise inevitable death SEN
tence which was hanging Ger his head.
At the worst it was possible that the
pretended queens evidence had been
carefully prepared beforehand by Cap
tain Shannon and communicated by
him to his agents, to be used in the
event of any Of them falling into the
hands of the police. In that case the
statements which might thus be put for
ward, SO far from being of assistance to
the authorities, would be deliberately
constructed with view to confuse and
mislead.
The one thing which found it utter
ly impossible to reconcile with the theo-
ries had previously formed about Cap
tain Shannon was that the informer
should have in his possession portrait
of his chief.
Was it likely, asked myself, that so
cunning criminal would, by allowing
his portrait to get into the possession of
his agents. place himself at the mercy
of any scoundrel who, for the sake Of an
offered reward, would be ready to be-
tray his leader, or of some coward who,
on falling into the hands of the police,
might offer to turn queens evidence?
Was it not far more likely, on the con-
trary, that the explanation of Captain
Shannon's s having SO successfully eluded
lhe police and kept the authorities in
ignorance of his very identity was that
ae had carefully concealed that identity
sven from Eis own colleagues?
The more thought about it the more
assured became that SO crafty man
"a man who was not only an artist, but
a genius in crime-would trust abso-
lutely no one with a secret that concern
ed his own safety. On the few occasions
when he would have to come into per-
tonal relation with his confederates it
seemed more than probable to me that
he would assume some definite and con-
sistent disguise which would mislead
even them in regard to his appearance
and individuality.
On being asked how the portrait got
into his possession and whether it was
good likeness the informer had re-
piled that he had only seen Captain
Shannon on single occasion, when he
met him one night by appointment at
Euston station. The portrait had been
sent home to him beforehand, so that
he might have no difficulty in recogniz-
ing the person to whom he was to de-
liver a certain package, and he added
that, SO far as he could see. it was an
excellent likeness
Some such explanation as this was
just what ! had expected, for if the por-
trait were intended, as I supposed. to
mislead the police was sure that Cap
tain Shannon would invent some plausi-
CA9ToRIA.