The times., 1897-09-26
A FAKE MR.. HYDE.

uP W i'chtFe du klHuS OF WICKED Things OF
one another. And yet suspicion founded
on circumstantial evidence is almost as
sure OF being error as il is of being truth.
Indeed, ona cannot alw ays be sure of the
veraeity Of direct evideHc the Testimony
OF ones eyes. There used to be man
over on the shores OF Lake Tahoe, just out
side the California line, wh0 Tor five years
was believed, except by the well Informed.
TO be living demon; a nend incarBate and
IAultipieN murderer. and all because
forty or fifty persons We're willing 70 swear
they had seen him shoot a man down in
cold blood, and then in a fury of passion
jump upon his PROSTATE FOR IN and kick the
corpse almost 70 fragments Up to 1881
you could go over eastern California and
western Nevada with a rake and Scrape
up at least d store Of frightened Inen who
had borne witness 10 this butchers crimes
They had seen him as he aimed his rifle
had heard the crack; had observed the
fall or the corpse, and had looked on in
horror while Mickley that was his name
had brutally, liendishly, Economically bat
tered and bruised tie victims body with
lis Ierge, thick boots.
Mcl:ley was a joker; thar was the secret
Of it We say ne Was for ne isn't any
more He is deaG Very dead. Profuse,v
and in a widespread manner
He used to love 70 scare mis- friends into
fits in the ole days before lis joke got the
better Of him. and about once a week
man with wMtened hair and torn and
ragged clothing and wild eyes would break
over the range and appear in PlaceryIIie
to tell that he had been present at a muir
der OF Mickiey's. And those frightened
men, w no, for DAYS. had been lost on the
mountains trying To get out OF the shadow
OF Micsley's horrible home would have
felt aEs-y TO khow tnat Mickey had killed
nothing More hfciike than a suit of old
clothes attached to a copper wire.
Mickey, who was a man Of some means
winter dwefler in san Francisco, and
a summer occupant OF his Tahoe cottage
had liking .or electricity, ana one da ythe
thought caueto him o Join his propensify
for joking o his Knowledge Of volts ana
ampcrcs. SO he constructed an efIey of
d man, stuffing an old suit ana expcndiGe
much effort to make the likeness good
one. He loaded the man with some
kind OF mechanical and electrical device q M
set it in a senl-recurn bent posture on d
stump near the lake shore, about 200
set'N7 iADtiA AtiH i-OhSG- BF tuIHtIl- on al
electric current lie was able to make the
''man' raise ana lower his hands after
the fashioH OF a person lifting a gishnoic
10 mani IN fish, Standing on Mick.sy's
front purch, a stranger looking down uglsI.
the lake would be positive that the man
was real fisherman, especially when
Mickey would turn on a current and cause
the piScat0ral artist suddenly 10 Jerk
out bis line and then slowly return II to
the water.
Whenever Mickey brought a guest 70 his
summer cottage ne would take up a good
share Of the first evening III telling now
closely he had to guard against trespaSsIna.
fishcrmcn,
Il have the only good fishing on the
lake, he would say, and am determined
70 protectit IHkin any tramp Icatch fish
Ing on Idy ground
The next morning Mickey would walk
out ups,n the porch with his guest, and, look
ing off tow ard the lake. would discover TIC
interinpng man seated calmly on his
stump ard studiously fishing. In furr
Mickey would cry to The trcspa sser to bF
gone, which call the trespasser would calm
ly ignore, OF course. THEN, burning and
blistcring With ire, Mickey would flv int
the house To get his Winchester. Usualiv
the guest would beg Of the inrla1ned land
owner to desist, which would only make
Mickiey's anger the stronger. In would
come his rifle, ard "Cacki- the report
would sound, aud at the sound theffShermap
would topplc over an,l kick about in a fIoun-
dering fashion The fIoundcring was a tri-
unph of Miokley's electric but ton pressing.
'''iieayeHsi what have sou done?'' would
rise from TIE agoRized heart Of the visiting
! rrCHber. Without making answer AiickIey.
apparently possessed Of the devil. world
rash Gown TO the sIoreo of theIake and would
begin kicking and dancing upon the pros
tTate form OF the victim of his aim.
In thirty-six out Of forty cases reported
the visitor at once broke for the mountains
| thinking MicBley to be a murderer or n
maniac, and one whom it would be Wen
to leave iu the full bloom of his madness.
One iran, however, who had made rua
of twenty-eight miles over an unknown
mountain, only TO find ou reaching Placer
| vile that it was a joke of Mickley's
meditated revenge, and, thus meditaurg.
| brought disaster 70 Mickey This man
wa a person named Samuel ] FreuCh and
| Mr.. French, incenSed at his scare. covertly
and secrcteIy bought a years suppl Y OF dyna-
mite aud quietly made his way hack TO
| Mickley's summer home. Arrived there
in the dead of tie night he hunted out tire
''man' whom he found set, ike "A trap,
on Lis stump, waiting for the next days
| fun. French mbuttoned the mans vest,
| and carefully deposited his dyna mite in
| his bowels of rags and Oakum.
| They found piece of Mickey about the
4 size Of a seSa mold over on the OF her side of
the lake, but there was never enough Of him
recovered to serve for corpus deficit. And
so perished man who had been known for
| years as a monster and villain. but whose
| heart was as pure as a summer morn.