Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1897-11-26
} NAT MYSTERIOUS CLOCK. !!
BY q. T. Montague.


! a,ered the retreat-in q cypress swamp
~ a detected incendiary, young ne
:" who had formerly been in my EN-
s ,s. hut who in latter days had struck
p. The smooth road leading to the gal
, 'u"s He was wanted just now for the
, v of old Peter Gillam's gin house,
u.noumstantial evidence clearly prov
NO him to be the guilty person.
y" s,non riding into the village re-
.ortcd nv discovery to the authorities
ppoa Joined posse of men who imme-
aotclv set out for his capture. He re-
a;sted arrest and was shot down and his
ho1y brought back to town. One way
~ another 1 felt in a meausre response
s,e for that mans death. While it was
,rdent from his latter day exploits that
10 would eventually meet with such a
f,tc, if not more SYNONYMOUS one. for
.h;s particular ofense felt that he real
r. aid not deserve to die in such a cold
,,,ooded fashion. I had surely done only
nv duty, but I almost wished that it
had fallen to the lot of somebody else
the doing of it. ..-,.... .,...- &C.. .-.- ..
What added to my discontinue was
that towards nightfall a disagreeable
1rizz]e set In, one of those hideous rains,
which dampens the very soul and makes
one an easy prey to every gloomy fore
boiling.
went to my solitary abode i'll the
,Arall of a black depression. could
not shake it off. My beloved books Of
iered no acceptable temptations; even
my pipe was poor comfort. \ fellow is
in 4 bad way when he loses faith in his
nine. Manifestly bed was the place for
me; so into it got, after taking good
drink of the blessed ''Thrce Stars and
yery soon tumblcd off to sleep.
slept the sleep of the conscientious,
TO be awakened at last by hearing the
crash of something which sounded like
breakable thing flung from the cell
ing to the floor and smashed.
| was considerably startled, got up
hurriedly and struck a match to find
that my small alarm clock had fallen
off the mantclpiece; that the crystal
was broken, and that the hands pointed
to $3.50 q. m. lit the lamp, sat on the
side Of the bed and wondered how that
clock got off the mantelpicce-surely a
very singular thing. expended Il half
hours thought upon the subject, finally
getting round to the conclusion that,
probably. a mouse had run across the
Shelf and thrown it down. AS l had to
meet train at five a. III. Il am a rail-
road MANI got into my clothes, and
after fooling about !; space went OH
down to the office. Somehow could
not get rid of the idea that it really was,
after all, a strange thing how that clock
got off that shelf. BY this time I had
given over the mouse theory. All day
long the matter was in my mind. SO
that by night, when I once more went
10 my room, I had worked myself into
quite state about it. tried the books
again - dead failure. Pipe almost
grown to be an enemy. BED regarded
with dstrust. Sleep not to be thought
Of. This thing kept up until about ten
o'clock, when T came to the conclusion
that I was a baby; and I got up, wound
my clock, set my alarm and went to bed
but not to sleep. I was looking out
for that clock. had Il rooted notion
that the last nights performance would
be repeated. 1 found myself saying:
And if it comes three times I'll take it
for a sign"
Good heavens! this was getting ridic-
n!ous. I would be ashamed to see my
face in the glass tomorrow. Having ar
Aligned and convicted myself OF wom-
anlshness. contemplate cowardice.
Shut my eyes and swore I'd go to sleep
or wake up my next door neighbor and
get him to kick me. No good. Twas de-
1cr1nihcd to be IN at the finish. It
was now, however, about II inagine)
enc o'clock tumbled off to sleep, and
inc next thing I knew crash came the
clock again off the 1nantclpicce. I shot
out the bed as if legion of demons
mad routed me and lit the lamp. Yes.
there was my peace-disturbing clock
on the floor, with the hands pointing to
3:20 Il. NJ.
If the angel Gabriel had that minute
told me Buck Anderson (the dead ne
sro) and that clock were not in league
together would have doubted him.
was consumed with deadly horror Of
the supernatural. Iknew that Buck An
oerson was pulling the strings that
waltzed my clock off the manteipiecc,
and l knew he meant me some deadly
harm for the hand took in his down.
1all. Good heavens! Was to be fol-
lowed about by a negro ghost for any
great length of time? Cold perspira-
tlon broke out over nc.
But why did he select the clocl>. What
Lad the clock to do with it? Did he
mean to Eurl it at me and it fell short?
VI what did he mean. anyway? And
Why $3.50 in the morning. wished old
"llam and his whole family had been
burnt at the stake before had dabbled
IN their clubhouse affair. twas raining
1nsistcntly outside and the March wind
was holging under the doors and rat
Ting the window in CHASTITY fashion.
sat s,livering upon the side of my
bed. lest in g horrible speculation. My
l. = 4 L. To-,