The Red Cloud chief., 1897-08-13

the domination OF the old negress In,
the household. But to go back to tho
case OF Sarah Althea Hill Terry. When
her husband was shot dead, she re-
turned to their home In Fresno, and
lived alone In n pretty cottage her hns-
band had furnished for her. Judge
Terry was a mar OF culture and taste.
and had wealth enough to give his
wife almost anything she wished. hut
the widow began to do eccentric things.
and n day She was missed from
Fresno. They broke into the cottage
and found a wreck. Mrs. Terry had
been mad there alone for nobody knew
how long. He handsome dresses. laces
and ribbons were twisted around the
chandeliers. pictures were torn down
and bric-a-brac and household silver
huns almlossly in grotesque places.
The walls were covered with crazy
writings. zigzags. spirals. The woman
had disappeared. She turned up In San
Francisco and wandered in the streets
with a buncl, OF wire in her hand.
through which she thought she was
telepl oning to her dead husband. A
good many people began to get wor-
ried. Mrs. Terry had wrOngs enough.
Heaven knows. Suppose she should
start In to square them. az crazy folks
sometimes do. with pistol or knife.
The police were asked to restrain her.
nut she had disappeared. The press
took up the search. But the demeDted
woman had vanished OF the face Of the
earth apparently.
Two weeks passed and then a clever
young re porter called at the Bell hOusa
At first Nanny Pleasant denied all
knowledge Of Mrs. Terry's wherea-
bouts, but at last she confessed. For
fourteen days she had watched over
the poor raving maniac. Somehow h
found the Bell house. and Nanny
Pleasant took her In and kept her
from the law, which sought to put her
In an insane asylum.
There Is plenty to be said to Nanny
Peasants d%iscredit, but her care for
this wrecked woman stands u white
and clear. Nanny was true to her
from first to last, and she nursed her In
the Bell house as tenderly as a mother
would her child, and to this day, when
the once beautiful. accomplished wO-
man Is a hopeless lunatic In m Of the
state insane asylums, forgotten By
everybody else, Nanny Pleasant stin.
keeps track OF her.
A young law partner OF Judge Terry
was Porter Ashe, the turfman, him
self a figure In a sensational marriage
and a nor sensational divorce. When
the widow went crazy Porter Ashe va
made the guardian Of her estate. Mann
my Pleasant was his friend and he
knew the inside Of the Bell house.
After a time TON" williams. .
young millionaire. who had been .
close friend Of Judge Terry's, charged
that the estate had been wasted. Al
investigation followed, and little
enough Of the estate was found. Moth
Ing wrong could be discovered IN
Ashes accounts. but he withdrew from
the enthusiastically and Williams
became Mrs. Terry's guardian. Ashe
and Williams have been fierce enemies
ever since. They were both race horse
men, and In a sense rivals, and the Bit
terness between them has often led
San Francisco to expect a tragic ending
to their misery. There are other stories
connected with the old place, tales Of
extraordinary orgies that made the big
house Infamous twenty years ago.
Nanny Pleasant knows them all, but
Nanny Pleasant does not tell.