The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-12-14

and Kerns lived was known as the Big
| Woods. The underbrush runs wild.
The land is rough; the soil none too
rich. The snow lies long in the hollows
in the spring; the wet spots have green
scum upon them. The brutal side OF
nature is visible everywhere, and made
most manifest in tine characetrs Of the
people who dwell there.
The long gutJholed roads are dreary,
the pastures thin and dismal, the
streams mere sinks, The song birds
pass swiftly over the spot,the gaunt eat
| tie wander uneasily from thi. TO that
sparse knoll of grass Low-browed men
lounge about the doorways of the
shacks, while th!n-shoul6ered, nat
breasted women keep their eyes to the
ground or hide them with hedious sun
bonnets.
In the carly days the horse thieves
made the Big Woods rendezvous. Their
hiding places for a time were almost
inaccessible. They brought their
women to the timber to breed and curse,
and, while their power is now gone and
the law prevails, the seed they sowed
propagates year after year and keeps
upon the place the evil name.
The stacks of the Fails and the Kerns
were near together. The men lived
from hand to mouth; the women took
what they could. The curse and blow of
the elders, the whistle of the wind, the
damp Of the rain, the chill Of unfriendly
soil were the companions Of the chill
dren.
DeliTah Fails was 13 years old when
Jerome Kern, then a grown man, was
his own. His purpose accomplished, he
threw her aside to call 11er back as he
saw fit. She was not girl ugly of ap-
pearance. She had fire of ci1arac5e
different from that Of the broken hip
ped women about her. Kern might
have kept t1er forver with such love as
men and women OF their origin could Of
Ter. But it was not his purpose.
Having had her ne went further. In
Ills young manhood ne was the bully and
the thief OF the Big Woods, pre-eminent.
He rode his horse down to the country
dance. like madman. His veins swol-
len with liquor, me rode in among the
men and women, striking his own sex,
driving the others before him1f the
dance ended in free fight ne was GER
tain to be the leader of it. Virtue was
unknown to him and he boasted of flis
familiarity with crime. His pride was
that he appeared as a clever scoundrel
among all who knew him. His neigh
bors shut their doors when he came
down the road.
He entered their chicken yards, stole
the fowls and picked them on mis- way
home, laughing as If to ask: what are
you going TO do about it?"
Had he been a. man OF character ne
might have raised Delilah Fails to the
summit Of pure womanlrood. She is
bright. she mas strong sensibihties. In
her were the possibilities Of La Rue.
Kern gave lner the arm of Corday.
The third character, part Of the lives
of these two, is Willie Kern, son Of the
murdered man. He is IL years old. He
is just such an offspring as would be ex-
pected from the blood of Jerome Kern
right and wrong is weak, his love for
Id " iSSSHsSS NdIuT6i. ne IcSlS at women,
Scowls at men.
Ruined by the father, Delilah Fails
gave her heart to the son, and that was
the beginning Of the final act that led TO
the tragedy.
Some time after her betrayal by the
elder Kern the girl was loved by a man
of Bremen county who would have mar
RED me-. To him Jerome Kern wen.
and told foul tales Of the girls character
terfered. His lies were repeated and
He boasted OF his own triumph and add
ed to mis- infamy by accusing her OF
she was not guilty OF. The
did not take place. Again an
other man sought her and proffered
marriage and again Jerome Kern in
they traveled from lip TO lip with mix
t1re of truth. The engagement with
John Lewis was broken. Lewis was
sent to the penitentiary
Deliian said: II would have married
John after ne wac convicted II Il aad not
been for Jerome"
Kern. although married, urged heT 60
run away with him. She told his wife.
He lied to the latter and cleared himself
Later his own son loved the girl, wished
to marry her. and ne refused mis- con-